
Class 



Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



# 



GENERAL HISTORY 



OF 



MACON COUNTY 
MISSOURI 




CHICAGO 

HENRY TAYLOR & COiMPANY 

1910 






COPYRIGHT 1910 

BY 

HEXRY TAYLOE & COMPANY 



(gCI.A'3684l9 



FOREWORD 

A people wl'.ieh takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors, 
\vill never achieve anything worthy to ]x remembered l)y remote descendants. — 

— Macmdaij. 



To perpetuate in a grajjliie and lively form somevhat of the present progressive 
and interesting epoch in the history of Macon county, Missouri, and exhibit to its 
people an impressive portraiture of the chief actoi-s, events and items of interest 
therein; to show forth in vivid colors the earlier history of the county — the hurry 
and struggle, the unrest and the labors, the failures and successes, the pleasures and 
privationsof its founders — in accounts of their activities given by themselves or by 
others who knew them ; to display the present state of progress and prosperity, and 
the mighty achievements in industrial and commercial life which have followed in 
the wake of the pioneers, that race of veritable heroes; and to indicate in a measure 
the trend of action and the results to which it points, is the purpose of this work. 

It contains biographical sketches of the progressive men of the county in earlier 
and later days — those who came hither when all was a wilderness and by their 
prowess and strength of character bade the opposing forces of Nature "stand ruled," 
and those who have since carried forward the work of developnaent and improve- 
ment with such marvelous progress — and is illustrated with portraits of many of 
them. It indicates comprehensively the various industries and lines of productive 
energy which have distinguished the people of the county and poured into the 
world's treasure house wealth of almost every kind and great in its aggregate. 

Macon county has at present nothing thrilling or spectacular in its daily 
history, yet its heroic age has not passed away — only the form of its heroism has 
clianged. Its people are no longer called upon to defend themselves from savage 
fury "of man or teast, or si^end their strength in transforming the wilderness into 
systematic fertility and beauty. They are not now torn asunder by sectional strife 
or oppressed by relentless war. They liave not even the waste from the iron heel 
of that bloody monster to repair. They have progressed to the higher duties of 
developing thcmaterial bounty around them and making it serviceable to mankind, 
and of augmenting, elevating and intensifying the moral, intellectual and spiritual 
agencies at work among them. That they are performing these duties the record 
contained in this volume will prove. They realize that "Today is a king in disguise,"' 
however commonplace and trivial it looks, and they are unmasking the king as he 
passes by making the most of their op|iortunities in building up their civil, educa- 
tional, industrial and commercial institutions to the highest degree and widest 
expansion of usefulness. 

The special thanks of the pulilishers arc due to l\\v. Edgar White fm- his 
excellent work in compiling and editing the general history of the county contained 
in the book, and the debt is cordially acknowledged. Without ]\Ir. White's aid the 
success achieved in the character of the volume would have been impossible. 

Grateful acknowledgments are also made to Capt. Ben Eli Guthrie for his 
valuable assistance in editing portions of the general history. Many other persons 
have given us valuable help whoso names would be mentioned with pleasure but for 
the reason that they are so numerous. As a whole, the book must speak for itself, 
and stand or fall on its own intrinsic qualities. 

iii 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



Macon and Benton 1 

"Last of the Eomans" , 



o 



CHAPTER I. 

"The State of Macon"— Sheritf Had Wide Jurisdiction— Trouble- 
some Indians — Importation of Bluegrass from Kentucky — ■ 
First Cotswold Sheep and Shorthorn Cattle — Organization 
of Macon County — Rivalry for County Seat — Log House for 
Court Rooms 7 

CHAPTER IL 

The Pioneers — James Loe — William Blackwell — Captain William 
Griffin — Captain W^illiam Smith — Squire Holman — Attacked 
by Wolves — Saved by Blast from a Horn — Major Joseph D. 
Butler — Levi Cox — Absent from Home 21 Years — R. L. 
Shackleford — Bill to Run Steamboats Up Chariton Rivei' — 
Clever Election Ruse — Frederick Rowland — Encounter With 
Indians — William Morrow — Robert Gipson, Oldest Man in 
United States— Mrs. Polly Baskett 10 

CHAPTER III. 

The Indians— Last Battle With the AVhite.s—" Chief Pumpkins"— 
• Retreat of the Whites — A Rear Guard Action — A Second 
Expedition Planned — Indians Driven Back — A Buried 
Treasure — Sanguinary Battle Between the Foxes and the 
Sacs — Search for the Treasure — Stone Tomahawks and 
Arrowheads on Battlefield — The Indians' Fishtrap — Pioneer 
Water Mills — Corn as Legal Tender — Death of Anthony 
Hammock, Head Miller— The Mill on East Fork— Yule-tide 
in a New Country 19 

V 



vi CONTEXTS 

FACE 

CHAPTER IV. 

Early Courts aud Eecords — First Indictment for Murder — Some 
Quaint Court Orders — Negro Sentenced to Terrible Punish- 
iiient — The ^Mormon Trial at Moccasinville — Act of Legis- 
lature Repealed by Coimty Court — Last Replevy of a Slave 
in Missouri -9 

CHAPTER V. 

Official "VVeatber Bureau at Macon — Hottest Day in Ten Years — 
The Great Drought of 1854— January 1, 1864, Coldest Day 
on Record — Ground AVarmed to Dig Graves — Grasshopper 
Plague and Governor Hardin's Proclamation for Prayers — 
High Water in the Chariton Valley — Cyclone at Macon — 
The Drought of 1901— Water Sold at 10 Cents a Bucket- 
Reservoir Emjity and City Supplied from Blees Academy 
Lakes— The Flood of 1909 '. 41 

CHAPTER VI. 

Early State Roads in Missouri — Era of tlie Stage Coach — Pony 
Rider in Macon County — AVhen Bloomington "Was a Stage 
Division — A Railroad Convention— Queer Opposition to 
Railroads— "Bob" Stewart— George H. Davis— I. X. Wil- 
ber— AV. C. Brown— P. H. Houlahan- A Fast Mail Run— 
The Pony Express — Railroading in War Time — First Great 
Disaster on tlie "Joe" — iBloek Houses — Engineer Jim 
Mcintosh— The North :\lissouri Road— The Atchison, 
Topeka and Santa Fe — A Big Suit Over Hardpan — Groat 
Idea of Two Young Railroad ilen -53 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Printing Press — Salutatory of First ^lacon County Pajier — 
Reminiscences of Captain Lacy, Macon's First Editor — The 
Mulligan Guards — Some of the Pioneer Papers — ^lajor 
Frank "SI. Daulton — Macon Pajier Awarded Medal for 
Superior Typography — The ^lan Who Subscribed for 500 



CONTENTS vii 

Papers — I. Jeff Buster, Wlio Introduced Countrj' Corre- 
si)onden(;e — Eugeue Field's Owl Club — Improvement in 
Country Journalism — "Stories of a Country Doctor," by 
Willis P. King, M. D. — "Love vs. Law," by Mary Anderson 
Matthews— A Circuit Rider's Quaint Book— Oldest Bible 
in State Owned by Macon County j\lau S2 



CHAPTER VIIL 

Mines and Mining — Tlie Pilgrimage to California — Phil Armour 
and Ned Croarkin — A Miner's Dream — Discovery of Coal 
in Macon County — Alexander Rector — Thomas Wardell — 
Strikes, Panics and Then Prosperity — "Shooting Oft' the 
Solid" — Riots of 1899 — A Mine Disaster — A Journey 
Through Gloomy Avenues — A Mining Town That Died — 
Miners Are Long Lived — Statistics from State Mining 
Report — Early Gold Excitement in Chariton Valley — Devel- 
opment of Valuable Ore at New Cambria !)7 

CHAPTER IX. 

Schools and Academies — The Blue Back Spelling Book — Singing 
Geography — An Instructor "Who Taught Manners — W. A. 
Mathis — F. Theo Mayhew — McGee College — St. James 
Military Academy — Colonel Blees's Magnificent Enterprise 
— Consolidated School at Elmer — The Macon High School — 
School Statistics 13:5 



CHAPTER X. 

The Churches — Strenuous Revivals — "Gabriel" as Prosecuting 
Attorney — Debate Between Dr. Anderson and the Rev. 
"Jimps" Dysart — Ho] lis and Dysart — Baptists Chagrined 
Over Result — Primitive Baptists — Yellow Creek Association 
— McGee Presbytery — Organization of the Churches — 
Bishops Talbot and Heudrix— "Father" Gay— The Holi- 
ness Camimieetings — Institution at College Mound — The 
Tenth Legion 15.'; 



viii COXTEXTS 

„ PAGE 

CHAPTER XI. 

Wars and Soldiers' Reunions — Macon County's Fighting Men- 
Trek of the Mormons — Call to Arms in '61 — Macon as a 
Military Post— Martial Law— A Victim's Tombstone— The 
Harris House Prison — Battle of Painter Creek — Ordered 
to Burn Bloomington — Raid of the Guerrillas — A Courier's 
Ride for Life — Augustin Bradsher Drafted — Men of the 
Black Flag — Veterans of 1812 — State Encampment at 
jNIaeon — Daughters of the Revolution 176 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Law — The Line of Circuit Judges — Strange Murder Case, Yet 
Unraveled — The Tracy Killing — A Gold Brick Game, and a 
Trial at Macon — Board's Criticism of a School Teacher — 
"The Unwritten Law" — Why Did George Anderson Kill 
His Wife?— Judge Ellison's Sentence of Death— The First 
Legal Execution — Incidents on the Dav of Hanging — A 
Noted Trial from Shelby County — Whitecotton's Remark- 
able Appeal to the Jury — Birth of the Three-Fourths Jury 
Rule— A Hanging Without Trial — Two Thousand Words 
Without a Punctuation ^laik — A Noted Steer Case — La 
Plata Circuit Court 197 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The Bond Indelitedness — First Subscription to Missouri and 
Mississip])i Railroad — ^Mandamus by Supreme Court Com- 
pelling Issue of Bonds — Mass Meeting Approves Court's 
Order — The Second Subscription — General Protests — Deter- 
mined P]fforts to Find Money to Build Road — Litigation 
Scares Financiers OiT — The Growing Debt — Efforts to 
Compromise — County Court Against It in 189-1 — Propositioia 
Overwhelmingly Defeated — ^Ir. Gary's Plan for a Settle- 
ment in 1904 — Strong Campaign For and Against — Views 
of Both Sides — Advocates of Settlemeni Defeated by Small 
jVlajority — Present Status of the Debt — The Legal Phase 
of the Case 227 



CONTEXTS ix 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Tlie Geology of Macon County — Tobacco — Agriculture — The Dairy 
— Stock Eaising — A Town Lot Auction at Hudson — "The 
City of Maples" — Modern Municipal Improvements — 
Ladies Civic League — ]\Iacon Charity Society — Drainage 
Work in the Chariton Valley — Wealth of the Count.y — Some 
Noted Characters — Pioneer Coal Operator — John Jones and 
His Cave House— Why Mr. Beach Wouldn't Wear a Hat- 
Patriot Who Wouldn't Cut His Hair Until a Democratic 
President Is Elected — John Henry Griffin — "Depot" Smith 
—Two Lively Rival Towns— The Postal Service 245 

Biographical 271 



INDEX OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Tlie Reileigh 148 

Macon County Eailroad Bond 199 

John Jones (The Hermit) 199 

Boyliood Home of Dr. A. T. Still 251 

Tom iiobinson "264 



PORTRAIT INDEX 

Pack I'-I'^k 

A il 

Allen. Dr. Framis W. ( Deceased) . . 309"^ :\reDavitt, Asa W 435 ^^ 

:\reKim, Joseph .M.. Jr.. 1). D. S. . . r3(j "^ 

B Mason, Lee 0., M. D 8U <^ 

Babbitt, Deloss H 602'' Massengale, Jolm 501 1-^ 

Barker, John T 627'^ Matthews, Otho F h^t^ 

Biggs, William J 580 ^^ IMatthews, Judge IJichard 8 393 '-^ 

Brmra, Andrew J 4T() l .Mayhew. F. Theo. ( Deceased ) , . . . 327 '^ 

:\Iiller, Jesse Marion ' 813*^ 

C Miller, Budolph G13 "^ 

Cook. William D 64-2 "^Morrow, Johnson 400 ^ 

F ^^' 

Foster, John P., M. D 444 ^/'"•t"". Francs 11., Ml) 844-^ 

' ;^ortonl, Hon. Albert D 418 '-^ 

G P 

Gansz, Philip ^^^^ ':^Parke, Joseph 709.^ 

Gary, Theodore 351>^ p^^^.^^U y^/^^.^. ^^ ^g^^ 

Cash, Samuel L 654*^ ' 

Gates, Judge Edward A 723'^ R 

Gates, Erskine :\[ 485^ Bnwland, Thomas A 793 "^ 

(4ieselman, Frederick W . 492 -^ Ke^'fl. 1^- '^ 909 -^ 

({ilbreath, William T 371 ^ Bubey, Harry :\r 362 i/ 

Gilbreath, Hugh P 521 1/ S 

(Jooch, Willard H., :M. D 769 ^ Seoveru, Jolm 280 "^ 

Goodson, Walter C 759 -^ Sears, Joseph F 835 «^ 

Guthrie, Capt. Ben Eli 299>^ Shelton, Hon. Xathaniel Meacon. . . 317 ^ 

.Stone. Benjamin F 881 '^ 

-.^ ,. ^ ^f"- , ,„ / Still, Andrew Tavb.r, D. 408 <^ 

Hastings, George H , 548 -^ s^,,,,,.,!,^ j„i„j y^,^\y^^x 382 v^ 

Havner, Lon 33o '^ 

Hess, Judge Charles P 868-^ T 

H(mghton, James H 511 1--' Tainter, Paul P.. :\r. D 749 '■- 

Hughes, Jolm ( i 534 1^ W 

Hughes, Daniel W 463 •^Waidell, Charles A 428 i/ 

Hunt, James J.'nbert, M. D fi08 ■/ Wardell, Thomas (Decea.scd) 271^ 

Welch. William A., M. D 669 ^ 

- .,., White. Edgar 890*^ 

Jones, Ives B obi- ^villianis. Barnctt 1! 856 ^ 

j^ Wri.uht. Robert T 454 ^ 

Leflfier, John F 8031-^" Y 

Eeist, :Marcus B 780 ^ ^■ager, (iustavo A 917 i^ 

xi 



GENERAL INDEX 



I'Ai:i: 

A 

Abbott, Dr. James W '.)2i 

Allen, Dr. Francis W 875 

Allen, Dr. F. AV. (Deceased) 309 

Anstiue, William W 786 

Asburv, Andrew J 864 

Atterberry, Philander 7;i"2 

Atterberrv, Albert 'SI 7-.iS 

Atterberry, David E 756 

Ayers, John William 539 

Ayers, Charles S 531 

B 

Babhitt, Deloss H 602 

Bailev, James 465 

Bailey, William T 460 

Bailey, George AV 426 

Baitv, James Lewis 488 

Barnes. Charles 272 

Barker, John T 627 

Barrow, Eobert W 943 

Beal, Eobert R 339 

Beal, Thomas E. L 893 

Beatty, Samuel G 380 

Bevan, Rees J 355 

Biggs, William J 580 

Blew, Logan S 784 

Boulton. William J 287 

Bnuch, Henry 304 

Butler, George W 519 

Bradley, B. Dennis 369 

Bradley, Dr. Willis E 374 

Bradley, Joshua C* 446 

Branham, John F. L 376 

Brewington, Dr. George F 624 

Bricker, James M 572 

Bricker, William W 926 

Bridgeford, Joseph L., D. D. S 044 

Brock, F. M 931 

Brock, Sidney G., A. M., Ph. D. . . . 676 

Brockman, Wilbert li 295 

Brown, Andrew J 476 

Brownson, Charles O 288 

Browning, Jacob T 873 

Bruce, Jacob X 438 

xiii 



l:\r.K 

C 

Campbell, Patrick W 935 

Campbell, Henry M 920 

Carpenter, John C 705 

Casey, Joseph T 478 

Citizens" Bank of Alacon 345 

Chope, John J 675 

Clements, Dr. Edward B 274 

Clymans, Austin A 594 

Clymans, William A 595 

Cook, William D 642 

Corbin, William V 388 

Cox. Andrew S 852 

Curtis, Francis M 713 

Crawford, Alk>rt J 297 

Cromwell, John S 527 

Crysta, John J 523 

D 

Dale. Hemmit 469 

Dayis, George N 605 

Dayis, John 790 

Dearing, William J 49<> 

Decker, Peter N 551 

Denison, John ]M 414 

Dohring, Frederick \V •'! 1 3 

Doneghy, John T 693 

Dowcll.'D. D 346 

Dunham, Edwin 1 442 

Drew, Francis W., :\1. D 35S 

Dysart, Benjamin R 276 

E 

Easelev. Harvey S 903 

Easeley, ArleyE 918 

Edwards, John B 933 

Edwards, James G 618 

Edwards, Waldo 623 

Edwards. Thomas 620 

Ellas, Edward 629 

Elliott, James H 4(16 

Elsea, John M 294 

England, Willard U 556 

England, John il 558 

English. Aubert B 565 

Epperson, Simeon H 459 



GENERAL INDEX 



Pack 

Epperson, John D 390 

Evans, Thomas 349 

F 

Farmer, James W 302 

Farmer, John T -iO: 

Farrar, Cliarlos L 0-17 

Featherston, E. C 703 

Ford, James H 907 

Foster, John T.. M. D 4-i-l: 

Franklin, Ben 278 

Francis, Tliomas 02 1 

G 

Gansz, Philip 899 

Gary, Hunter L 651 

Garj', Theodore 351 

Gates, Erskine Jl 485 

Gates, Edward Allen 723 

Gates, Josiah. i\I. I) 479 

Gash, Samnel T^ G54 

Gellhaus, John \V G71 

Gibson, A. Frank 757 

Gieselman, Frederick \V 492 

Gilbreath, William T 371 

Gilbreath. Hugh V 521 

Gilleland. John K 547 

Gooch. Willard H.. M. D 7G9 

Goodding, Roscoe E 49G 

Goodding, A. C 433 

Goodding Bros 285 

Goodrich, N^at. L 543 

Goodson, Walter C 759 

Gordon, Volkert D 514 

Guthrie, Capt. Ben Eli 299 

Guthrie, Eohert Allen (i9() 

Graves, G. H 721 

Graves. George ^\' 8:13 

Graves, William G 839 

(Graves, Lysander L 838 

Graves, Robert M 842 

Green, Wilson R 756 

Greenstreet. James N 412 

Grigsby, John A 905 

(jross, John Henrv 879 

Gross, J. F., M. I)' :'.83 

Grove, Victor 5(i4 

Gwinner, John W 799 

Gwinner, George ( Deceased) 923 

H 

Hale, Charles F (iio 

Hall, Henry Willard 708 

Hastings, George II 548 



I'Aiq: 

Ilayner, Lon 335 

Heaton, James R 3G0 

Herrin. Clark 380 

Hess. Judge Charles P 868 

Helton. John Jefferson 455 

Hicks, Oswald 687 

Hibler, Joseph Albert 811 

Houghton, .lames H 511 

Howe. Orloff William 378 

Howlett, A. C. - 937 

Hughes, Daniel R 463 

Hughes, John G 534 

Hughes, John R 877 

Hunt, James Robert. M. D '. 698 

Huntsman. Henrv M 860 

Hyatt, Jesse E., D. 578 

J 

Jackson, William Pitts 323 

J ames Bros 747 

Jenkins, Thomas L 782 

Johnson, Dr. Nat. L 431 

Jones, David W 772 

Jones. Thomas E 342 

Jones, Francis D 694 

Jones, Theophilus 402 

Jones, William E 640 

Jones, Christo|ilK>r H 449 

Jones, Owen W 776 

Jones, Edward Seward 474 

Jones, John 545 

Jones, Emvln G 563 

Jones, William T 570 

Jones, Ives B 561 

Jones, William T 788 

Jones, Jolni Hugh, Jr 941 

Jones & Cramer 571 

K 

Kale, Alexander S 827 

Kascv. Singleton L 366 

Ketciiam. jolin :\1 311 

L 

La Plata Savings Bank 494 

Lacy, Nathaniel M 650 

[.andree, Ernest D 734 

l.andrce. James 292 

Laiu'. Joseph \' 715 

Leffler. John F 803 

Leist, Marcus B 780 

Lilc, J. Frank 451 

Lindlev, James W 560 



GENERAL INDEX 



XV 



I'Atii; 

Lloyd, AVilliam W 910 

London, John 'SI 325 

Lunday. John W T?8 

Lyda, James Wilhird 501 

Lynch, William 457 

M 

MacEae, William 5 K! 

^leCiilly, William E (i;i5 

ilcCully, Henderson (Deceased)... (138 

jMcDavitt, Dr. Basil C 4!)() 

McDavitt, Leo W 41i 1- 

McDavitt, Fred X :Vi 

McDavitt, Asa W 435 

McDiiffee. Georae K 745 

McGhee, John W 81)7 

McKenzie, Martin V. (Deceased) . . 883 
McKim, Joseph M., Jr.. D. D. S. ... 73G 

McXeal. Willis A 894 

Planning, Thomas J !)2"3 

:\Lnio-ns, William H 4-23 

Manhart. John 914 

J[apes, George K 808 

Mapes, Walter 8 S()9 

Mason, James P 707 

Mason, Lee 0., ^M. I) 8-i4 

Massengale, John 501 

Matthews, Judge Itichard S 39v; 

iratthews, Otho F 5'.)2 

jMathis, William A 765 

Mathis, James Thomas 394 

Mayhew, F. Theo. (Deceased) 3v'7 

Mayhew, Ivv G 604 

Meivin, Loiiis J., Sr 739 

Menefee, John R 337 

Mettes, John S -.'90 

Miller, William Henry 39S 

Miller, Henrv .' 40-2 

Miller, Alfred P... M. D 659 

Miller, Charles A 771 

Miller, Jesse Marion 813 

Miller. Rudolph 613 

Miles, William A 500 

Miles, Joseph D 508 

Mingus, W. A 9-27 

Morgan, Charles 306 

Jlontgomery, James H 901 

Morris, Samuel R 537 

Morrow, Johnson 400 

Morrow, Jefferson 754 

Morse, Wilbur F 743' 

Moss, William E (;91 



r.VGE 

N 

Neel, JolmW 760 

Neet, Charles C 430 

Newton, Dr. Henrv O 483 

Newton, Francis H., .M. I ) 844 

Nickell, Joseph 886 

Nickell. Davidson 887 

Nisbeth, John W 611 

Norfolk, John L 307 

Nortoni, Hon. Albert 1) 418 

Nowlan, Lewis 608 

() 

Owen, John William 329 

Owen, Richard E 364 

Owings, W. J 751 

P 

I'arko, Joseph 709 

I'ayson, Charles FI C64 

Payson, Dwight H. (Deceased) .... 663 

Patterson, Silas A 666 

Patterson, James C 467 

Pierce, Charles C 763 

Pool, Claude L 667 

I'ohlman, George, Jr 320 

Pohlman. George 321 

Posev, James Weldon 316 

Powell, Robert 343 

Powell, Robert E 915 

Powell, Henry M 684 

R 

Randall, James :\[ 701 

Reaiian, Charles W., .M. D 586 

Reeil, D. J 909 

Reese, Thomas H 357 

i?ees, John 796 

IJevnolds, F. L 397 

Iteynnlds, Hiram M 841 

Reynolds, Ebenezer E 846 

Revnolds, George 848 

Rice, Fisher H 403 

Richards, John F 596 

Richards, John (Deceased) 597 

R'ichards, Roi)ert 938 

Richards. John E 940 

K'ichardson, John B. (Deceased)... 822 

Itichardson, John B 820 

Kichardson. William J 896 

Kiggs, Harvev G 567 

Rilev, Andrew E 661 

IJiley, George W 801 

Robuck, James P 850 

Roberts, William DcWitt 541 



X\ 1 



GEXKKAL INDEX 



Kobiuson, Hoiuv D ^25 

Komjue. Milton' A 680 

Kosp, Alexander M 314 

Kowland Bro< B3o 

Kowlaud, Thomas A T9-3 

Eubev, Harrv M 36"^ 

Eyals, Luther W 59!) 

S 

Salyer, John I'j^ 

Samuels, Isaac 348 

Sandusky, Oscar 588 

Sandusky. Samuel 589 

Scovern, John 280 

Sears. Francis ilarion 333 

Sears, Joseph F 835 

Sears, William C 580 

Sears, William H. 576 

Shay, Charles P 806 

Sheiton, Hon. Xathaniel M 317 

Sheotz, Piohert Karl 805 

Sheetz, Henry C 806 

Shoush, Euirene 471' 

Simmons, Bloom .1 703 

Skinner, Arthur C 859 

Slaughter, Gen. G 706 

Smilev, Clement F 912 

Smith, Alfred J 341 

Smith, Albert F 439 

Smith. Theophilus, i). D. S 481 

Smith. Philip II 525 

Smith. Dr. Edward S 653 

Snow, Charles T 390 

Snow, Edgar G 437 

, Snow, Edwin 513 

Southwick, Horace 1! 554 

Strode, Addison P 929 

Switzer, Frederick K 529 

State Exchange Bank 291 

Still, Andrew T., D. 408 

Stone. Benjamin F 881 

Surljeck, John Michael 382 

Surbcck, Henry Clay 509 

T 

Tainter, Paul P., :\r. D 749 

Tate. Pichard !^. (Deceased) 741 

Tedford, Frederick H 699 

Terrell, John L 330 

Tooley, John 836 

Thomas, William S 574 

Thomas, T. D 591 

Thomas, Eichard S 737 

Thompson, John W 584 



Page 

Thompson, Logan il., M. D 673 

Thiiinpsim, John 774 

Thornlmrg, Frank C, M. D 583 

Thompson, Alanzo C, M. D 831 

Tluirman. John W 404 

Trader, Harlev E 552 

Tutt, Paul \V." 646 

U 
L'nderwood, Mark L., il. D 508 

V 

Vancleve, William M 080 

Vancleve, Gen. Wm. il. (Deceased). 682 

Vansickle, Andrew B 854 

\'an Pelt,' Wilbur F 888 

A'ertrees, Isaac H 421 

W 

Waddill, John W. (Deceased) 885 

Walker, William G 689 

Walker, Isham M 858 

Walker, Charles 871 

Walters, George L 862 

Warden, Thomas (Dec-eased) 271 

Warden, Charles A 428 

Ward, Joseph 730 

Wares, Augustus 719 

Warner, James E 815 

Watkins, John D., D. D. S 007 

Weaver, Jacob F 486 

Webb, Dr. William E 056 

Wells, George 825 

Welch, Dr. William A 669 

Wendt, George A 817 

West, Charles Owen, :\I. D 533 

Wliite, Dorian D 735 

White, Charles 818 

White, Edgar 890 

Wiggans, John Wesley 410 

Williams, Benjamin E 333 

Williams, John L / 573 

Williams, Barnett 1! 856 

Williams, James F 600 

Williams, David M 615 

Williams, David V. 795 

Williams, John J 793 

Wilson, Greenu]) 717 

Wisdom, Thomas E 634 

Woir, Charley A 416 

Wright, John A 368 

Wright, James .M 4.i3 

Wright, Eobert T 4.54 

Y 

Yager, Gustave A 917 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 



MACON AND BENTON. 

"Citizens, Macon county was named for one of the most difstin- 
guished statesmen this country ever produced. You should be proud 
of that name!" 

No need to tell the older residents of Macon county that Senator 
Thomas H. Benton's stentorian voice gave utterance to the words. 
The use of the term, "citizens," was peculiar to Benton. Those who 
knew him declared that he never said "fellow citizens." Some say his 
reason was that he refused to acknowledge the intimacy. In spite of 
that, from all accounts. Senator Benton was very courteous to the 
large crowd he addressed in the grove at Old Bloomingion that day, 
in the year 1856, when he was making his campaign for governor, the 
last political fight of his life. Two years later the nation mourned at 
his bier. 

That day, when Benton spoke to an audience largely hostile, belongs 
to the history of Macon county. He was the most forceful character 
the state of Missouri, the mother of many strong characters, ever 
produced. He had his fighting harness on. He knew his enemies were 
everywhere, sowing the seeds of discord. And the sword of the old 
gladiator was unsheathed. Benton was greatest when there was pro- 
nounced opposition. His eyes flashed, his great voice thundered. Bloom- 
ing-ton was an important center. The shadows of a great Civil war 
were darkening the horizon. People came to the meetings there from 
far and near. Benton keenly appreciated the importance of that gath- 
ering. He knew what he said would be repeated for 100 miles or more. 
The populace fired questions at him; had he done this or that; "answer 
direct, sir!" And direct as a rifle shot came the answer. There was 

1 



2 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

no equivocation; no evasion. Tlie statements of the veteran states- 
man were not buried amid a cloud of qualifying observations. If he 
did a thing, he said so, and told why. If he didn't, he denied it like 
the roar of a cannon. There was no mistaking where he stood on any 
proposition. If the people didn't like his position, it was their misfor- 
tune; he would not change to suit them. Primarily and essentially, 
Benton must be right. That was his trait for which his friends loved 
him and his enemies hated him. His absolute self-satisfaction; his 
belief in Benton. 

Nathaniel Macon must have been a great man to receive that com- 
pliment from the lips of Benton. Had he not been a big man Benton 
would have said so, regardless of what the people of Macon county 
thought about it. It was his way. 

"LAST OF THE ROMANS." 

Scarcely less prominent than Benton was the great statesman after 
whom Macon county was named, the man whom President Jefferson 
spoke of as "The Last of the Eomans," Nathaniel Macon of North 
Carolina. 

Twelve towns in the United States perpetuate the name of Macon. 
Macon, Georgia, is tlie largest and Macon, Missouri, comes next. Macon, 
North Carolina, is but a village, a fourth class office. The other states 
having a municipal monument to the eminent North Carolinian are: 
Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Ohio, 
Tennessee and Virginia. 

Nathaniel Macon was bom in Warren county. North Cai-olina, in 
1757, and died on his plantation there June 29, 1837, the same year 
Macon county, Missouri, was organized within its present lines. His 
ancestors were from Virginia, people of a high respectability and 
more than ordinary wealth. He was educated at Princeton, New 
Jersey, and was there at the opening of the war of the revolution. In 
1777 he left college, and served for a short time as a private in a com- 
pany of volunteers. Returning at the expiration of this service to 
North Carolina, he entered upon the study of law, but soon enlisted 
again as a volunteer, and, though divers offices were urged on him, 
served as a common soldier under the command of his brother, John 
Macon. He continued in the army till the provisional treaty of peace 
in 1782, and was present at the fall of Charleston ; the rout at Camden, 
and during the pursuit of Green across Carolina by Lord Cornwallis. 
For his military services he steadily refused any pay; nor, after that 



HISTORY OF MACOiST COUNTY 3 

provision had been made by the government, would he accept a pen- 
sion. While yet in the army, in 1780, he was elected, in his 24th year, 
a member of the senate of North Carolina, in which post he continued 
to serve through 1785. Young as he was, he was employed on the 
most important committees of that body. The great questions then 
agitated arose from the financial difficulties of the state, and the depre- 
ciated value of the currency. It was characteristic of the man that he 
advocated the scheme of pledging the credit of state to redeem her 
paper issues at their depreciated rates, maintaining the injustice of 
allowing a set of speculators to gain what the soldiers, to whom the 
paper had been paid, must lose. But he held that the promise of the 
state must, at any rate, be redeemed. During this period he was mar- 
ried to Miss Hannah Plummer, and soon afterwards settled on a plan- 
tation which he owned on the bank of the Roanoke, in Warren county, 
and made this spot his home for the remainder of his life. Here his 
main occupation and enjoyment were in the cultivation of his farm, in 
which he displayed singular skill and met with gi-eat success. Both 
in private and public he showed much of the Stoic in temper, disregard- 
ing style and pleasure, studying strict economy, and holding fast his 
opinions, and carrying them into practice, to whatever odium or unkind 
remark they might expose him. When the constitution of the United 
States was first submitted to the vote of the people of North Carolina, 
he firmly opposed it as conferring too much power on the new govern- 
ment, as making it in effect independent of the states, and so of the 
peojDle, and tendering to corruption. He retained this dislike to the 
end of his life, and in the times of "nullification" he boasted of the 
accuracy of his foj'ebodings. He was elected a member of the United 
States house of representatives in 1791, and continued in that office 
by successive elections till 1815, and was the speaker of the house from 
1801 to 1806, when he would not be a candidate for re-election. From 
the lower house he was transferred, in 1816, to the senate, where he 
served till 1828, being elected the president pro tern in 1825-7. Twice 
during Mr. Jefferson's administration he declined the postmaster- 
generalship. At the general election in 1824 the state of Virginia 
cast for him her twenty-four electoral votes for the vice-presidency of 
the United States. In 1828 he resigned his seat in the senate and all 
the other public offices which he held, as trustee of the University of 
North Carolina, justice of the peace, etc. At that time he had been 
a member of congress for thirty-seven successive years, a longer term 
of continuous service than has fallen to the lot of any other legislator in 
our country. It was then his purpose to withdraw finally from every 



4 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

form of public function. Yet, in 1835, he presided over the convention 
that was called to revise the constitution of North Carolina, and ren- 
dered his last political service to the country as a member of the elec- 
toral college of that state in 1836. 

Mr. Macon was always a firm and consistent Democrat. He had an 
unlimited confidence in the capacity of the people for self-government. 
A favorite saying of his was that "If left alone, they will always do 
what is right." He was, thei'efore, what in later times has been called 
a strict constructionist. He was disjjosed to hold the federal govern- 
ment and all state authorities within the narrowest limits of the powers 
granted to them ; and used to insist on a comi^lete responsibility to the 
people by a frequent return of all trusts to them. He voted for the 
embargo, and for the declaration of war against Great Britain, but 
withstood many of the schemes of the administration for carrying it 
on. He held that the war should l)e defensive only, and so refused 
to enlarge the naval force beyond what was needed to guard the coasts, 
voted against the systems of fortifications, against privateering, etc. 
He also voted against all schemes of internal improvement to be under- 
taken by congress, spoke in 1795 against a grant to the Count De 
Grasse, and in 1824 against a grant of lands to General LaFayette 
for revolutionary services. In the convention of North Carolina 
he spoke ag'ainst giving free negroes the right to vote ; against 
a land qualification of voters; against the state engaging in any works 
of internal improvement; against all religious tests as a condition of 
holding office; in favor of annual, instead of biennial, sessions of the 
general assembly; and in favor of voting vivd. voce at all elections. 
As a speaker, while he was in no sense an orator few were really more 
effective. His longest speech occupied hardl.y more than half an hour. 
Few men in congress were listened to with more respectful attention. 
Two sentences were enough to express his thanks for an election to the 
chair of the house of representatives, and seven words to announce 
to his constituents that war had been declared against Great Britain. 
It is hardly to be wondered at that a character so self-reliant, and with 
so many salient points, should have retained the ])ublic confidence so 
long that Mr. Jefferson called him "the last of the Komans"; and that 
Mr. Randolph pronounced him "the wisest man he ever knew." He 
died after only a few hours' illness, but found time to give directions to 
a neighbor to make for him a plain coffin, to be paid for before his inter- 
ment, selected for his burial a barren ridge, where the plougli could 
never come, and ordered the spot marked only by a pile of stones from 
the field. 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 5 

"Mr. ]Macon was a student of few books beside the Bible, and was 
a member of the Baptist church." 

A representative southern newspaper thus described the great 
North Carolinian : 

"Amid the shallowness and demagoguery of today, the simple 
greatness of this man stands, a striking specter. Rugged of nature; 
firm of conviction, though not infallible ; true democrat in life, thought 
and loyalty ; he is a tyi3e of the southerner produced by the momentous 
events of two merging centuries." 



CHAPTER I. 

"The State of Macon" — Sheriff Had Wide Jurisdiction — Trouble- 
some Indians — Importation of Bluegeass from Kentucky — First 
CoTswoLD Sheep and Shorthorn Cattle — Organization of Macon 
County — Rivalry for County Seat — Log House foe Court Rooms. 

This term was formerly used in referring to Macon county because 
of its extensive area, as compared with most counties of Missouri. It 
takes a swift-running passenger train the greater part of an hour to 
cross Macon county in eitlier direction. Until Adair and Schuyler 
counties were organized, the Macon county authorities had jurisdiction 
clear up to the Iowa line. The whole district was spoken of as "Macon 
county" or "The State of Macon." Its first sheriff, Jefferson Morrow, 
frequently had to serve process thirty or forty miles outside the legal 
border of his county. It was the same way with Randolph county, 
which was organized in 1829, eight years previous to Macon county's, 
organization. There were many settlers here quite a while before the 
county was organized, and a number of subordinate officers acting under 
the jurisdiction of Randolph county. Taxes paid by the settlers went 
down to the Randolph county treasuiy. A while before Macon county 
was created an officer residing near Bloomington or old Winchester was 
sent out on a tax-collecting expedition clear up to the northern border 
of the state. Returning, he reported that he had succeeded in collect- 
ing every tax bill he presented, but explained that one "poor widow 
woman" didn't have her dollar — which was the amount of her tax — 
and to make his record clean, the ambitious tax-gatherer paid her 
dues out of his own fees. 

Once the tide of immigration began land was entered very rapidly. 
The first obstacle was the Indians. Residents of Virginia still retained 
a wholesome dislike for the Red man, a jirejudice handed down from 
their fathers. The Kentuckians who came here first became homesick 
over the absence of bluegrass, which was the joride of their state. The 
Indian spectre did not last long after the frontiersman got down his 
fowling piece and showed his markmanship. The exodus of the home- 
sick Kentuckians was prevented by the strategy of the late Captain 
William Smith, who settled south of where the city of Macon is now, in 

7 



8 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

1839, only two years after county went ou the map of Missouri. When 
a j'oung man of twenty-two Captain Smith left Clark county, Ken- 
tucky, for Missouri. He had $1,'200 in his pockets and was offered a 
large slice of the village of St. Louis for his money, but declined the 
bargain, and never regretted it. He took up land here, along with a 
number of other Kentuckians. There was nothing but tall, wild prairie 
grass in these parts then, and it didn't look cheerful to the men who had 
been raised among the bluegrass hills. They were discontented and 
talked seriously of returning. Captain Smith judged there were many 
other Kentuckians of the same mind in northern Missouri, so he hitched 
up his team and drove back to his old home for a load of bluegrass 
seed. This he distributed among his neighbors, and soon the country 
about here began to look veiy much like old Kentucky. The Ken- 
tuckians quit grumbling; they were satisfied. Captain Smith made 
other trips for Kentucky bluegrass and before many years the greater 
part of northern Missouri was carpeted with the development from 
his importation. Captain Smith also introduced to this section the first 
Cotswold sheep and Shorthorn cattle. In his latter days he spoke 
of these enterprises with pride, saying that much of the finest stock 
now found in this county were descendants from his herds. Captain 
Smith died at Macon, March 18, 1909, being but a few months short 
of ninety- two. 

In the winter of 1836-7 the General Assembly at Jefferson City 
passed the act organizing Macon county, with boundaries as follows: 
"Beginning at the southeast corner of township 56, range 13 west of 
the principal meridian; thence north, on the range line, to the northeast 
corner of township 59, in said range ; thence three miles west on town- 
ship line to the southeast corner of section 33, township 60; thence 
north on section line to the northeast corner of section 4, in said town- 
ship 60 ; thence west on township line to the northwest corner of town- 
shii3 60, range 17; thence south on the range line to the southwest 
corner of township 57, in said range; thence east on township line to the 
northwest of section three, township 56, range 16 ; thence south on the 
section line to southwest corner of section 34, in same township; thence 
east on township line to the place of beginning," which gives an area 
of 830 square miles. Since then two Macon county townships were 
added to Adair county, reducing Macon' county's area to 810 s(|uare 
miles. 

The act appointed as commissioners to select the county seat 
Joseph Baker and Henry Lassiter. The villages of Winchester, Box- 
Ancle (Bloomington) and Moccasinville were all considered as eligible 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 9 

sites for the honor, and it is said the rivalry was pretty keen, each 
asserting some distinct advantage over the other. In tlie summer of 
1S37 tlie commissioners decided on Bloomington, in what was then 
called the Owenby settlement. That same year the civil government of 
the county was organized. A two-room log house served the purposes 
of the Comity and Circuit courts. 



CHAPTER II. 

The Pioneers — James Loe — William Blackwell — Captain William 
Griffin — Captain William Smith — Squire Holman — Attacked 
BY Wolves — Saved by Blast from a Horn — Major Joseph D. 
Butler — Levi Cox — Absent from Home Twenty-one Years — R. L. 
Shackleford — Bill to Run Steamboats up Chaeiton River — 
Clever Election Ruse — Frederick Rowland — Encounter with 
Indians — William Morrow — Robert Gipson, Oldest Man in 
United States — Mrs. Polly Baskett. 

The section which afterwards became known as Macon county 
began settling np about ten years before the county was organized. 
Indians were yet numerous in these j^arts and there were frequently 
skirmishes between them and the whites. 

The first white man to erect a cabin home in what is now Macon 
county was James Loe. Mr. Loe was a Kentuckian. He immigrated 
from that state in 1820 and came to Missouri, locating in Howard 
county. He remained there until 1827, when he moved northward and 
built his cabin south of the present town of Callao, in section 13, town- 
ship 57, range 16. For a long while after the arrival of Mr. Loe's 
family they saw no human being save the Indians. During the hunt- 
ing season the Sioux passed the cabin almost every day, and frequently 
camped on the Chariton nver with a retinue. 

William Blackwell, one of the most noted pioneers of Macon county, 
was born in Madison county, Kentucky, January 13, 1797, four years 
after the Reign of Terror in France. He came to Missouri at the same 
time Mr. Loe moved up into Macon county, in 1827, locating first in 
Boone county, and later moved to Howard county. Mr. Blackwell made 
a hnal move on Ajiiil 12, 1831, when he came to Macon county and set- 
tled six miles north of where Macon is now. He was a vigorous, ambi- 
tious man and soon a little settlement clustered about him which became 
known as the "Blackwell Settlement." When he came here, Mr. Black- 
well recalls the following as being residents of Macon county at that 
time : Major William J. Morrow, Joseph Morrow, Jeff Morrow, after- 
wards sheriff and collector of Macon county; John and Jesse Morrow, 
Archibald Chambers, Andrew Millsaps and the Loes. the real pioneers. 

10 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 11 

At that period the Randolph authorities were taking care of the state's 
business clear up to the Iowa line, which then extended further north 
than it does now. 

Captain William Griffin was born in Lincoln county, Kentucky. 
May 28, 1797, the same year Mr. Blackwell was born. He was married 
to Susan Buster in September, 1821, in Pulaski county, Kentucky. In 
1828 he came to Missouri, settling in Ralls county near New liondon. 
A year later he moved to Marion county, close to Hannibal. At that 
time all the houses of Hannibal were of log. There was but one two- 
story structure in the place. That was the tavern of Joseph Brazier. 
Captain Griffin came to Macon county in 1839, two years after the 
county was organized, and located in Ten Mile township near La Porte. 
He says at that period the county was without roads, churches, schools, 
mills or blacksmith-shops. 

Captain William Smith, referred to in a previous chapter, was born 
in Clark county, Kentucky, May 4, 1817, and came to Missouri in March, 
1839. He was one of the most enthusiastic of the Kentuckians. Right 
from the start he had faith in this country and showed it by his earnest 
attempts to make his fellow Kentuckians feel at home. He died March 
18, 1909, full of years and usefulness to his fellow-man. 

Squire Holman was born in Madison county, Kentucky, October 
31, 1807, and with his father's family came to Missouri in 1817. They 
first settled near Franklin in Howard county, but in the following- 
spring they moved to Silver Springs, Randolph county. Squire Hol- 
man, William Holman, Joseph Dysart and Joseph Holman were the 
first settlers of Randolph county. Long before Macon county was 
organized Mr. Holman went to the Loe settlement and raised hogs 
there, selecting the place because of the abundance of mast. Hog 
raising was then the principle industry of the pioneer and he was 
always on the lookout for timber sections where his product would 
thrive well. The early court cases abounded in trials of parties charged 
with hog stealing and with marking hogs. In those days the crime 
was. regarded almost as serious as was horse-stealing on the frontier in 
later years. 

Another danger to the owners of hog ranches was the wolves, 
which were very numerous. One night, while making a journey to 
look after his stock, Mr. Holman stopi^ed at a deserted log cabin. He 
was almost instantly surrounded by a great herd of snarling, snapping 
wolves. He had no arms of any sort with him; nothing with which to 
build a fire and was practically defenseless. The wolves were kept 
at bay for a while bv the barking of Mr. Holman 's dog, but they were 



13 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

huugi-y and getting bolder and bolder all the time. Then Mr. Holman 
thought of his hunter's horn which he carried about his girdle. He 
seized it and blew several sharp blasts, and was tremendously sur- 
prised as well as relieved to see his dangerous enemies take to their 
heels. 

The state and county authorities offered premiums for wolf scalps, 
and they were legal tender in some counties for the pajanent of taxes. 

Major Joseph D. Butler was born in Prince William county, Vir- 
ginia, September 2, 1792. His father's family moved to Fayette county, 
Kentucky, when he was in his thirteenth year. Kentucky was in a fever 
of excitement during the war with Great Britain, in 1812. Mr. Butler 
Ijromptly responded to the government's call for volunteers. He became 
a member of Captain John McKee's company, 4th Regiment Kentucky 
Volunteer Infantry. Colonel Robert Paine was commander. After a 
number of movements his regiment received orders to join General 
Winchester on the Maumee, but liefore reinforcements could arrive 
General Winchester was disastrously defeated at the River Raisin, 
and was captured, together with a large number of his soldiers. Many 
of these were inhumanly butchered by the Indians, the acknowledged 
allies of the British. This repulse caused great grief throughout Ken- 
tucky, as some of its best blood was in General Winchester's army. 
Mr. Butler's regiment was moved about to various forts and posts and 
finally disbanded at Lebanon, Ohio. For his services Mr. Butler received 
a land warrant giving him 160 acres. He was married to Ellenor Hay- 
den in Nicholas county, Kentucky, January 18, 1818, and remained 
in that county until 1835, when he moved to Missouri and settled in 
Marion count}', six miles north of Palmyra. In 1839 he came to Macon 
county and settled on a farm, where he long resided. He entered land 
at Payette in 1836. '\^^nle there entering his land, the polls being open, 
he voted for Van Buren for president. 

Levi Cox was born with the nineteenth century in North Carolina, 
on March 22. His parents first moved to Kentucky and there Mr. Cox 
was married in 1828 to Miss Elizabeth Wade. Mrs. Cox died in 1835 
and in 1838 Mi-. Cox married Miss Lucy Wine. In 1842 Mr. Cox moved 
from Kentucky to Macon county. There were only one or two schools 
in llie county then, and but few mills and churches. Here and there 
was a subscrijition school. The people dei)ended on circuit riders 
for preaching and in pleasant weather services were held in groves. 
On April 16, 1850, Mr. Cox, Joseph Snodgrass, Oliver Stewart and a 
Mr. Gee took the overland trail for California in quest of gold. The 
journey was made in 120 days. Mr. Cox's luck was varied. Sometimes 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 13 

he was a few thousand dollars ahead and he would think of returning 
home. Then his luck would change and his little horde of gold dust 
disappear. He kept at it this way for twenty-one years. His little 
family hack in Missouri gave him up as dead. He had written home 
several times, but his mail seemed to have been miscarried. Nor did 
he receive the letters his wife wrote to him. Finally at the end of the 
twonty-one years Mr. Cox decided to come back. The journey out, 
which had required four months, was made back in eight days, the 
Pacific railroad having been constructed while he was in the far west. 
When Mr. Cox left Macon county it was yet in the primeval stage. 
The town of Macon was yet eight years in the future. Neither the 
Northern Missouri or the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad had been 
built. La Plata, Callao, Bevier, New Cambria and Atlanta were not 
even on the threshold of life. Naturally, when Mr. Cox returned twen- 
ty-one years later he found himself in a strange land; there were rail- 
roads, thriving towns and busy farms where he had only seen boundless 
prairies and forests. He felt more like a stranger than he did when he 
had arrived in California. He didn't know where to get off the train, 
and was carried by his old home place to Clarence. There he astonished 
a man by asking him where Levi Cox lived. Mrs. Cox was found in the 
same log cabin where he had left her. She had worked hard, and from 
the history of the lirst interview with the prodigal, didn't seem to be 
over excited, for she greeted him with these words : 

"Well, you're back, are you ? Come in. You'll find us all in the same 
old cabin you left here 21 years ago. How have you been getting on?" 

Mr. Cox did not remember his children. They were small boys and 
girls when he left there and now they were grown up young men and 
women. It was soon noised about the neighborhood that the California 
miner had returned and quite a crowd gathered at his house that night. 
They had an old-fashioned house warming. It was good to be at home, 
and Mr. Cox's reunion with his family, he declared, was the happiest 
event of his life. 

Roderick Lyne Shaokleford who was destined to become one of Macon 
county's most famous characters, was born in King and Queen county, 
Virginia, June 13, 1805. He was married to Miss Mary Tilley of 
Bloomington, on September 21, 184."). A. L. Gilstrap, who at that time 
was justice of the peace and later on became an editor of Blooming- 
ton's first paper, performed the ceremony. Mr. Shackleford's marriage 
occurred two years after his coming to Bloomington. He had been sent 
tliere by his brothers to take charge of a store of goods. The brothers 
then resided at Hannibal. In 1844 Mr. Shackleford was elected to the 



14 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

legislature on the Whig ticket by a majority of 15. The Democrats 
claimed the covmty by a majority rimning from 175 to 200. How Mr. 
Shackleford broke this majority is one of the most interesting features 
of early day politics. His opponents were Capt. William Griffin and 
Judge Frederick Rowland. The law provided a three days' election. 
The voting was done on the first day in the townships and on the other 
days in the court house at Bloomington. It was in Bloomington where 
the excitement developed. The race became so close that Captain Griffin 
withdrew on the second day so as not to embarras his friend Rowland. 
But even that did not save the Democratic candidate. 

Before the election the opponent of Shackleford undertook to put 
him out of the race by stating that he was in favor of a Don Quixote 
scheme of making the Chariton river navigable for steamboats. It 
was thought that the idea would be so ridiculous to the people that they 
would laugh Shackleford out of the race. But it happened that there 
were a whole lot of folks over on the other side of the river who believed 
in steamboats and wanted them to come from St. Louis into Macon 
county. When he became aware of the trend of the sentiment of these 
people, Shackleford boldly admitted the charge and said if they sent 
him to the legislature he would certainly have something done along 
the Chariton river by the "government." Then Shackleford 's main 
lieutenant, John Blankenship, put in execution a scheme which clinched 
the election for his man and won him the victory. The Chariton river 
was a raging flood ; the people to the west could not get across to hear 
the candidates. Blankenship had a large black horse, an animal that 
could swim the worst flood that ever came down the valley. He ten- 
dered it to Shackleford in order to make a spectacular campaign ]ilay. 
Shackleford was game. Blankenship sent a man over on a I'aft 
to drum up the people to the water's edge, and when Shackleford and 
his fiery steed plun^-ed into the river they were given an ovation by the 
voters on the other side. Enough votes were changed by this perform- 
ance to give Shackleford the victory. 

Mr. Rowland, Shackleford 's main opponent in that race, came to 
Macon county in 1829 and located in the southern part of the county 
near Woodville. He was born in Chatham county, North Carolina, 
March 2, 1805. Mr. Rowland became famous as a hunter and a man of 
courage. The hunting grounds were almost without limit. In the 
very early days Missouri extended up to the Des Moines river and fre- 
quently the nimrods would go that far for their game. One night a 
gang of Indian brawlers came to Mr. Rowland's cabin, announcing the 
honor by a blood-curdling war-whoop. There were no doors to the cabin 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 15 

and the ouly barrier to keeji the red men out was Mr. Rowland, who 
stood in the doorway with a musket in one hand and a butcher knife 
in the other. His wife and children stood trembling behind. Tlie 
Indians started in, and the leader felt the cold steel of the musket 
against his breast. He looked into the eyes of Mr. Rowland and saw 
that the pioneer meant death. The Indian decided he didn't want to die 
and instead of reaching for his tomahawk he held out his hand for a 
shake. He used some words in Indian lingo intended to convey the 
impression of himself and other members of his tribe that Mr. Rowland 
was a good warrior. The Indians on that occasion robbed every family 
in the neighborhood save that of Mr. Rowland's. 

Mr. Rowland was elected justice of the peace in 1847. He was one 
of the county judges. In 1850 he was elected to the Lower House of 
the General Assembly and was re-elected for one or two succeeeding 
temis. In 1854 he was elected to the State Senate and in 1861, the first 
year of the Civil war, he was elected delegate to the state convention. 
Mr. Rowland's great strength and popularity lay in the fact that he was 
a fair minded, honorable and sensible man. Although defeated on one 
occasion by Mr. Shackleford, yet he always retained his influence in 
the county, and his opinion, on politics and things in general was 
accepted with the authority of a court decision. 

Among the leading settlers of Macon county was William Morrow. 
He came from Clay count}% Kentucky, to Missouri in 1819, and located 
within a few miles of Glasgow, Howard county. Three years later he 
moved to Marion county, Tennessee, and stayed there six years. Then 
he returned to Missouri, settling in Randolph county. And a year later, 
in 1831, he came to Macon county and located on the southeast quarter 
of section 2, township 56, range 16, Chariton township. 

Mr. Morrow put up the first grist mill in the county. And also 
■ established the pioneer blacksmith shop. His neighborhood became 
known as the Morrow Settlement. Maj. William J. Morrow and Jeffer- 
son Morrow, Sr., were his sons. Jefferson Morrow enjoyed the dis- 
tinction of being Macon county's first sheriff. His name will be noted 
frequently in the early court records. He died March 17, 1900. Mr. 
Morrow would have been 87 years of age had he lived until the 13th of 
October of that year. 

Jefferson Morrow served as sheriff of Macon county from 1837 to 
1842. The first Circuit Court was held, as appears in another part of 
this history, in the home of Dabney C. Garth, with Judge Thomas Rey- 
nolds on the bench. The cases for trial were suits over debts and four 
state cases for gambling. Sheriff Morrow's fees for the first term of 



IG HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

court amounted to $9.00. Mr. Morrow was also tax collector and rode 
over the county on horseback, carrying- his collections in his saddle bags. 
To him belongs the honor of naming the town of Bloomington, Macon 
county's first capital. Many a term of court, during the early days, 
was held under trees, the judge sitting on a box or a bench. Occasion- 
ally court would adjourn to enable the judge to help the landlord of 
the tavern get a mess of venison for supper, deer being plentiful then, 
and the Court was said to be a good hunter. Sheriff Morrow and his 
wife, who was Miss Minerva Summers, lived in one house for 62 years. 
They moved to that habitation in a sled drawn by one horse. Sheriff 
Morrow was best known during his later years as "Uncle Jeff," and he 
loved to relate incidents of early days. Every Macon county citizen 
who knew him speaks of him in the tenns of highest respect. 

The three important settlements of Macon county were known as 
"The Morrow Settlement," the "Blackwell Settlement," and the 
"Owenby Settlement." The Owenby Settlement afterwards became 
known as the town of Bloomington where the county seat was located 
by commissioners. Joseph Owenby, for whom the settlement was 
named, was one of the first members of the county court. 

Eobert Gipson, a noted Macon county pioneer, is claimed to have 
been the oldest man in the United States at the time of his death, a 
statement which seems to be borne out by the records. He died at his 
home in Chariton township at the age of 119, in 1884, having been born 
in Randolph county, North Carolina, December 25, 1765. 

Mr. Gipson, was the son of Stephen and Mollie Gipson. He grew 
to manhood in North Carolina, without the advantage of even a good 
school education. At that early day, anterior to the war of the Revolu- 
tion, schools were few in number and far apart. When 30 years of age 
Mr. Gipson married Miss Gracie Smith. After the l)irth of his first two 
children, Mr. Gipson and his family moved to Wayne county, Kentucky, 
in company with his father's family. Here they lived until Mr. Gipson 
was 55 years of age, when he came to Randolph county, Missouri. He 
resided there a few years and then nuide his final change, coming to 
Macon county, and locating in the southwestern part near College 
Mound. 

In the war of 1812 Mr. Gipson was mustered into the service, ])ut 
as he was then beyond the age limit he did not remain long. His first 
wife died in 1844, and in 1851 Mr. Gipson married Mrs. Hester Howe 
of Macon county. There were sixteen children by the first wife. Mr. 
Gipson 's last child was born to him when he was 71 years of age. He 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 17 

had four great-great-grandchildreu, 100 great-grandchildren and 104 
grandchildren. 

By occupation Mr. Gipson was a farmer, making a regular hand in 
the field until he was 108 years of age. He would perhaps have con- 
tinued but for an accident. While riding on horseback one day he col- 
lided with the limb of a tree injuring his shoulder and leg. 

This remarkable citizen was five feet four inches in height, had dark 
brown eyes and brown hair which later became as white as snow, and 
weighed only 125 pounds. He was very active during the first half cen- 
tury of his lifetime and in wrestling could throw any man in his regi- 
ment. He claimed he had never met a man who could best him in 
wrestling. 

Mr. Gipson never smoked toliacco, but chewed for 50 years. Occas- 
ionally, following the custom of the pioneer, he would take a drink, but 
was never intoxicated and was of good and regular habits. He was a 
member of the Christian church for 60 years, and although he could not 
read or write he had delivered many sermons to the home-spun constitu- 
ency about his place, taking the text from memory. 

Prior to the Civil war Mr. Gipson was a Democrat, but ever after 
he voted with the Republicans at every election, except when Hancock 
was the nominee for president in 1880. A large number of j\Ir. Gipson's 
descendants are now settled in northern Missouri. 

One of his sons. Smith Gipson, took a great deal after his father in 
many respects. He was a man of sturdy, rugged character, disregard- 
ing the red-tape of the courts and the folderol of the conventionalities. 
He made a will which excited attention throughout United States 
because of its peculiar features. The will was written in Smith Gip- 
son's own hand, and was designed to convey his property in such a 
way that his heirs would never be bothered by the lawyers. He claimed 
for his will extreme lucidity, stating with pride that there was not 
a single "aforesaid" or "whereas" in it from beginning to end. A 
verbatim transcript of the will will lie found in this history among 
the court records. 

Next to Mr. Gipson in point of long life was Mrs. Polly Baskett 
of Callao, who was born May 27, 1800, and died May 28, 1901. As she 
neared the close of the century, Mrs. Baskett became intensely anxious 
to live out the hundred years, and she prayed to her Master that this 
might happen. Her prayer was granted and one year and a day added. 

For some time previous to her death Mrs. Baskett had made all 
preparations. She seemed to take an innocent pleasure in arranging 



18 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

the details. The hymns were selected, the preacher suggested and the 
inscription for the tomb-stone written before she died. 

Mrs. Baskett was born in Madison county, Kentucky. The date 
is authenticated in a family Bible printed in 1700, which Mrs. Baskett 
had in her possession at the time of her death. Aside from its length, 
Mrs. Baskett 's life was unusual in several respects. There devolved 
upon her during her young womanhood the care of an invalid mother, 
and later on the rearing of the yomiger sisters. She had many offers 
of marriage, it is said, but refused all of them until her sisters were 
settled in life. At the age of 54 she was married to Jesse Kingsbury 
of Howard county, Missouri. Ten years later she was left a widow. 
Her widowhood lasted thirteen years; then she was married to Robert 
Baskett, a veteran of the Mexican war. Mr. Baskett was then 87 years 
old. He died many years before his good wife passed away. 

Every year, on the Sunday in May next her birthday, the Baptist 
minister of Callao preached a sermon upon Aunt Polly and her praise- 
worthy Christian life. Her birthday anniversary in Callao was some- 
thing like Christmas, New Year's Day or the Fourth of July. Children 
in those parts were born and grew to maturity with the idea in their 
minds that Aunt Polly's birthday was a universal holiday. No business 
was transacted in the village on that day except matters of great 
urgency. The exercises generally consisted of songs, recitations, tab- 
leaux and the mayor or some other dignitary of the place would read a 
biographical sketch of Aunt Polly's life. 

Mrs. Baskett was related to some of Missouri's most famous men. 
The late Col. F. W. Switzler of Columbia, the state's historian and a 
journalist of over 60 years' experience, was her nephew. Luthier T. 
Collier, a well-known lawyer of Kansas City, and M. C. Tracy, a liter- 
ary man of Macon, were closely related to her. 

Besides her name, the date of birth and of death, the following 
motto was selected by Mrs. Baskett for her tombstone : 

"I know that my Redeemer liveth." 



CHAPTER III. 

The Indians — Last Battle With the Whites — "Chief Pumpkins" — 
Retkeat of the Whites — A Rear Guard Action — A Second Expe- 
dition Planned — Indians Driven Back — A Buried Treasure — 
Sanguinary Battle Between the Foxes and the Sacs — Search 
for the Treasure — Stone Tomahawks and Arrowheads on Bat- 
tlefield — The Indians' Fish Trap — Pioneer Water Mills — Corn 
as Legal Tender — Death of Anthony Hammock, Head Miller — 
The Mill on East Fork — Yule-tide in a New Country. 

When North Missouri was beiiig settled the Indians were an 
important factor to be considered. The land was cheap and valuable if 
a man could work it unmolested. Some of the tribes seemed to have 
been but a little better than outlaw gangs. Others were peaceable and 
did not go on the war-path unless provoked. None of them, however, 
ever proved to be very good neighbors. Even those who were peace- 
able were troublesome in various ways and could not be depended 
u].)on. In the early days it was made a misdemeanor to trade with an 
Indian and there is a record on the Macon County Court docket for the 
December term, 1840, where James Glen was tried on an indictment 
charging that he had traded with an Indian, and was acquitted. James 
A. Clark was the judge. 

The last battle between the whites and the red men occurred in 
July, 1829. Robert Myers, who lived in what became Macon county, 
rode down to ^fr. Blackwell's house, in Howard county, and informed 
him that the Indians were on the war-path up north ; were killing stock 
and threatening tUe lives of all the settlers on the Chariton river. James 
Myers, brother of Robert, sent word to his father to raise some men and 
rush to the scene. James Myers, Nathan Richards, Isaac Gross, 
Stephen Gross and Ruben Myrtle beat the bush and managed to raise 
a company of twenty-five for the start. This company increased as it 
advanced to the north. The first night out the camp elected Fields 
Trammel as captain and William Guess first lieutenant. On the 16th 
the pioneers were up with tlie dawn and reached the threatened settle- 
ment at night. Then a council was held. The Indians had left the neigh- 
borhood. The question debated was whether to pursue them or let them 

19 



20 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

alone. It was voted to prosecute tlie campaign and drive the hostiles 
out of the countrj". The pioneers decided there ■would never be any 
peace while the red men were within easy reach of the settlement. 

Bright and early on the morning of the 17th the flint-lock mus- 
keteers were out on the trail of the Indians. After a ten-mile march 
they came to the red men's camp. The Indians seemed to be tremen- 
dously excited, riding about in apparent disorder. Captain Trammel 
courageously rode np and called for an interpreter. Two Indians, one 
known as "Chief Pumpkins," ajiproached and shook hands with the 
Caj)tain. The Captain asked what tribe they belonged to. The Indian 
said thej- were from Iowa. John Myers called upon the Indians to lay 
down their guns. This order was given because the tribesmen, about 
fifty strong, were loading and priming their weapons. The squaws 
started to scream and run for the woods. In his account of the affair 
Mr. Blackwell said he heard the report of a gun, when he instantly 
sprang for liis horse and held him by the bridle. 

By this time rifles were popping viciously from all sides. An 
Indian leveled a gun at Mr. Blackwell, who quickly shouldered his own 
weapon and pulled the trigger, but the gun failed to go off, a common 
failing of the early day weapon. He dodged about and tried another 
shot, but again the flint failed to strike fire. The Indian seemed to have 
been having pretty much the same luck with his gun, as a ball did mit 
reach Mr. Blackwell. By that the whites began retreating and Mr. 
Blackwell followed, leading his horse, glancing back now and then to 
see what the enemy was doing. James Myers came along wounded, 
and Mr. Blackwell assisted him to the horse and then directed him to 
ride after the whites and to rally them; he tried to impress it on Myers 
that the whites could whip the Indians if they would only make a stand. 
James Myers shouted back that the Indians had killed his father. Mr. 
Blackwell said he thought Myers must be mistaken, but just at that 
instant four guns cracked right close to him and a mare on which 
Winn and Myrtle were mounted was shot and fell. There was tremen- 
dous confusion; nobody seemed to know what to do. Mr. Blackwell 
did his best to rally his comrades to juit up a bold front, but it seemed 
that they had become panic-stricken l)y the fierceness of the Indians' 
attack and nothing could stop them. Winn cried out: "Boys, I am 
gone!" The retreat continued, with Mr. Blackwell liringing up the 
rear. The Indians did not attempt a very serious i)ursuit. Blackwell 
reached llie white settlement, where he found John ^Sfyers and John 
Asbell, both of whom were wounded, Myers with a ball and Asbell 
with a flint-pointed arrov,-. Captain Trammel was also wounded, and 



n 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 21 

several other members of the company. As the little band retreated 
from the settlement they took the women and children with them back 
into Howard county. They were very much chagrined over the affair 
and in a few days another company was organized under Captain 
Sonce, wliich immediately marched to the battle-ground. In this second 
party was Mr. Blackwell. When they reached the scene of the fight they 
found Winn dead. The Indians had mutilated his body with fire. They 
also found Squire Myers dead wliere Mr. Blackwell had seen him 
last. Five shots had entered his body. As they proceeded they found 
the body of Powell Owenby and also those of two Indians. Next day 
General Owens came out with a strong force and found another dead 
Indian, so the result of the battle, as far as the dead were concerned, 
was pretty near equal. Some of the Indians engaged in the encounter 
were later on arrested and taken prisoners. They were tried at Hunts- 
ville, the county seat of Randolph county. Evidence was taken on both 
sides, and, according to an old history of the affair, it was proven that 
James Mj^ers had fired the shot which brought on the battle and the 
Indians were released. This was the final trouble between the whites 
and the Indians in this section of Missouri, and everything was quiet 
until the Black Hawk war of 1832. 

The Foxes were friendly Indians, and received an annuity from the 
government. In 1832 there was due them a sum of between $12,000 
and $15,000, which was to be paid in gold. Three alert, active tribes- 
men were selected as the custodian of the money, which they received at 
St. Louis. At that period the Sacs were at war with the Foxes. They 
were receiving no annuity, but they determined that they were entitled 
to one as much as the Foxes were and that they would capture the gold 
for themselves. The Foxes were not hunting a fight ; they were simply 
concerned about reaching their tribe in safety and delivering the money 
which they brought. They succeeded in doing this, but the Sacs sur- 
rounded the Foxes with an overwhelming body of warriors, near the old 
fish trap on the Chariton and the Foxes died like brave soldiers, fight- 
ing for their treasure. Before the battle, however, they had secreted 
their money and the Sacs were unable to find it, so their victory was 
fruitless. 

Many ancient knives and arrow-heads have been found about the 
old battlefield. Captain John M. London, who resides not far from 
the place, said that he had seen three Indians hunting about the banks 
on either side of the fish trap, and that it was supposed they were 
descendants of the Foxes who had buried their treasure there. They 
spaded in numerous places, but if they ever discovered anything they 



22 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

kept it to themselves. Soon after this visit of the Indians, white people 
made diligent search for the buried treasure, and it was reported that 
some boys had unearthed nearly $1,000 in gold pieces. This created 
quite a bit of excitement, and every man who owned land in these 
parts would steal out by himself, as opportunity offered, and try his 
luck, but no further discoveries were reported. 

The old fish trap referred to above was a stone dam constructed 
by the Indians in the early part of the nineteenth centuiy. It was 
used in fording tlie Chariton river. Later on a white man put up a cabin 
on the bank and constructed a trap in the center of the dam. This 
trap was used to catch fish for over fifty years, and the owner of it 
derived a large income from the proceeds of his invention. 

The development of the West traveled arm-in-arm with the old 
water mills as it does today with steam, electricity and the oil motor. 
The "overshot" or the "undershot" wheel ground com and wheat, 
sawed lumber and sharpened the blacksmith's tools. If there were not 
enough water in the stream to make the wheels go round, the miller 
sat down until a freshet came from up the country. Impatient custom- 
ers could not blame him for the delay. It was not his business to fur- 
nish the water. So those living near the smaller streams would not 
start out with their grain until first ascertaining whether or not the 
creek was "running." 

When steam came into general use most of the old water mills were 
changed to that power. Then, as the towns sprang up, the trade 
drifted from the streams to the mills in the towns, and the ancient 
miller was out of a job. Along all the water courses of Missouri are 
yet to be seen the remains of these old-time water mills, decayed and 
tenantless — the architectural corpses of a bygone age. 

It was always the dream of the pioneers that their little rivulets 
would, with proper leg-islation, become navigable from the mills down 
to the Missouri or Mississippi rivers. Then their farm produce would 
bring five times the normal price in the back country, and their sup- 
plies from the cities would not be so expensive and hard to get. The 
reference to Roderick Shackleford shows how this was made an issue 
in an early political campaign. 

The era of the water mill in Missouri followed close upon the moc- 
casined heels of the retreating Red man. The mills were not very 
numerous at first, and each one had to serve a wide territorj". 

Perhaps one of the most noted water mills of Macon county was the 
one built on the Chariton river, seven miles due west of Bloomington, 
by Howell Rose in the early thirties. Later this mill passed into the 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 23 

hands of Henderson McCully, father of W. E. McCuUy, former Rail- 
road Commissioner. Thereafter, McCully 's mill was known far and 
wide, and perhaps in its day had as great a patronage as any other 
grinding institution in Missouri. 

"I can remember very well when the old mill was in operation," 
remarked W. E. McCully. "It was the event of the year when a farmer 
went to mill in those days. Some of father's patrons drove down from 
Iowa, one hundred miles or more. At times the offerings were so heavy 
that a farmer would have to wait two or three weeks for his turn, As 
soon as a new load arrived, its turn would he indicated by a red keel 
mark put on the sacks by the miller or his helper. Any dispute about 
whose turn came next was settled by the head miller. His word was 
the law of the river. It was even a part of his duty to referee bouts 
at iTsticuffs and wrestling. The customers, as a rule, did not get impa- 
tient ; they came prepared to make a long stay. They would bring with 
them plenty of provisions and fishing lines. I've seen 'em strung out 
for three miles up and down the river fishing, and they caught some 
big ones, too — for the river was full of fish then. As the old burrs 
would onlj^ grind two or three bushels of corn an hour, it was necessal-y 
to keep the mill going all day and all night to come anyways near han- 
dling the trade. There was a night miller who worked in the illumina- 
tion of tallow candles. At midnight Saturday the water gate was shut 
until early Monday morning. The closing of the gate formed a trap for 
fish, and during the hours when work was suspended the catch this 
way was sometimes large. The Sunday catch was auctioned off the 
Saturday before to the highest bidder. If no fish happened to go into 
the trap, the successful bidder had to take his medicine, but generally 
the -catch was worth the price. 

"Nothing but shelled corn was handled by the water-mill man. 
He exacted one-sixth of the grain for grinding. The price was fixed 
by law. It would have amazed him had somebody offered cash. The mil- 
ler fed his corn to hogs. That's where his money came from. 

"Going to mill in those days was like going to a circus or a big- 
political rally nowadays. It was the place to swap news and jack- 
knives, engage in horse-shoe throwing, cock-fighting and all the sports 
of the period. You see, people didn't take sightseeing tours across the 
country then, and going to mill took the place of that diversion. The 
patrons were a great, brawny set of American farmers, full of grit and 
determination, and withal the kindliest folk I have ever seen. With all 
their cutting-up and yelling, they were never guilty of stealing or 
imposing on each other; their fights were fair, and they carried no bad 



24 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

blood back home with them. It would be hard to get together now a 
more truly representative American gathering than those that assembled 
on the river banks during the water-mill e])och of Missouri." 

The location of one well-known old water-mill was determined by 
a curious specimen of Indian architecture. This was a I'ock bridge 
the Red men had constructed to cross the river. It was used as a foun- 
dation for the dam the white successors made for what has long been 
known as Hairunock's Mill. Tliis old mill is yet standing on the Char- 
iton Eiver, in tlie southwest part of Macon county. Its latter-day 
distinction is as a superb place for fishing and camping. Anthony 
Hammock acquired the property in 18-16, when it was a very primitive 
affair, and completely overhauled it. Its tremendous water-wheel drove 
machinery which made both meal and flour of a high-grade quality. 
The miller and a companion were drowned in the reservoir July 10. 
1869. They were out in a small boat, taking some soundings, when the 
craft turned over and both men went down, to rise no more alive. For 
some time after the widow ran the mill; and then it passed into the 
hands of AVilliam Hammock, brother of the former owner. William 
Hammock, who is now president of a Salisbury" (Mo.) bank and the 
owner of a thousand-acre fann on the Chariton, conducted the mill until 
some time in the eighties, when Dave Bundren acquired it and put in 
steam power. 

The water-mill was the pioneer mechanical industry and the path- 
blazer regarded it almost as great a marvel as the old Washington 
hand press. Some of the old mills worked so slowly that one would 
think more might be obtained by pounding the corn with rocks. At one 
time Mose Taylor (whose mill was on the site of the East Fork reservoir 
which now supplies Macon with water) was perplexed at the stoppage 
of the meal, which he had been sacking in the celler. He looked outside 
and saw the old water-wheel faithfully churning. The machiner>- 
upstairs showed it was still attending to the job. He pulled the strap 
to see if the "shoe" had become clogged, but no meal came. Then 
he went up to investigate. There was a thief in the grinding room. An 
enormous turkey gobbler, poised safely on the bur railing, was reaching 
over and stealing each grain as it passed from the hopper into the 
"shoe." While his appetite lasted he was putting the mill, with its 
ponderous wheel, belts, rods and gear, entirely out of commission. The 
incident furnished material for neighborhood debate for a year : whether 
the farmer who owned the corn or the miller who was grinding it should 
suffer the loss for what the burglarious turkey had taken ? 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 25 

"Glory to God! The sounding skies 
Loud with their anthems ring, 
Peace to the earth, good will to men, 
From Heaven's Eternal King!" 

The genei'ation of today need shed no tears for the lot of youth 
anterior to candled Christmas trees, realistic Santa Clauses and mel- 
ody from great pipe-organs. He wouldn't have known what to do with 
that sort of a Christmas had it been within his reach. Yet Christmas 
meant a great deal to him — more than it does to the young of today, 
perhaps. 

Major Thomas Moody, a Macon county citizen since the early 
forties, tells how young America i^lanned and executed his campaign 
when the county was in the frontier stage. 

"Christmas was a strenuous time witli the moccasined boys of the 
new country," he said. "There were no flaming trees, no dolls for the 
girls, no silver smoking outfits for the boys ; none of the many beautifial 
and costly things that follow in the wake of Santa Clans now. 

"On Christmas eve the boys would gather at some prearranged 
meeting-]5lace and lay out a route for the nigJit. Every one had a rifle, 
hunting horn or fiddle. Some would be on horseback; others afoot. 
All were dressed sufficiently wai-m to stand an all-night campaign in the 
wind and snow. The cabins of the settlers were far apart, and in map- 
ping out the line of march it was done with a view of striking as many 
hospitable homes as possible, and where the larders were best supplied. 
One of the crowd might remember that Bill Jones, over on the Chariton 
bottoms, had received a jug of something from Kentucky by way of 
Hannibal recently. Bill Jones was thereupon added to the pioneer 400 
list. Another would suggest that he had seen Mrs. Tompkins and her 
daughter, Sallie, baking plmn pies during the forenoon. The social 
status of the Tompkins family was immediately elevated to the honor 
of a call. And so on. The information thus collected from widely 
separated sections enabled the leaders to decide on a route that would 
be literally flowing with milk and honey. As twilight came on the 
Christmas crusaders set out, scores of hunting dogs in the lead and 
dodging around on the flanks of the ' army of invasion. ' The celebrator 
worthy of the name was deemed a royal good-fellow in accordance with 
his capacity to make a noise. Guns cracked, horns tooted, dogs barked 
and the boys yelled. It was ;i Christmas carnival, a charivari and a 
bloodless insurrection all in one. There wasn't a policeman nearer 
than St. Louis, and the earth and the fullness thereof belonged to the 
young revelers. They didn't ajipreciate an easy capitiilation when they 



26 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

laid siege to a farm house. They enjoyed it most when the pioneer 
barricaded his doors and blew out the candles. Then they would circle 
around the habitation, with every instrument of attack in violent erup- 
tion. Sometimes the besieged would stuff cotton in their ears and try to 
stick it out. But as the night wore on and the hubbub increased instead 
of diminished, the monarch of the cabin would gracefully surrender 
and unbar tlie dours. Then the noisy crowd would stomp in and con- 
gratulate the host and his family for being 'the right sort.' The caudles 
were relighted, big logs thi'own on the wide fireplace and the 'old 
woman' and the girls would place pies, cornbread, venison, turkey, 
wild honey and ]:)rairie chicken on the board. Such a layout would be 
a feast for the gods now, but then it was such provender as every sec- 
tion of old Missouri abounded with. When the table was cleared, the 
'old man' would wink at the leader, and the guests would follow him to 
a corner of the kitchen, where he had sacredly concealed a demijohn 
of some of the 'real thing, just up from Kentuck by last boat.' 

"What a time there was ! The girls in bright homespun garments, 
rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed, flitting around in obedience to this or that 
order of the father and the mother, stealing a second or two now 
and then to exchange a whispered conversation with some stalwart 
young pioneer rioter as they passed backward and forward to execute 
the commissions ; everything was laughter and light and happiness. 
I've been there; I was one of those self-sarpe boys; the God of the 
lonely frontiersman was over us as well as above the habitations of the 
kings on those memorable Christmas eves. And we wouldn't have 
swapped places. 

"But the crowd must Inirry on, else someone — many miles further 
through the forest — will be badly disappointed, for you could hardly 
tender a greater slight to these early settlers than to fail to visit them 
at Christmastide. 

"After many hand-shakings, and possibly a sly kiss or two on the 
quiet, the gay crowd moved off amid the blare of horns and the popping 
of flintlocks. Nobody got tired; the best of humor prevailed and the 
wild escapade continued through the livelong night, when the roimd-up 
began. The cavaliers turned liomeward, their ammunition gone, their 
horns flapping silently in their straps and their voices too hoarse to 
create a disturbance. 

"Sometimes twenty or thirty miles would l>e covered in a night 
and as many as a dozen houses visited. It is an excellent testimonial to 
the carrying capacity of the pioneer youth to say that he rarely suffered 
any physical discomfort from his frequent appearances at the various 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 27 

banquet boards. He never said 'No' to anything put before him. 
Indeed, it was considered as a direct aspersion on tlie liostess' ability 
as a cook to 'pass up' anything tendered. No greater disrespect could 
be shown. The visitor had to eat, or live afterwards under the sus- 
picion that there was some feeling between him and the family visited. 

"I'm glad I lived in those old days," said the white-haired old 
gentleman, and his eyes flashed with the recollection; "glad that I've 
felt in me the tingle of hot young blood as I faced the winter's chilling 
blasts, and laughed at them. It seems ages ago, but memory is keen 
as I live the wild scenes over again, and hear the sound of horn, the 
deep bay of the hounds and the joyful shouts of the young riders. I 
haven't run across anything down to this year of our Lord that can 
.surpass it." 

The Defarges and their fellow-patriots of Saint Antoine had no 
odder weapons than did a party of young Christmas rough riders, 
who set out one snowy night across the moors about the Chariton river, 
on their way to the hospitable cabin home of Settler Moore, just across 
the divide. There were fowling-pieces of the revolutionary era and 
disposition, blunderbusses, double-barreled pistols into which you could 
almost load a walnut, horns galore and a bass-drum. When all these 
things were popping off at the same time the Almighty's provision for 
hearing was entirely inadequate. Along the route to Moore's lived 
"Uncle" Phil Everhardt and his good wife.. No harm was intended 
them, but it seems "Uncle Phil," who was a very devout gentleman, 
had been reading where "in the last days" there would be mighty 
soimds in the heavens and queer doings on earth. So when he heard 
that awful eruption of horns and things across the snow-decked bot- 
toms he made up his mind that the sign had been given. No need to 
awake the wife and cliildren. 

"It's Gabriel's horn!" cried "Uncle Phil." "The judgment day 
is coming." 

Nearer and nearer came the horsemen and louder and louder was 
the roar. 

"Come on, folks, I'm going!" 

Thus shouted "Uncle Phil" to his family, as he darted out the 
door, half dressed, and in his bare feet. He never stopped until he 
reached the home of his father-in-law, where his little family assembled 
about him, and the doors were safely barred against "Gabriel and his 
angels." 

At one place, a log house in the heart of the present coal region of 
Macon county, the ]iioneer curtly refused to welcome the Christmas 



38 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

party; said he wouldn't have anything to do with such "foolishness" 
and bade them go home and to bed. 

There was a solemn council about the camp fire and it was decided 
that a man of that kind should be taught a lesson. So they built a pen 
of heavy rails around the door of his cabin, making it higher than the 
roof, and rolled big logs against it to hold the rails in place. Then 
they laid boughs and rocks across the old chimney so it would do all 
its smoking inside. Wlien all things were thus snug tliey marched 
around the pioneer's habitation, entertaining him with enough racket 
to bring rain in a time of drought. It was worse than being besieged 
by the Indians. Finally the victim could stand it no longer, and he run 
up the white flag. The besieging party showed the absence of malice 
by eating and drinking everything there was in the cabin citadel, and 
on Christmas morning the settler had to go out and shoot some game 
before his wife had anything to cook for breakfast. It was a little 
rough, but it made him a member in good standing of the "Pioneer 
Santa Claus Association." 



CHAPTER IV. 

Early Courts and Records — First Indictment for Murder — Some 
Quaint Court Orders — Negro Sentenced to Terrible Punish- 
ment — The Mormon Trial at Moccasinville — Act of Legislature 
Repealed by County Court — Last Replevy' of a Slave in Missouri. 

In the developing stages of a new country the authorities were 
largely guided by individual judgment rather than precedent. They 
did not receive every morning a newspaper telling how other tribunals 
had done things, or how communities elsewhere had settled certain exi- 
gencies. They had to think and act for themselves. Sometimes their 
work seemed queer, or even harsh, but equal and exact justice was the 
stern aim of the pioneer, and, according to his lights, that was the law 
of the frontier community. 

Small, worn and yellow are the queer old volumes in which Macon 
county's early history was recorded, but the draftsman did his work 
with a conscientious exactitude excelling many of the modern writers of 
county archives. During the youth of the nineteenth century penman- 
ship was not a general accomplishment. Many of the ancestors of 
families now prominent and highly cultured signed with their mark. 
While the writing of the early scriveners was not beautiful, nor always 
easily decii^hered by laymen, yet it fully met the requirements of the 
law, and many times, through excess of caution, went even beyond it. 
The pioneer official took his position seriously. The fact that he held 
court "in a grove" or "on a rail fence," as they sometimes say, did 
not at all detract from the solemnity of the work in hand. If a sheriff 
or a witness were absent the derelict was promptly fined. The records 
for the first two or three years of the Circuit Court contained many 
such entries, and there are hardly any instances where the fines were 
remitted. The sheriff had to be on hand when wanted and so did every- 
body else in anj'way connected with the court. 

The Macon County Court was organized and met at the residence 
of Joseph Owenby on Monday, May 1, 1837. There were present on that 
occasion John S. Morrow, Joseph Owenby and James Cochran, justices ; 
Daniel C. Hubbard, clerk, and Jefferson Morrow, sheriff. The sheriff 
made a proclamation, formally opening the court. The first order 

39 



30 HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

diret.'ted the laying off of Llacon county into townships, providing- a 
place of election at some pioneer's home in each township. In Middle 
Fork township the place of voting was at the residence of Thomas Gee, 
and the time the first Saturday in June, when the people would vote for 
three justices of the peace of that township. James P. Holly, Thomas 
Gee and John Coalter were appointed judges of the election, 

A tax of 50 per cent on the amount of state tax was imposed on all 
licenses made taxable by law for state purposes for the year 1837. 

At that first session of the country court William H. Rowland made 
application for a license to keep a grocery at his "stand in Macon 
county"; was granted upon his paying a state tax of $10, the county 
tax, "and beer allowed by law." 

George W. Green was appointed treasurer of the county. He gave 
a bond of $5,000, with Willis E. Green and Andrew Millsaps as 
secui'ities. 

Jefferson Morrow, the sheriff, gave a bond of $1,000 for his faithful 
performance of his duties as sheriff and as ex-officio collector. His 
sureties were Johnson Summers, John S. Morrow, and Joseph J. 
Morrow. 

This is the first order for a public road: "On motion of the peti- 
tioners, ordered by the court, that Aaron Gee, Eobert Vanskike, George 
Reynolds, Joseph P. Holly and James Rowland, or any three of them, 
after being duly sworn, to proceed to view and mark out a way for a 
road, commencing at Jones' mill on the Middle Fork of Salt River, 
by Centerville, and thence to Frederick Rowland's, passing on the south 
of said Rowland's; thence by Daniel Crawley's, and to intersect the 
Bee road in the Grand Prairie, the nearest and best way, and as little 
as may be to the prejudice or injury of the several proprietors of land 
on said road as may be, and that they report to the court their proceed- 
ings at the next term, according to law." 

The Bee road ran along the divide, through the heart of where 
the city of Macon is now. It was a landmark for the pioneer. It was 
up and down this road he would travel, following the bee trace in search 
of honey. 

James Ratliff was appointed commissioner of the seat of justice 
of Macon county. 

It was ordered that all elections in Chariton township be held in 
the house of Abraham Morris, the first election to be held the first Sat- 
urday in June to elect two justices of the peace for that township. 
Johnson Summers, Clayborn Wright and Richard Summers were 
appointed judges of the election. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 31 

In Liberty township it was ordered that "all elections be held at the 
seat of justice in said township." 

It was directed by the court that an election be held the first Satur- 
day in June to elect three justices of the peace of that township. Will- 
iam Sears, Jesse Gilstrap and Canaday Owenby were appointed judges 
of the election. 

The court ordered that elections in Jackson township be held at the 
house of Nathan Richardson on the first Saturday of June next for 
the purpose of electing one justice of the peace. Nathan Richardson, 
Elvan Allen and John Walker were appointed judges. 

The election in Independence township was held at the house of 
Bird Posey; one justice was elected. Abraham Dale, Charles Hatfield 
and Fisher Rice were appointed judges. 

In the township of Pettis, the election was held in the house of 
Horton Partiu. One justice was elected, Martin Partin, Robert Miller 
and Isaac Hargis were the judges. (Pettis township was afterwards 
added to Adair county.) 

The judges for Gocean township were Samuel Eason, Jolin Lesley 
and James Cochran. One justice was elected. (Gocean township was 
afterwards annexed to Adair county.) 

The above entries of the first meeting of the county court were 
recorded "May 15 day, 1837," and signed by Daniel C. Hubbard as 
clerk. 

The next term of Macon County Court was held July 3, at the 
residence of D. C. Garth, which was officially made the place for holding 
courts. There were present Justices John S. Morrow, James O. Coch- 
ran, and Joseph Owenby; Daniel C. Hubbard, the clerk, and Jefferson 
Morrow, sheriff. The first order directed the dividing of Middle Pork 
township for the ])urpose of forming another township, to be known as 
Nai'rows. It was ordered that all elections in Narrows township be 
held at the house of Simeon Cannon, and that there be an election 
held on the first Monday in August next for the purpose of electing 
one justice of the peace of that township. Frederick Rowland, John 
Morrows and Lloyd Coalter were appointed the judges. 

It was ordered that William J. Morrow, Joseph J. Morrow and 
Richard Summers, or any two of them, after being duly sworn, shall 
mark and lay out a way from the county seat to intersect the county line 
dividing Macon and Randolph counties, the nearest and best way so as 
not to be too much to the prejudice of the people living on said route. 
The commissioners were ordered to report at the county seat the third 
Monday in July. Election judges in the township were appointed as 



32 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

follows: Chariton — Abraham Morris, John Siuiimers and Ninevah 
Summers; Liberty — William Garrett, Tyre Dabuey and James Hollo- 
way; Jackson — John McNeeley, Felix Baker and Elvan Allen; Inde- 
pendence — William Smith, James Riley and Thomas Williams ; Pettis — 
Hardin Hargis, Elisha Chambers and Robert Miller; Gocean — Samuel 
G. Eason, John Lesley and James Davis. 

Recorded July 24 day, 1837. The order was signed by Joseph 
Owenby, Justice of the County Court, and Daniel C. Hulibard, County 
Clerk. " 

The Circuit Court was organized August 17, 1837. It is interesting 
to note that at that distant period the number of the judicial district 
is the same as it is now, the second, though in the interim it had been 
changed from the second to the eleventh and afterwards to the twenty- 
seventh. 

The Honorable Thomas Reynolds was judge of the first Circuit 
Court ever held in Macon county. He was appointed by Governor 
Lilburn W. Boggs, on the 27th day of Januaiy, 1837. Judge Reynolds 
took the oath of office before William Taylor, a justice of the peace of 
Howard county on "seventh day of Feliruary, " the same year he was 
appointed. 

Following is a roster of the first Grand Jury summoned into Judge 
Reynolds' court: James Wells, foreman; James Riley, Macajah Hull, 
Canaday Owenby, James A. Terrill, Nathaniel Richardson, Nathan 
Dabney, Jesse Gilstrap, Isaac Gross, Thomas J. Dabney, John F. 
Northup, Richard Calvert, William Smith, Birdrich Posey, Thomas 
Williams, Lewis Green, James T. Halley, James A. Griffith, Stephen 
Gipson and David Young. 

Sheriff Morrow appointed as his deputy William Shane. 

William H. Davis was appointed Circuit Attorney for the first 
term of court. 

There was very little business for the first twelve months. Most 
of the indictments were for gambling and betting, for stealing hogs and 
for neglecting to take out a license, to do business. There were seven- 
teen civil and ten criminal cases called for trial. Running down the 
minutes a few years, however, it will be noticed that there was a con- 
stantly increasing business in the Circuit Court. During the April 
term, 1838, when court met in the house of Dalmey C. Garth, Daniel 
Murley, Avas tried on an indictment charging him with ''setting up a 
gambling device." After a solemn trial he was foimd guilty and sen- 
tenced to "pay a fine of one cent and be imprisoned one minute." The 
sheriff was ordered to take the unfortunate defendant into his custody 



HISTOEY OF MACON" COUNTY 33 

until lie had met tlie full demand of the law. There was no jail iu 
Macon county at that time, and it is stated that the sheriff let his pris- 
oner serve out his sentence by taking him home to dinner with him. 

James A. Clark was appointed Circuit Attorney for the August 
term of court. At that time a set of rules was adopted governing pro- 
cedure in attachments, continuances, depositions, injunctions, motions, 
and "the practice at law." 

It was ordered that the clerk keep a record of all the attorneys 
admitted to practice at this bar and it was made the rule when pre- 
senting motions that "attorneys shall have precedence, according to 
the time of their admission, beginning with the first admitted and 
proceeding to the end of the roll; the roll shall be called by the clerk 
on the morning of each day of the term." 

Section 2. "The attorney-general or the circuit attorney shall 
have precedence in all eases in which the state is a party and shall be 
called first." 

Judge Eeynolds signed the proceedings for the August term, 1838. 
At the April term, 1839, Honorable Thomas C. Burch, produced his 
commission as judge of the Eleventh Judicial District (to which it had 
been changed), issued by Governor Boggs. Judge Burch took the oath 
before Austin A. King, judge of the Fifth Judicial District. 

At this term of court James E. Abernathy, Samuel T. Glover and 
Clair Oxley were admitted to the bar. 

James A. Clark produced his commission from the governor as 
circuit attorney. He took the oath of office before Judge Thomas C. 
Burch. 

James E. Abernathy was appointed circuit attorney pro tern for 
that court, at the August term, 1839. 

At the April term, 1840, several parties were found guilty of bet- 
ting. In each case the court's entry of conviction concluded as follows : 

"Whei-eupon the court doth assess his punishment at a fine of $3; 
it is therefore considered by the court that said state recover against 
the said defendant said sum of $3 as aforesaid assessed for the use of 
Macon county, to be rendered and she have execution and the said 
defendant in mercy, etc." 

James Glen was tried at the December term, 1840, on an indictment 
charging him with "trading with Indians." 

He was acquitted. It was against the law to trade with Indians 
because in some sections certain settlers would give the Indians whisky 
for blankets and beads and things, and the liquor would make the 
Indians troublesome. 



34 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

A man who was foimd guilty of selling liquor on Sunday was 
fined $3. 

At the August term, 1842, when James A. Clark was judge and 
B. F. Stringfellow circuit attorney, Nathan, a slave, was delivered into 
the custody of the court by his bondsman. The slave was the property 
of Rebecca Matthews. He was charged with a nameless crime. The 
defendant was tried, found guilty and the court ordered his mutilation 
on the 30th day of September following. There were several other 
moves in the case, but finally the sheriff was allowed $25 for expenses 
and, it is presumed, the severe order of the court was carried out. Some- 
thing like this had happened a few months previous in Callaway 
county. 

Eeverting to the County Court record of June 17, 1839, a unique 
order will be found. The justices were Elvan Allen, Philip Dale and 
Lyn Dabney. They calmly proceeded to abrogate certain acts of the 
state legislature which did not appear to them to be in the interest of 
Macon county. The County Court's orders annulling the acts were as 
follows : 

"Ordered, that the law passed by the legislature of 1838 and 1839 
respecting groceries and dramshops be null and void in the county of 
Macon. 

"Ordered, the law passed by the legislature on the 13th of Feb- 
ruary, 1839, respecting the pay of Grand Jurors is hereby rejected 
and that there shall not be any compensation allowed them for their 
services." 

As far as can be ascertained the state of Missouri never raised 
any protest against the improvements suggested by the Macon county 
justices. Nothing much was thought of the order until recent years, 
when it was commented upon by some people who were overhauling 
the old records as a curiosity. 

There were two other interesting orders entered at the same term 
of court : 

"Ordered, that there be levied 100 per cent on the state tax for 
the county tax for the year 1839. 

"John Halley and George Halley appeared in open court and 
chose William Smith, a resident of the state of Missouri, and Macon 
county, their true and lawful guardian to transact their certain busi- 
ness concerning a certain legacy wliich is belonging to them in the state 
of Kentucky. 

Oliver Perry MaGee had the distinction of being the first man 
indicted for murder in Macon county. This occurred at the May Term 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 35 

of Circuit Court, 1849. C. H. Hardin was the circuit attorney. The 
indictment was a little different from those in use nowadays. A portion 
of it reads as follows : 

"Oliver Perry MaGee, late of the county of Macon aforesaid, not 
having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced 
by the instigation of the devil, on the 10th day of December, 1848, with 
force and arms at the county of Macon aforesaid, in and upon one 
Thomas Jefferson White, in the peace of God then and there being, 
feloniously, wilfully of his malice aforethought by lying in wait, did 
make an assault, and that he, the said Oliver Perry MaGee, with a 
certain knife of the value of 10 cents, which he, the said Oliver Perry 
MaGee, in his right hand then and there had and held, the said Thomas 
Jeft'erson White, in and upon the left side of the body of him, the said 
Thomas Jefferson White, and also in and upon the back near to the back- 
bone of him, the said Thomas Jefferson White, and also in and upon the 
left shoulder near to the point of said left shoulder of him, the said 
Thomas Jefferson White, then and there feloniously, wilfully, of his 
malice aforethought, and by lying in wait, did strike, thrust, stab and 
penetrate . . . Giving to the said Thomas Jefferson White then 
and there with the knife aforesaid, two other mortal wounds, of which 
several mortal wounds, he, the said Thomas Jefferson "White, then and 
there instantly died; and so the jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths afore- 
said, do say that the said Oliver Perry MaGee, him, the said Thomas 
Jefferson White, in the manner and by the means aforesaid, feloniously, 
wilfully, of his malice aforethought, and by lying in wait, did kill and 
murder, against the form of the statute in such cases made and pro- 
vided, and against the peace and dignity of the state." 

The first deed recorded in Macon county conveyed from John and 
Eachel Gross forty acres of land in township 58 to William Sears, for 
the sum of $125. The transaction was recorded January 21, 1837. One 
acre of that land is now worth nearly as much as the entire forty 
brought. 

The following marriages were solemnized during the same year : 

Joseph P. Owenby and Nancy Garrett, May 4; by William Sears. 

Thomas J. Dabney and Cassannah Walker, May 24; by William 
Sears. 

Alexander Shawner and Narcissa Kerby, May 13 ; by William H. 
Eowland, J. P. 

Aaron Gee and Margaret Moore, July 23; by Frederick Row- 
land, J. P. 



36 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Joseph Stewart and Mary M. Haddon, August 3 ; by Hardin Har- 
gis, J. P. 

Thomas Clifton and Eebecca Lesley, September 19; by Nathaniel 
Floyd, J. P. 

Allen Fletcher and City Ann Hatfield, August 17; by Abraham 
Dale, J. P. 

Lloyd H. Coulter and Amelia Cannon, November 9; by Elvan 
Allen, J. P. 

In June, 1838, the County Court ordered that "the county seat 
be called and known by the style of Bloomington. " Previous to that 
the place had been called "Box Ancle." According to Wash Moody, 
who came from Wayne county, Kentiicky, to Missouri, in 1842, the origi- 
nal name of the place was suggested by the people sitting on dry-goods 
boxes, there being no chairs at that i^eriod. "They would sit around 
on boxes," said Mr. Moody, "with their ankles bent so that their heels 
would be against the box and their toes on the floor. There was some 
connection between the box and the peculiarity of the ankle when sitting, 
and from this sprung the queer name." 

At the August term, 1838, the County Court ordered a temporary 
court house to be built at Bloomington on Lot 1, Block 3, agreeable 
to the plan of Joseph Owenby, supervisor, to-wit : 

Twenty feet wide and 30 feet long; one room 18x20; one room 12 
feet square; one room 8x12 feet; the lower floor to be of good seasoned 
oak plank, with sufficient joint; four doors and three windows; one 
stack chimney where the walls separate each room. 

The contract required the building to be put up in a workmanlike 
manner, with good shingles, chinked and plastered with a first-class 
quality of lime. 

It was not much over a year, however, before the above building 
was inadequate and at the November term, 1839, the court ordered the 
construction of a brick house, 45 feet square and two stories in height. 
The cost was to be $3,000. Robert George was superintendent of the 
construction. That affair, which was quite elaborate for its day, was 
not completed until 1852. 

The county seat was removed from Bloomington to Macon in 1863, 
by act of the Legislature. Following are the Circuit Court entries 
bordering the removal : 

"January 16, 1863. Court adjourned pursuant to adjournment, 
Hon. George H. Burckhartt, judge, presiding. The Grand Jury having 
finished their business and there being no further business before 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 37 

the court it was then ordered that the court adjourn until the fourth 
Monday in September next. ' ' Eecorded at Bloomington. 

Tlie next order is made at Macon, and reads as follows : 

"September. 1863. Be it remembered that at the regular term of 
the Macon County Circuit Court begun and held at the court house in 
the town of Macon, on the 28th day of September, 1863, Hon. G. H. 
Burckhartt, judge, presiding. W. T. Oilman, clerk, and William Hol- 
man, sheriff, the following proceedings were had, to-wit:" 

The third court house of Macon county was erected at Macon in 
1864-5, following the removal of the county seat from Bloomington to 
Macon. The cost of this last building was $30,000. It is made of brick 
and stands today, handsome and useful, though of a somewhat anti- 
quated type. It is stated that its Circuit Court room has better acoustic 
properties than can be foimd in many of the latter day court houses of 
the state. An annex was built in 1895 at a cost of about $7,000. This 
was for the purpose of providing more room and greater safety for the 
records of tne Probate Court and the county records, which had grown 
to be voluminous. The new court house is fireproof. In its basement is 
the heating apparatus for both buildings. 

The most sensational proceeding of an official nature in the early 
days was the trial of a party of Mormons who were passing through 
Missouri aftei' the exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois. This exodus began 
in 1846, and followed some highly exciting proceedings in the Illinois 
to^vn. The western states were much stirred up over the Mormons, and 
in many sections they were looked upon as outlaws. This party which 
came through Macon county comprised twelve men and four women. 
They camped at Moccasinville, where it was charged that they became 
very boisterous. They were constantly firing their g-uns and pistols, 
and ]3roclaimed loudly what they had been doing and were going to do. 
Their captain, LnFollette, was an aggressive sort of a man, and seemed 
to defy the authorities. It was decided to arrest him. The constable 
of Libert}^ township, Samuel Parker, was commissioned to bring LaFol- 
lette before the court, which he did. William Blackwell was the jus- 
tice. LaFollette pleaded not guilty. He secured as his counsel A". L. 
Gilstrap and another attorney of Bloomington. The formal charge 
was disturbing the peace and dignity of the state. Samuel Fox and 
J. N. Brown, of Bloomington, conducted the prosecution. During the 
trial there was a great deal of excitement lest the Mormons should 
attempt a rescue of their leader. Capt. W. C. Smith of Narrows town- 
ship marched into Moccasinville one day at the head of a strong mili- 
tarjr company, and camped in town during the trial, so as to be on hand 



38 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

in case of an emergency. The Mormon leader introduced by oral testi- 
mony some of the articles of his faith, which he said gave his people 
the right to discharge artillery or weapons of any sort that would make 
a noise at sunrise and sunset each day, except Sunday. He said that in 
doing so he and his men were simply perfomiing a religious rite, a right 
guaranteed them by the constitution of the United States. 

The jury in Justice Blackwell's court, however, was not in sym- 
pathy with such religious ceremonies and they fined the pugnacious 
Captain LaFoUette $75, a tremendous penalty in those days. However, 
Judge Blackwell agreed to remit half the fine if Captain LaFoUette 
and his noisy crew would take themselves out of the country in a hurry. 
This agreement was made and the Mormon pilgrims lost no time in 
obeying the order of the court. 

The following entry in the minutes of Macon County Circuit Court, 
made on March 30, 1864, is said to be the final official order in Missouri 
recognizing the right of slaves : 

"J. D. Vaughn, plaintiff, vs. Ewing Littrell, defendant. At this 
day comes the parties herein, by their attorneys and by mutual consent 
of the parties judgment is rendered against the defendant for the negro 
woman sued for, and the plaintiff pays costs of this suit, for which 
execution is ordered." 

The controversy between Vauglxa and Littrell over the possession 
of a woman slave arose during the winter of 1862. The slave's name 
was Mai-y. She escaped from Vaughn's plantation near College Mound 
and came to Macon. There she met and hired to Littrell as a domestic. 
Littrell was a strong abolitionist, and, feeling certain at that stage 
of the war, that the government would uphold him in his efforts to pre- 
serve the fugitive's freedom he decided to hold her at all hazards. A 
good negro was worth considerable money, and Vaughn felt like he 
couldn't afford to lose so much property. So he immediately set out on 
the hunt of his slave. It was not a hard matter to trace her to Littrell's 
house. Wlien the owner of the negro arrived there, Littrell told him 
that Mary had decided to stay and he defied Vaughn to take her. 
Vaughn consulted Major B. E. Dysart, then a young attorney who had 
just moved from Bloomington to Macon along with the county seat. 
Vaughn insisted that the attorney should get out for him a writ of 
replevin for his slave. At that period President Lincoln had given his 
word that all negro slaves should be liberated, the Emancipation Act 
to go into effect January 1, 1863. Major Dysart knew that it would be 
treading on thin ice to do as his client demanded, and naturally he 
hesitated. For the purpose of carefully feeling his way he consulted 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 39 

with Col. B. J. Ebberman, who was the provost marshal, and asked him 
if civil writs would be executed. Colonel Ebberman said that such 
were his instructions from Governor Gamble. He told Major Dysart 
to "go ahead and get your nigger." 

On January 7, 1863, Major Dysart procured the following writ 
of replevin from the Macon Circuit Court, Hon. George H. Burckhartt, 
judge : 

"No. 3039. Joseph D. Vaughn, plaintiff, vs. Ewing Littrell, defend- 
ant : Order of delivery. The state of Missouri to the sheriff of Macon 
county : You are hereby commanded to take the following slave, to-wit : 
Mary, age about thirty years, of the value of $500, from the possession 
of the defendant if same be not delivered you by him, and deliver her to 
the plaintiff upon his giving the bond required by law, and you will 
make return of this order before the Judge of our Circuit Court on the 
fourth Monday in March, 1863, certifying how you have executed the 
same. And you are further ordered to siunmon the defendant to appear 
on said day to answer the petition of the plaintiff for the unlawful 
detention of said property." 

Littrell promi)tly heard of tlie issuance of the writ and began 
studying how to thwart it. There was a company of Iowa troops in 
Macon on their way southward. They were camped in the west part of 
the city. Littrell went out and had an interview with the commanding 
officer, and asked him if he wouldn't assist him in protecting Mary from 
falling back into the hands of a slave owner. The Union officer .turned 
to his men and asked them what about it. They unanimously agreed 
to stand between ^lary and slavery. Littrell was told to go home and 
rest content — that Mary should not be disturbed by any efforts her 
"Eebel" owner might make. Littrell sent word to the sheriff, William 
Holman, that he would not surrender Mary. Hohnan understood that 
his authority would be resisted by the Iowa soldiers. He went to Colonel 
Ebberman, the provost marshal, and asked his guidance. Colonel 
Ebl)erman said : 

"That writ is issued under the authority of the laws of Missouri, 
under which you and I are acting. How many soldiers will j^ou need 
to enforce it?" 

Holman stated as near as he could the number of Iowa troops who 
had pledged themselves to support Mary. Colonel Ebberman detailed 
a like number from his own command to assist the sheriff. Holman was 
a Union man, but not an abolitionist. It is said that the job to retake 
Mary was entirely agreeable to him. He carefully selected his men 
from the i^rovost marshal's guard, mounted his horse and led the way to 



40 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

l\.ittivirs bouse, Skirmishers vrore throvrn out, and the apv^ri>ach cau- 
tiously juade, a« it 'vras supjKised a VHtoho<i l>attlo would ensue with the 
Iowa trxiops. However, not a srim wi^s in sicrht ; not a soldier ap]>ear»Hi 
to ohallongv the shorilY's jx^sse. Hohnan knookeii loudly on the door 
and Littrell came out, lie was somewhat vlisap^>ointod over the failuiv 
of his Iowa friends to ivdeeni their VMxmiise, but thousrht maybe they had 
another i^lan and woiild rescue the neiyro later on, Mary was found 
hidden away in an old barn, She acoompanie<i her captors withoni 
nnich fuss, merely expressiii^ her opinion that as long a« "Massa I-in- 
knm sot de niggahs free. All's gwine to run away 'gin de fust chanot 
Ah ijits." 

Mai-y was placed l>etween two soldiers. The sheritT then turned 
aiid le<l the march xip the road, |>assed the Iowa soldiers and on to the 
■jail. With his )-H-<sse wa<; a drummer K\v, who viviferi>usly ix-iundt^i 
all the way in order that the Iowa troops might be awake an.^ i ,.i\,. 
such objections a« tlxey eared to. 

The |^a^•ade attracted a good deal of attention as it |vasse*l through 
the city. Many people thoxight the slave was going to lx> publicly 
lloggixi and some pn^paixxi to gxM up a vigontus protest. When at 
last tlie sheriff directed the soldiers towards the jail a crowd of se\-eral 
hundred followixi to learn what the trouble was. The sheriff placet^ 
Mary sjifely Mund the bars, turned the key and then went out and 
made a si^nvh to the cr<>wd, in which he thank<\l the soldiers for their 
assistance in "upholding the law of the land," and admonished the 
sv>ect^»tors to be got>d citizens and not to take ti>o much interest in 
thing's which did not concern them. The crowd ap^-varently was with 
Holman, as they cheeretl him rei>eatedly, 

\*aiiglm oame to Macon and claimed his property after paying 
all the financial ct>st s of pn^cedure. It 'was not long after that, how( n . - 
Wfoi'^ Man- was given her freedom again under the general proc!;.:..;. 
tion. She remained with her former master quite a while, reoeiving 
wagvs for her work. 



Oj<^FICIAX, "WEATilER BuREAU AT MaCON HOTTEST DaV IN TeN YeARS — 

The Great Drought of 1854 — January 1, 18G4, Coldest Day on 
Kecori^) — Ground "Warmed to Dig Graves — Grasshopper Plague 
and Governor Hardin's Proclamation for Prayers — High Water 
IN the Chariton Valley — Cyclone at Macon — The Drought of 
1901 — AVater Sold at 10 Cents a Bucket — Reservoir Empty and 
City Supplied From Blees Academy Lakes — The Flood of 1!)09. 

It is Hilly within rcrciit years tliat anylliiii!^- like a systematic 
altemiit has been mack' in Macon <"(Uirity to iveep tracU of tiie weather. 
In eonseiinence tiiere is more or less good natiirecl disputing among 
the older eitizens as to tiie coldest and hottest days, and when it rained 
the hai'dest. It is only when something far out of the normal occurs 
that recollection agrees. At the onset the com]>iler wishes to state that 
where some of the information here gleaned from an "oldest inhab- 
itant" runs counter in any particular to the memory of some other 
"oldest inhabitant" the latter is entirely at liberty to blue-pencil his 
coijy of the liistory in accordance with his own recollection. 

In order to secure a landmark for comparisons it is necessary to 
set out first with the absolute official data of the Macon weather bureau, 
which was established by the government August 24, 1899. John Cook 
was placed in charge, and since that period has recorded his daily obser- 
vations of heat, cold, rainfall, wind and clouds. He has approved 
instruments for securing all this data accurately. The hottest days in 
the ten years were July 12 and 24, 1901, when the thennometer reg- 
istered 111. Instruments around town read as high as IKi, but they 
were in ])laces exposed to the reflection from the sun. That was known 
as "the dry year," which will be treated later. The coldest day was 
February lo, 1905, the reading being 27 below. The dry month in this 
section is August. August, 1909, was the driest montii ever otiicially 
recorded here, though the summer of 1901 was much drier, generally, 
than the summer of 1909. Following is a table indicating the tempera- 
ture and rainfall for August during the last ten years: 

41 



42 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

Date. Days above 90°. Eainfall. 

August, 1900 '. . . .26 1.68 

August, 1901 23 69 

August, 1902 9 3.92 

August, 1903 9 5.17 

August, 1904 8 3.84 

August, 1905 16 ; .4.75 

Aug-ust, 1906 17 4.20 

August, 1907 12 3.15 

August, 1908 12 2.27 

August, 1909 25 



*o^ 



It may be that the weather gods, learning some oue is keejoiug 
tab on them, are less inclined to indulge in freaks than they were in 
the old days. Certain it is that they introduced some marvelous per- 
formances, else our good friend, "the oldest inhabitant," is sadly 
mistaken. 

The year 1854 is said to have been the hottest and driest ever expe- 
rienced in Macon county. There was not only an almost total failure 
of crops, but all the streams became dry and it was a serious question 
in some localities whether life could be sustained. Many of the settlers 
became discouraged and sought to return to their native states. For a 
description of this dry year we are indebted to Joel H. Wright, presi- 
dent of the bank of Callao. In that year Mr. Wright was a young man 
of nineteen. 

"Remarkable stories had been coming to Missouri concerning the 
extent and fertility of Texas," said Mr. Wright. "These incited a 
large party of us to journey there for the purpose of taking up claims. 
We left Macon county in April. On June 16 or 17, while in camp on 
Eed river, near Preston, there was a heavy rainfall. Tliis rainfall 
was general throughout the country, extending through Missouri, as 
well as other states to the north. I remember distinctly, because it was 
the last rain that fell that year. Up to that time the weather had been 
very favorable, and prospects for crops in Macon county were excellent. 

"But as the summer went on without i-ain the exiles from Missouri 
began to get disheartened with the new land. We remembered old 
Macon county as being in bloom, and it never occurred to us that the 
blight extended there. So we started on the homeward track. There 
were seven families, each with a wagon to itself. As we plodded along- 
day after day through the drought-stricken country the problem of the 
water supply became serious. We traveled one day through the Indian 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 43 

Territory with only five gallons, which was less than a gallon to the 
family, to say nothing of the horses. The heat and dust became fearful, 
and as the afternoon wore on our thirst was intolerable. Instead of 
camping at nightfall, as had been our custom, we pressed on to a place 
where a splendid spring was said to exist. Some of the teamsters were 
in a very ugly mood ; others were becoming delirious. My heart failed 
nie as I thought what the consequences might be in the event that spring- 
had played out. We reached it at ten at night, and there was a mighty 
yell f i-om the tlnrsty pilgrims as they rushed towards the water. Strong- 
men, women and children fought and struggled for places near the 
iitUe stream, and it was necessary to form a guard of the cooler headed 
captains to keep the people from drinking themselves to death. I never 
knew until that time how sweet a thing a dipper of cool water was. 

"All along our homeward route we read desolating stories of the 
unusual drought. There were fields of stubble. Trees without leaves 
and dust- white roads.- There were no birds singing, and scarcely a 
sign of animal life in sky, tree or earth. This continued for 700 miles. 
We crossed the line into Missouri about the middle of August. As 
we advanced up the state we kept hoping that things would be different 
here, but they were not. It was the same distressing spectacle we had 
seen all along our journey. The corn which had looked so promising 
in the early summer was cut for fodder, and this is all that saved some 
of the stock. Truth is, that a great many horses and cattle died for 
want of water and food. There were no railroads in North Missouri 
then. It was impossible to get anything in the way of vegetables, flour 
or cereals. Corn meal cost $1.50 a bushel when brought from Glasgow 
or Hannibal into Macon county. We lived on bacon and corn bread. 
Coffee and molasses were purchased at the towns mentioned. A great 
many farmers moved their stock over to the Chariton river, which ran 
until late in the fall. 

"There was nothing to be done on the fann, and people just sat 
around and looked at the blazing sky. Many of the settlers who had 
taken up claims in Macon county abandoned them under the impi-ession 
that the drought was a regular summer event in Missouri. 

"Towards the latter part of August mass meetings were held, one 
at Antioch church, and three ministers, who had come a long ways for 
the purpose, prayed to the Almighty to send us rain. It was on this 
occasion that Uncle Jimps Dysart made use of an expression which has 
since become famous. He said: 'Brethren, I tell you there ain't a bit 
of use praying for rain, because the wind is in the wrong direction.' 

"I guess he was right, for the rain never came. At last winter 



44 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

set in and it was hoped early snows would furnish water. One right 
good storm did come up, but the snow was so dry that it blew away with 
the dust, hardly dampening the earth. 

"The dust on the highways was frightful on a windy day. You 
could hardly see a vehicle just ahead of you. The old Glasgow stage 
coach would roll through on its way to Bloomington with everything 
about it — horses, driver, passengers — nearly as white as snow. Some- 
times travelers' throats would become so badly choked that they could 
not talk until they took a drink of water. It was the gloomiest year I 
ever experienced in Missoui-i. 

"The spring of 1855, however, was very seasonable and crops 
sprang from the ground with fierce energj', as if to atone for the failure 
of the preceding year. What I remember most distinctly of that year 
was the way we enjoyed our first meal with home-grown vegetables. 
I don't think I ever tasted anything since that has seemed cpiite so 
good. That season was one of the most productive that has occurred 
from that day to this, and then we all knew that old Missouri was a good 
land to live in." 

The coldest day in these parts, within the memory of those who 
were here before the Civil war, was January 1, 1864. It is stated that 
the mercury dropped to 28 degrees below zero. The blizzard came at 
the end of a mild December, and it was so sudden that suffering was 
vei'y great. A military gentleman, who was with the Union forces in 
Macon at that time, says the soldiers were quartered in the Methodist, 
Presbyterian and Catholic churches, and that they were compelled to 
tear u]) the flooring and to burn the pews to keep from freezing. 

There was but little fuel in town, the people being entirely unpre- 
pared. Old barns and outhouses were chopped into fire wood and fed 
to the hearths and stoves. The commander of the forces succeeded in 
getting in from Bevier a car of coal, for which the government had to 
Ijay 25 cents a bushel. 

A citizen described New Year's day this way: 

"You could not see an object ten feet away while the storm lasted. 
The snow, which really was small particles of ice, was carried by a gale 
from the northwest, running fifty miles an hour. It was like tiBe sand. 
At certain places in the county the snow was piled up over stake-and- 
rider fences, across which sleds were driven with ease, so tightly was 
the snow i^acked. 

"The old Buffalo trails, many of which were ten feet deep in the 
center, and probably sixty or seventy feet wide, on the prairie, were 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 45 

packed so tightly with the snow that teams were driven over the same 
as on level ground." 

Hogs about Macon died by the hundreds. One man says that he 
saw 500 dead hogs waiting shipment to St. Louis, where they were 
used for some purpose, he did not loiow just what. Vast numbers of 
stock en transit on the railroads were frozen to death. 

Wliile the weather was at its severest a Mrs. Threlkeld died at 
Macon. The regular sexton said the ground was too hard to dig a 
grave, and two devoted citizens volunteered to do it. They began 
by building a huge fire over the spot and thawing the earth a little 
ways. Then they worked with pick and spade, getting down a few 
inches, after which they built auother lire, and so proceeded until the 
grave was deep enough. It took them four days of continuous work to 
complete the grave. The weather was so severe that nobody attended 
the interment at the cemetery except those immediately connected with 
the work. 

There was very little moving about. People just sat around their 
hearthstones and tried to keep warm. There was an immense amount 
of suffering throughout the county, and the sum total of the loss of stock 
was very large. 

The cold spell seemed to be widespread, as it was reported here 
that soldiers had perished in their tents as far south as the Georgia 
line. Some claim that in February, 1905, the cold was just as severe, 
but the older inhabitants who went through the blizzard of 1864 will 
not admit that it has ever been approached in this latitude. 

Up to the year 1909 the greatest flood on the Chariton valley 
occurred during the summer of 1875. A mile and a quarter of the 
Hannibal and St. Joseph railway's track was washed away. Until the 
track was rebuilt trains were run to the water's edge. Passengers and 
baggage were ferried across on rafts and small boats. The greatest loss 
from this flood was by the sweeping away of bridges. It was estimated 
by a paper of that period that it would cost $5,000 to i-epair and rebuild 
the bridges of the county. An extra le\^' of 5 cents on the hundred 
dollars was ordered by the County Court for bridge purposes. The 
damage to grain and stock along the flooded districts was not great, as 
the farmers did not use the bottoms extensively then for agricultural 
purposes. 

The year 1875 was known in several states of the west as the 
grasshopper year." Many states suffered a total loss of crops because 
of the visitation. Governor C. N. Hardin of Missouri proclaimed June 
3 as a day of fasting and prayer that the Almighty might remove the 



46 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

plague. The proclamation was generally observed. Several largely 
attended meetings were lield in Macon county in conformity with the 
executive proclamation. Perry Eayder's History of Missouri chron- 
icles this result of the governor's faith and of the people of the state: 
"About this time, in fact, on the very next day, heavy rains set in. 
Up to that time the long-continued drought had not been abated, though 
slight rains had fallen in the spring months. Following the proclama- 
tion they became heavy and frequent. It was the deliverance from 
the terrible pests. The grasshoppers began to move about June 11. 
A strong southwest wind drove them further into the interior of the 
state, but in a day or two the wind shifted to the east, and by the 15th 
the grasshoppers were entirely gone. The next year there was a bounti- 
ful harvest." 

Governor Hardin's proclamation was as follows: 

' ' Whereas, owing to failure and losses of crops, much suffering has 
been endured by many of our jjeople during the past few months, and 
similar calamities are pending upon larger communities, and possibly 
may extend to the whole state, and if not abated will eventuate in sore 
distress and famine : 

"Wherefore, Be it known that the 3d day of June, proximo, is 
hereby appointed and set apart as a day of fasting and prayer that 
Almighty God may be invoked to remove from our midst these imi^end- 
iug calamities and to gi-ant instead the blessings of abundance and 
plenty; and the people and all the officers of the state are hereby 
requested to desist during that day from their usual emplojTnents and 
to assemble at their places of worship for humble and devout prayer, 
and to otherwise observe the day as one for fasting and prayer. 

"In testimony whereof I have herunto set my hand and caused to 
be affixed the great seal of the state of Missouri. 

"Done at the City of Jeiferson tliis seventeenth day of May, in 
the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Seventy-five. 

"By the Governor, 

"C. H. Hardin. 

"Michael K. McGrath, 

"Secretary of State." 

A disastrous cyclone and hurricane went through the southern part 
of Mafon on July 13, 1883. Nearly every house in its path was more 
or less damaged, and many buildings were totally wrecked. Four per- 
sons were instantly killed, Mrs. John Clarkson, Mrs. Elizabeth Banta, 
Charles Ross and Alonzo Harp. Quite a number were seriously injured. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 47 

It was Sunday afternoon, the storm beginning a little after three and 
continuing with ever-increasing violence for an hour. While at its 
height the sky was covered with a dense cloud, making it so dark that 
one could scarcely see to go about in a room. The rain fell in blinding- 
sheets. The heaviest loss in the city was to St. James Academy, whicli 
was some distance north of the center of the storm. A large and impos- 
ing three-story wing was nearing completion. This was completely 
leveled by the storm. Dr. Ethelbert Talbot, now Bishop of Pennsyl- 
vania, was the rector of the St. James church here at the time and the 
president of the academy. 

The Macon Times got out an extensive extra the morning following 
the storm. Many columns were devoted to the losses and personal 
injuries. Among the curious incidents the Times cites the following: 

"Henry Bragg, a colored boy, was struck by a flying tree, picked 
up and carried a distance of seventy-five yards and landed in a yard, 
sustaining no injury but a few slight bruises on the face and about 
the ribs. 

"A large barrel, half- filled with mortar, was blown up into the air 
a distance of 100 feet, striking edgewise on the roof of a house, cutting 
a hole in the house and knocking out the end of the barrel. 

"The bedstead on which a Mr. James was lying was carried away, 
and he left on the ticking on the floor where the bedstead had been. 
Mr. James had been ill, but was not injured by the removal of the 
bed-stead from under him. 

"A colored woman named Irving was hung up in a large oak sap- 
ling, where she remained for an hour, so badly frightened that she was 
unable to come down or help herself. 

"An infant of five months belonging to a negro woman named 
McKenny was lifted by the wind, carried over 300 yards and dropped 
into Charlie Lawrence's field, where it was found next morning entirely 
uninjured, but thoroughly drenched. 

"The remarkable fact was demonstrated by the cyclone of last 
Sunday, that wearing apparel, bed clothing and things of that char- 
acter, with which the storm came in contact, wei-e completely rotted, 
appearing to be nothing but a mass of ashes, but retaining their shape 
imtil handled. Although the articles looked sound to the eye, and did 
not have any marks of fire about them, yet they were as thoroughly 
destroyed by the terrific wind as if they had been burned. Another 
remarkable feature of the cyclone is that through the forests where it 
passed the leaves on the trees turned completely black, as though a 
hea-^-y frost had fallen upon them. These two features, taken in connec- 



48 HISTOKY OF MACON" COUXTY 

tiou, strengthen and go a long ways toward proving the electric theory 
of Professor Tice in regard to these phenomena to be correct. 

"John Blankenship, who was seriously injured by the cyclone, was 
looking directly at the storm as it approached. When the torrent was 
within 300 yards of Ms house, a large ball of fire shot down to the 
ground, and at almost the same instant the house was riddled. Where 
the ball of fire struck the ground the earth is packed veiy hard, as 
though it had been beaten down with a maul. 

"Elijah Banta, whose buildings were swept away and whose wife 
was killed by the cyclone Sunday evening, says the shock sounded like 
the discharge of a single cannon at a distance, and that for a moment 
after the shock he knew nothing except that a great torrent of mud 
and trash poured upon him. He could not see a particle, and when 
he attempted to rise it seemed he was submerged in steam from a boiling 
kettle." 

The Times makes acknowledgment to "the noble sons of Bevier" 
and people from other towns who came to Macon to render their assist- 
ance to those who had suffered by the storm. 

In summing up its story of the disaster, the Times says : 

"The scene of the wreck is a distressing one. Men with resolute 
faces are working faithfully, silently, to gather about them all that is 
left for them to gather, women and children, some weeping, others more 
courageous, are helping their husbands and friends to erect a place 
of shelter from the rain of another night. The work is a terrible work, 
but it is done." 

No footings were made of the aggregate losses by the storm, though 
the indi^'idual damage runs all the way from $100 to $3,000. 

The summer of 1901 was the driest since 1875. Scarcely any rain 
fell during the siunmer and fall. The supply of water at East Fork 
gave out, and the town of Macon was supplied by the lakes at Blees 
Military Academy, where a small upright engine was installed and 
pumped water into the mains. An immense construction work was 
going on at the time on the Burlington railroad, which was reducing 
its grade through the city. A large force of men was employed with 
steam shovels, scrapers and other apparatus, building retaining walls 
and making embankments. For all this work water was supplied by the 
Academy lakes. 

In July it began to dawn upon the people that the situation was 
becoming serious and a communication was sent from Macon by the 
Rev. Geo. W. Sharp to Governor A. M. Dockery, requesting that he fix 
an early day for "fasting, humiliation and prayer," requesting every- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 49 

body to meet at some place of woi-ship ' ' and join in prayer services for 
rain that the calamitj^ of further drought may be averted." 

The Rev. Sharp in his letter described tlie deplorable condition of 
crops, the scarcity of water and the great losses that would likely ensue 
if deliverance did not come soon. The ministers of Macon churches 
generally endorsed the letter of Mr. Sharp to Governor Dockery. 

]Mr. Sharp, in discussing the matter at the time, referred to the 
grasshopper plague of 1875, which has already been treated in this 
chapter. He said that the moving cause for Governor Hardin's proc- 
lamation for a day of fasting and prayer was a discourse delivered 
here by the Rev. Matthew Patton. A copy of this sermon was sent 
to Governor Hardin and also printed in the IMissouri Republican of St. 
Louis. It is said that while the Reverend Patton was delivering this 
sermon the air was thick with flying grasshoppers, and great crowds 
of people thronged about the windows of the church, unable to get 
inside, enduring patiently the discomforts of the burning sun for over 
an hour, listening to the invocation of the earnest man of God that "the 
plague might be withdrawn from this fair land." 

At the time when Mr. Sharp sent the petition for a public prayer 
to Governor Dockery the conditions in Missouri were very serious. All 
hope for a corn crop had been abandoned and stock-raisers were ship- 
ping their cattle to other states for food and water. Farmers kept their 
wells locked for fear that travelers stopping at night might stealthily 
help themselves to some of the precious fluid. At some of the normal 
schools in the state experiments were made in the hopes of bringing 
rain, but nothing of consequence followed. The thermometer averaged 
from 100 to 108, a height which it maintained almost continuously 
throughout the month. 

A number of newspapers earnestly endorsed the suggestion to pray 
for rain and the Governor proclaimed Sunday, July 21, as a day for 
fasting and prayer. The proclamation was as follows: 

"Whereas, the prevailing drought is widespread and disaster 
threatens our commonwealth, and, 

"Whereas, many earnest Christian people have petitioned that a 
day of fasting and prayer be appointed; 

"Wherefore, be it known, that Sunday, July 21, be, and the same is 
hereby set apart as, a day of fasting and prayer that the threatened 
disasters may be averted, and to this end the people are requested to 
assemble at their usual places of worship to invoke the blessings of 
Almighty God. 

"In testimonv whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused to 



50 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

be affixed the great seal of the state of Missouri. Done at the city of 
Jeflerson this 15th day of July, in the year of our Lord One Thousand 
Nine Hundred and One. By the governor. 

"Sam B. Cook, "A. M. Dockery. 

"Secretary of State." 

It was an intensely hot day in Macon, but an immense crowd turned 
out to the Presbyterian church, where the general prayer services -^ere 
held, imder the auspices of the Ministers' Alliance. Eev. E. T. Caldwell, 
J. D. Murphy, W. S. Lockhart, F. Marvin, H. E. Truex and S. D. Ken- 
dall spoke upon the subject of God's answer to prayer. Within a few 
days following the governor's proclamation there was a heavy down- 
pour of rain in Macon county, and also rains were reported from other 
sections. The good people looked upon it as a direct answer to their 
prayers, but as the summer wore on and no further rains came it excited 
a suspicion in the minds of some that there was a screw loose some- 
where in the governor's proclamation. Harry Turner, a Mexico news- 
paper man, explained it by stating that the governor had appointed 
the wrong day for fasting and prayer. Mr. Turner insisted that the 
Almighty did not answer prayers of that character unless accompanied 
by sacrifice. The people must be willing to lose a day's work in order 
to show proper humility of expression and faith. If the governor had 
selected any other day but Sunday, Mr. Turner said that he was con-, 
fident the Missouri people's prayers for rain would have been answered. 

The following statistics of the "dry year" were compiled by the 
local weather observer at Macon, John Cook : 

Beginning June 11, 1901, to the present (July 26), the temperature 
has been above 90 degrees with one exception, June 19, when it was 84 
degrees. Twenty-four days of this time it has gone above one himdred 
degrees. July 12 and 24 it reached 111 degrees. Since June 11th 1.09 
inches of rain has fallen. During the same period last year 7.38 fell 
and 9534 degrees was the highest temperature reached; 102 degrees 
was the hottest day in 1900 — August 12. 

BAINFALL. 

1900. 1901. 

April 3.30 1.45 

May 3.92 .45 

June 6.43 1.66 

July 3.18 .08 

16.83 3.64 



HISTORY OF JIAfOX COUISTTY 51 

In July, 1909, the Chariton ^"alley was visited by a tremendous 
flood from the north, which did immense damage iip and down its entire 
length. There are divergent opinions as to whetlier the flood of 1875 
or the flood of 1909 rose to th.e greatest height, but there is no difference 
as to which flood did the greatest damage. In 1909 the valley was used 
extensively for farming. Thousands of acres were under cultivation 
and large herds of cattle roamed the bottoms. While a great deal 
had been done in the way of drainage ditches, yet the system liad not 
been far enough advanced to carry off the great body of water that came 
rushing down between the foothills. In the flood of 1909 the Burlington 
tracks were not washed away, but that was because the roadbed had 
been built much higher and stronger than in 1875. In the latter flood 
the water reached clear up to the tracks, and thousands of visitors from 
the towns about viewed the wide "sea" from the railroad embanlcment. 

The town of Kern, formerly called Chariton, was entirely sub- 
merged, and people had to go about from place to place in small boats. 
When farmers drove up to purchase supplies the merchant at Kern 
would send a skiff" out to bring them to the store. Many Macon county 
farmers lost from $1,000 to $5,000 on wheat, which was swept down 
in the flood. It was estimated at the time that the farmers of Adair 
coimty had lost a total of $150,000 on their grain, and as farming opera- 
tions were carried on much more extensively in the Macon county bot- 
toms of the Chariton river the figures here, as to total losses, were placed 
at $200,000. 

A curious feature of the flood of 1909 was the large number of 
snakes, insects and small animals of every description that were found 
along the Burlington embankment. The trees were alive with snakes 
coiling about and looking like branches in motion. Boys with target 
rifles went along the railroad shooting them. Workmen who were sent 
out to guard the tracks and to strengthen the embankment were greatly 
annoyed by the immense black spiders and other insects crawling 
up their legs. 

There was no loss of life, because as soon as the water became 
threatening rescue parties were sent out in all directions to warn and 
to assist the families on the bottoms. Some thirty families were picked 
up by small boats and rafts and transported to the railroad embank- 
ment at Kern, from which place tliey were furnished transportation to 
the towns until the water subsided. 

It was stated by parties living at Kern that the gauge there showed 
the water in 1909 was an inch or two higher than it was in 1875. 

A great amount of damage was done to the Iowa and St. Louis 



52 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Eaih-oad, which runs along the Chariton valley from Iowa down to 
Elmer in Macon county. Nearly all of its bridges were washed out and 
for a week or ten days the line was entirely out of commission. 

When the floods went down the farmers began pushing their drain- 
age ditches with renewed vigor. These ditches are intended to be of 
such capacity as to carry ot¥ the water before it will have time to destroy 
growing crops. This enterprise has caused Chariton bottom land to 
rise in value from almost nothing to $100 and $125 per acre. The floods 
which come down the valley deposit a sediment wlrich acts as a fertilizer 
and makes this the most productive land in the county. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Eaely State Eoads in Missouei — Era of the Stage Coach — Pony Eideb 
IN Macon County — When Bloomington was a Stage Division — A 
E.AiLEOAD Convention — Queer Opposition to Eaileoads — "Bob" 
Stewart — George H. Davis — I. N. Wilber — W. C. Brown — P. H. 
Houlahan — A Fast Mail Eun — The Pony Express — Eailroading 
in War Time — First Great Disaster on the "Joe" — Block Houses 
—Engineer Jim McIntosh — The North Missouri Eoad — The 
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe — A Big Suit Over Haedpan — 
Great Idea of Two Young Eaileoad Men. 

In the spring of 1849 an ox train left Hannibal foi- California, mak- 
ing the journey in ten months and four days. A recent newspaper sketch 
tells of railway service from New York to the Pacific coast, the schedule 
being twenty-live minutes less than four days. 

These comparisons illustrate the remarkable development of trans- 
portation in the west within the life of men who made the trip to the 
far west in '49. First, the ox team, then the stage coach, next the Pony 
Express, and, finally, the modern passenger train, luxuriously fitted, 
averaging a speed of forty miles an hour. 

Macon county has been the highway for all these different methods 
of transportation service. In the days of remote settlements the routes 
of travel were along the ridges, which were high and dry, and genei-ally 
smooth. County courts of later years have advocated the laying out of 
new roads along ridges for the same reasons given by the pioneers, 
and Macon county yet has many of such roads in commission, smooth 
and hard as a pike. 

Before the days of bridges across the streams the method was to 
grade the roads down to the bank, seeking a shallow place to cross. 
Frequently, fords were constructed of rock. At the Chariton there were 
rope ferries, whei*e a tariff of 5 cents per man was charged, or 25 cents 
for team, wagon and driver. Stock was 5 cents a head. Sometimes 
the cattle man would risk his stock making the swim rather than pay the 
tariff. A drover was removing 800 head of cattle from Livingston to 
Macon county, and on reaching William Sear's ferry, west of Blooming- 
ton on the Chariton river, stopped to dicker with the ferryman. Before 

53 



54. HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

tliey came to terms the impatient cattle dashed into the stream, and the 
whole herd reached the opposite hank safely, saving the owner expense 
of ferryage. 

One of these primitive ferry boats was in operation in Macon 
county, at Peggy's Ford, near Mercyville, as late as 1886-7, and was 
frequently used by the engineers and surveyors of the Atchison, Topeka 
& Santa Fe railroad, then under construction through Macon county. 

A pony rider transported the mail from Hannibal, through Bloom- 
ington to Milan. He ran on no schedule, just getting over the road the 
best he could. The only way of sending money then was to enclose the 
bill. No receipt was given the sender. A Virginia man, knowing there 
was no guarantee that the mail man was honest, made a $50 remittance 
to a western correspondent by slicing the bill in half. One part of the 
bill went out on one mail and the other was held several days. It hap- 
pened tliis particular pony rider was dishonest. The first half of the 
bill went through safely, but the mail carrier detected the second half, 
and held it to await the coming of the balance of the bill. The man who 
received the first half of the bill, knowing the other section was due 
soon, waited a while and then started an investigation that resulted in 
the conviction of the dishonest carrier. Such occurrences, however, 
were extremely rare in the service. 

The earliest state road was authorized in Missouri in 1808. It was 
from St. Louis to St. Genevieve and New Madrid. Later, a state road 
was established from Glasgow to Huntsville, and when Bloomington 
came on the map was extended to that place. There was also a state 
road from Hannibal to St. Joe, by way of Shelbyville; Shelby county; 
Blooming-ton, Macon cotmty, and Linneus, Linn county. 

Before the railroads came the stage coach handled the passengers 
and mail, superseding the pony rider for the latter service. The coaches 
were run daily where the traffic was heavy, and semi- or tri-weekly in 
less thickly settled communities. From two to four horses were used. 
The lines opei-ated on a schedule would run day and night, with frequent 
relays of horses. Ben HoUiday, famous as the operator of the overland 
stage coach system from the Missouri river to California, was a native 
of Missouri. 

A well-appointed stage line had stations at regular intervals, in 
charge of agents. Fresh horses were always at the station in readiness 
for the arriving coach. 

In speaking of the stage coach days in Missouri, the late William 
D. Love, of Macon county, said : 

"The coaches would arrive at Bloomington from St. Joseph, Han- 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 55 

nibal, Kirksville, Paris and Glasgow in the afternoon. People within 
a radius of twenty miles would gather at the coiinty seat to get their 
mail, which was delivered on payment of the postage. Bad roads would 
often delay the arrival of the coaches imtil long after nightfall, but 
those expecting letters would patiently wait. 

"When all the coaches on the various lines were in, the old town 
was quite lively with the travelers, drivers and bustling hostlers. You 
see, the coaches didn't arrive every day then. They only came in twice 
a week from Hannibal and St. Joseph, and from the other places once 
or three times a week. Jolm Lear operated the line across the state, 
and drove one of the coaches himself. The fare from Bloomington to 
Hannibal, about 75 miles, was, as I recollect, $5. 

"The coaches would all be assembled on the square Wednesday 
morning, each headed towards its respective destination, the lordly 
di-iver walking about, gloved and grand, critically inspecting his team, 
and occasionally favoring some townsmfyi with an observation, which 
would make him happy all day long. About the entire town would turn 
out as the hour of departure drew near. There were hurried talks and 
hundreds of messages entrusted to those happy mortals who were 
going to travel, joking backward and forward among the coach crews 
and the hostlers and a general air of animation and good-nature. 

"Old Bloomington saw its rise and fall with the stage coach, "^^len 
it was a division point for the various lines, the county seat and most 
advanced town in the county, it looked like nothing could stop it from 
becoming an important city. In the stage coach days congressmen, 
senators, governors, and everybody knew Bloomington. But a few 
years after the railroads shied off from it the star of the old town 
fell, and it had nothing left but a splendid history." 

In its issue of November 6, 1846, the St. Joseph Gazette sounded the 
note that announced the dawn of the railroad era in Northern Missouri : 

"Our country is destined to suffer much and is now suffering, from 
the difficulty of navigation and the extremely high rates the boats now 
charge. Our farmers may calculate that they will get much less for 
produce and will be compelled to pay much more for their goods than 
heretofore, and this will certainly always be the case when the Missouri 
river shall be as low as it now is. The chances are fearfully against 
having any considerable work bestowed in improving the river, and 
until it is improved by artificial means, the navigation of it to this 
point must always be dangerous and very uncertain. 

"We suggest the propriety of a railroad from St. Joseph to some 
point on the Mississippi — either St. Louis, Hannibal or Quincy. For 



56 HISTOKY OF MACOX COUXTY 

ourselves, we like the idea of a railroad to one of the latter places sug- 
gested, for this course would place us nearer to the eastern cities, and 
make our road thither a direct one; we like this road, too, because it 
would so much relieve the intermediate coimtry which is now suffering 
and must always suffer so much for transportation facilities in the 
absence of such an enterprise. ' ' 

The writer of the above was a prophet. The agitation thus begun 
bore early fruit. Prominent men were interested all the way across 
the state and "An Act to Incorporate the Hannibal and St. Joseph 
Railroad Company" was approved by the General Assembly February 
16, 1847. The stockholders named were Joseph Eobidoux, John Corby 
and Robert J. Boyd, of St. Joseph; Samuel J. Harrison, Zachariah G. 
Draper and Erasmus M. Moffett, of Hannibal; Alexander McMurty, 
Shelby county ; George A. Shortridge and Thomas Sharp, Macon county ; 
Wesley Halliburton, Linn county; John Graves, Livingston county; 
Robert Wilson, Daviess county, and George W. Smith, Caldwell county. 

The capital stock was $2,000,000, divided into 20,000 shares of $100 
each. 

A railroad convention was held at Chillicothe on June 2, 1847, 
attended by delegates from all the counties through which the Hannibal 
and St. Joseph road was to pass. The delegates from Macon county 
were George A. Shortridge, A. L. Gilstrap and Benjamin Sharp. 

The main subject for discussion was the procurement of means to 
build the road. A committee consisting of one member from each county 
was appointed to draft a plan. A. L. Gilstrap was the committeeman 
from j\Iacon county. 

The committee reported the following method for finding the 
wherewithal : 

"1. A liberal subscription by the citizens of the state to the capital 
stock of said company. 

"2. That Congress be petitioned for a grant of alternate sections 
of all vacant lands ten miles on each side of said road, when located. 

"3. That the company procure a subscription to the stock by east- 
ern capitalists, and, should the foregoing means prove inadequate, we 
then recommend that the Legislature pass an act authorizing the com- 
pany to issue bonds, to be indorsed by the governor or secretary of state 
for the residue ; the company to give a mortgage on the whole work to 
the state for the liquidation of the bonds." 

■^iMien the convention reassembled the next day Judge King, of 
Ray county, offered the following resolution, which was unanimously 
adopted : 



HISTOEY OF ^tlACON COUNTY 67 

"That whereas this convention has adopted a resolution authoriz- 
ing a memorial to Congress for donation of alternate sections of land 
to aid in the construction of the contemplated railroad, also authorizing 
a memorial to the Legislature for such aid in the undertaking as can 
be atforded consistently with the rights of other portions of the state ; 
therefore, we, the delegates, pledge ourselves to support no man for 
Congress who will not jjledge himself to the support of the proposition 
aforesaid, nor will we support any man for governor, lieutenant-gover- 
nor or member of the Legislature who will not pledge himself to give 
such aid in the construction of the said railroad as may be consistent 
with the rights of other portions of the state as contemplated by the 
resolution aforesaid." 

It appears the convention was not very sanguine of an early opera- 
tion of the railroad, as the following resolution relative to a stage route, 
offered by Mr. Sharp, of Macon, was adopted: 

"Whereas, It is not only extremely important to the agricultural 
and commercial interests of the immediate country that a good wagon 
road be o^jened from St. Joseph to Hannibal, but the United States mail 
stages cannot be put in motion on said route until said road shall be 
opened; and 

"Whei-eas, It is of the utmost importance, as well to the whole 
intermediate country as to the two extremes, that mail facilities be 
sijeedily obtained in stages through said country; therefore 

"Resolved by this convention. That it be recommended to each 
countj' through which said road may pass, immediately to open, bridge, 
and put in good repair the said road, in order that mail stages may be 
iromediately started, according to the act of Congress establishing 
said route." 

An amendment to the section relative to the grant from Congress, 
offered by Mr. Tarr, was adopted, as follows : 

"Also to petition Congress that, should any of the alternate sec- 
tions on the road or within six miles on either side thereof be sold at 
any time subsequent to the 16th day of Februaiy, 1847, and before the 
action of Congress in relation to these lands, other lands be granted as 
nearly contiguous as possible in lieu thereof." 

Committees were appointed to address the people of northern 
Missoui-i in the interest of the project. 

There was an energetic campaign in all the counties, and, looking 
at it from this era, it seems strange that opposition was encountered 
on the ground that a railroad through this country would be unwise and 
ini)))-actical. It is stated that in Linn county a member of the Legis- 



58 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

lature took the stump against the railroad because it would be an induce- 
ment for negTO slaves to desert. Others asserted that it would be impos- 
sible to make a roadbed that would stand in rainy weather; that ox 
and mule teams were the surer power, and there was no danger of them 
blowing up and killing a lot of people. Many of the residents in the 
sections campaigned had never seen a railroad train, and could not 
understand the utility of such a method. What the country needed, 
they said, was good highways for stages and freight wagous to the river, 
where the boats would take care of the traffic. 

Eobert M. Stewart, who afterwards became governor of the state, 
was the leading promoter of the enterprise. The road's charter was 
obtained mainly through his etforts, and he never ceased his labors until 
the road was completed from river to river, and in successful operation. 

From the date of the Chillicothe convention the men at the head of 
the enterprise never suffered the interest to flag. Stewart, accompanied 
by an enthusiastic retinue of energetic men, traveled backwards and 
forwards, making speeches and friends everywhere. 

The campaign continuel until 1852, when material aid was secured. 
By this time the people were pretty well educated on the subject of 
railroads, and were eager to have one in their vicinity. Through the 
efforts of Congressman "Willard P. Hall, of Mssouri, chairman of the 
committee on public lands, a bill was passed granting 600,000 acres of 
land to the Hannibal and St. Joseph road, and this immense concession 
swept away all initial troubles, and put the enterprise solidly on its feet. 

The construction work was started on the east end in 1856. In the 
spring of 1857 they began building out of St. Joseph. The road was 
completed February 13, 1859, connection being made with the rails from 
the east and west on that day near Chillicothe. 

Because of his eternal optimism for the road, there are many who 
think that "Mark Twain" took his character of "Colonel Sellers" from 
"Bob Stewart." It is stated, but without any particular authority, 
that a railroad enthusiast of the fifties started an ox team at Hannibal 
and plowed a furrow clear across the state, and that Stewart, who assist- 
ed in the survey of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road, followed this prim- 
itive survey almost exactly. For fifty years following the road's con- 
struction the inhabitants of northern Missouri have spoken of this ox 
team survey and its wonderful practicability. Truth is, it was originally 
intended to run the road through Shelbyville, Bloomington and Linneus, 
and Bloomington made a large donation on the strength of an agree- 
ment to strike that town. Afterwards the line was moved southward 
and Bloomington 's money was refunded. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 31> 

Robert Morris Stewart, to whose untiring energy and faith the 
building of the Hannibal & St. Joseph road is ascribed, was born at 
Truxton, Courtlaud county, New York, March 12, 1815, and died at 
St. Joseph, Mo., September 21, 1871, a poor man. He was never mar- 
ried. His remains rested in an unmarked gi-ave in Mt. Mora Cemetery 
until 1908, when the state had erected a handsome and imposing monu- 
ment to his memory. 

In his early life Stewart taught school and studied law in his native 
state. He came to Missouri in 1839 and located at St. Joseph. Stewart 
served as prosecuting attorney of Buchanan county and two terms in 
the Legislature, once in each branch. In 1848 he was appointed regis- 
trar of the land office at Savannah, which position he resigned in order 
to engage in the preliminary survey of the Hannibal and St. Joseph 
railroad. He superintended the entire work, in spite of the fact that a 
part of the time he was compelled to go about on crutches as a result 
of an injury. His earnest and indomitable enei'gy overcame all the 
embarrassing obstacles confronting the enterprise. Shortly after the 
completion of the survey Stewart went to the National Capital and 
secured the land grant referred to in the report of the Chillicothe 
convention. 

Stewart served as president of the road after its completion, and 
labored incessantly to make it a popular means of travel. It is related 
that a baby was disturbing the sleep of the passengers one night. The 
weary mother was unable to quiet the little one. Finally, President 
Stewart, who was on the coach, took in the situation. He walked over 
to the mother and remarked : 

' ' Madame, my name is Stewart. I'm president of this road and it's 
my duty to look after the comfort of our patrons. Hand that baby 
to me." 

Not knowing whether he was going to throw the child out of the 
window or otherwise murder it, yet fearing to disobey the "president 
of the road," the frightened mother handed her infant over. Stewart, 
who never had a child of his own, clumsily took the little passeng-er 
in his arms and walked as steadily as he could up and down the swaying 
aisle. The compound motion seemed to be just what the youngster 
wanted and it fell asleep in the president's arms. Then it was handed 
back to the mother, with the admonition to send for the president if 
it kicked up any more fuss. 

Stewart aided in the construction of the St. Joseph and Denver 
railroad and projected the St. Louis and St. Joseph road. He was the 
author of the "Omnibus Bill," imder which the railroad system of the 



60 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

state was built up. To eveiy entei-prise or measure calculated to help 
the state he was an earnest friend and worker. 

In politics Stewart was always actively interested. This camiDaign 
is characteristic of the man: Trusten Polk (Democrat), of St. Louis, 
was elected govei'nor at the election in 1856. Soon after his inaug-ura- 
tion Polk was elected United States senator to succeed Henry S. Geyer, 
deceased. He accepted the senatorship and resigned as governor. A 
special election was held in August to fill the gubernatorial vacancy. 
Stewart became the anti-Benton Democratic candidate. James S. Rol- 
hns, known as "the father of the State University," was the Whig 
nominee. 

An exciting contest followed the liuing-up of the rival candidates. 
Rollins was well known as a campaign orator of power. He was alert, 
quick to see a point and take advantage of it, and of attractive 
personality. 

Stewart, less skilled in oratory, had considerable ability. The rivals 
met in joint debate several times. On such occasions there were large 
and tumultuous crowds. The dynamic subject of slavery was up, with 
all its direful portent. State enterprises, various internal improve- 
ments, etc., were the less sinister issues trailing along with that of the 
black man. The battle waged fierce. After a meeting some said Eollins 
had the better of it ; others insisted Stewart had flattened his opponent 
out. At times bloodshed between the heated partisans was narrowly 
averted. At Gallatin a personal encounter occurred between Eollins 
and Stewart on the platfonn. This came near precipitating a riot 
among the shouting multitudes, but quiet was finally restored, and 
nobody was carried home on a stretcher. 

The contest was marked by biting sarcasm, withering denunciation 
and dramatic defiance. "\Vlienever the candidates were billed to appear 
it was no trouble to get out a crowd. An edict of the mayor wouldn't 
have kept the people at home. 

Rollins was beaten by 334 votes in a total of 96,640. Stewart was 
inaugurated in January, 1858. His first official act was to pardon Will- 
iam Langston out of the penitentiary, where he had been sent for com- 
])lii'ity in a brutal murder. Langston had at one time nursed Stewart 
through a long and serious illness. Stewart was never the man to forget 
anyone who had done him a kindness. 

Not long after he became governor of Missouri, Eollins went to Jef- 
ferson City and registered at the Madison House. Governor Stewart 
met his old antagonist, extended a friendly hand and invited him to 
be his guest at the executive mansion while in town. Eollins accepted, 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 61 

and all the animosities of the campaign were wiped out at the governor's 
hospitable board. 

In the fall of 1858 Governor Stewart issued the first j\Ossouri 
proclamation for a day of fasting and prayer in recognition of the 
Divine blessings to the state and its people. 

When the Civil war came on Governor Stewart lined up with the 
Union side, and was a member of the Gamble constitutional convention 
of 1861. 

Following are some of the first officers of the Hannibal and St. 
Joe road : 

J. K. Hayward, general superintendent; George H. Nettleton, 
auditor and chief engineer; John L. Lathrop, treasurer; H. H. Court- 
right, general freight agent ; Peter B. Groat, general ticket agent ; G. 0. 

Bishop, superintendent bridges; Farley, master mechanic; 

Thomas D. Price, paymaster; James Carr, general attorney; Josiah 
Hunt, general land commissioner; Henry Starring, general baggage 
master. 

George H. Davis of Quincy, Illinois, is the only man now connected 
with the road who was with it during the construction period. Begin- 
ning as a workman on construction, he was appointed roadmaster of 
of tlie western division when they started operating trains and served 
in tiiat capacity during the troublous times of the Civil war. He is 
now claim agent, fairly strong and active, and still intensely interested 
in railroading. Mr. Davis was bom in New Hampsliire seventy-six 
years ago. He has been in the railroad business since he was eighteen. 

Another notable personage connected with the construction of the 
Hannibal and St. Joseph road, and who served it for fifty years there- 
after is Isaac N. Wilber, now a resident of Brookfield, the Missouri 
division headquarters. Mr. Wilber was born in Dutchess coimty. New 
York, February 24, 1836. He came to Missouri December 1, 1857, and 
entered the service of the road, named as a chopper, at a point in Kan- 
sas near St. Joseph. From that time on he served as tie chopper, car- 
penter, night watchman, brakeman, conductor, fireman, engineer, 
machinist, roundhouse foreman, general foreman, division master 
mechanic and, finally, master mechanic of the great railroad shops at 
Hannibal. He resigned January 1, 1908, at the completion of fifty 
years' service with the road. On that occasion Mr. Wilber received 
from the successor to the Hannibal and St. Joseph road officials the 
following pleasant recognition of his long and efficient service : 

' ' The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad receives with regrets 
the resignation of I. N. Wilber and takes this method of expressing 



62 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

its appreciation of bis loyal and devoted service through an unbroken 
period of fifty years and its sincere hope for bis continued happiness 
and prosperity." 

The compiler of this history is indebted to Mr. ^Wilber for the 
following interesting paragraphs concerning the initial years of the 
''Joe." 

"The first locomotives. In the early days the locomotives were 
named instead of numbered, and were as well known as the cities and 
prominent people of that day. The residents along the line all had 
some one engine they considered their favorite and great were the dis- 
cussions around the stations and countiy taverns as to the speed, qualifi- 
cations, etc., of tlie respective engines. The following is a list of the 
locomotives identified with the early history of the road and the devel- 
opment of Missouri. In 1857 there were thirteen engines — wood burn- 
ers, with 16-inch cylinders. They carried tlie following names: Mis- 
souri, Albany, E. M. Stewart, Hannibal, St. Joseph, Gov. Polk, Marion, 
Shelby, Macon Linn, Livingston, Caldwell and Buchanan. In 1859 fif- 
teen more were purchased and named for the Indian tribes : Cherokee, 
Chippewa, Mohegan, Ottawa, Chickasaw, Oneida, Comanche, Seneca, 
Miami, Apache, Omaha, Ontario, etc.; then, later, six more were pur- 
chased and named for territories : the Idaho, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, 
Montana and Utah. 

" 'Gov. Polk' changed to Gen. Lyon.' Soon after the battle of 
Wilson's creek, in August, 1861, the Gov. Polk Avas changed to the Gen. 
Lyon, as a compliment to the dead liero and a rebuke to Gov. Polk for 
his position on the slavery question. (The management of the road at 
the lime was strongly in sjTiipatby with the north.) 

"In 1863 I was given my first engine to run, and continued in such 
a capacity during the war. Those were trying times for railroad men 
in Missouri. Many of the locomotives had cabs consti'ucted of boiler 
steel to protect the enginemen from the bullets of the much-feared 
bushwhackers. 

"Col. U. S. Grant at Salt River. I was pulling a west-bound pas- 
senger train in the summer of '63 or '64 — I am not sure as to the year^ 
and when we reached Salt river in Shelby county we found the confed- 
erates had burned the bridge (Bill Anderson's gang, I think) and I 
saw for the first time Col. U. S. Grant and his regiment transferring 
their wagons and munitions of war across the river. 

"Soldier and Engineer. During the war we railroad boys per- 
formed double service. When we came in off the road at the end of our 
trip we were placed on guard duty or drilled by Captain Loomis, our 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 63 

assistant suijerintendent, and our work as soldiers consisted largely 
of guarding company property. The only active service we had was 
when we were sent to Shriukey to capture Tom Harris and his band, 
who were terrorizing the community, but after being locked up in the 
old seminary at Monroe for two days, and nearly being captured our- 
selves by the redoubtable Tom, we got back to work, and I, for one, 
thought 1 was more of a success as a railroad man than as a soldier. 

"I was paid for my work from 1857 to 1865 as follows: 

"One dollar a day for chopping ties, $1.25 a day as a brakeman, 
$1.50 a day as a tireman and $2.50 a day as an engineer. 

"Coal ticket as a train order. In the early sixties we were on a 
westbound train and had an order to meet an eastbound train at Bevier, 
the great coal town of Macon county, and likewise of the state. At mid- 
night, on reaching the station, we found the train had not arrived. It 
was a beautiful summer night and my tireman and I got on top of the 
cab and laid down to take a nap in the moonlight. It appeared the 
conductor and brakeman were also taking a rest on top of the way car 
(caboose). At daybreak the conductor woke up and came over to the 
engine to wake up the sleepy crew. When we all got stretched out and 
thoroughly awake we decided to iDi'oeeed. But one thing bothered us — 
had we met our train. Bevier was not a telegraph office in those days. 
In our quandary we walked over to the coal shed and made a search 
thi'ough the coal tickets. As we found one bearing the name of the 
engine- we were to meet we decided it was safe to proceed. We reached 
the di\T[sion at Brookfield four hours late. We were asked no questions 
and had no statements to give out, and I don't suppose the superin- 
tendent or the dispatcher on duty ever discovered it, for every fellow 
worked out his own salvation in those days the best he could." 

One of the younger generation of railroad men prominently con- 
nected with the oiDeration of the Hannibal & St. Joseph road for a 
long time was P. H. Houlahan, now general manager of the Chicago 
& Alton and the "Clover Leaf" roads, with headquarters at Chicago. 

Mr. Houlahan was born at Ottawa, Illinois, March 13, 1855. He 
entered the railroad service in 1867 as water boy and track hand on 
the construction of the Ottawa and Fox railway, and the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Quincy road. From 1870 to 1875 he was track hand, check 
clerk, station baggage man and ticket agent. From 1875 to 1880 he was 
brakeman and conductor on the Fox river branch, Burlington system. 
In July, 1884, he was appointed trainmaster of the St. Louis division, 
same system; in 1886 he was made master of transportation of the 
Missouri and Kansas division of the St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas 



64 HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 

railroad; from November, 1886, to April, 1890, he was trainmaster 
of the Ham^ibal & St. Joseph road; in 1890 he was appointed assistant 
superintendent, and in June, 1892, was honored with the superintend- 
ency of the entire western division. 

It was while Mr. Houlahan was trainmaster that the fast service 
between Chicago and Kansas City was inaugurated. He saw to it that 
the line between Kansas City and Quincy held up its end of the schedule, 
and to determine how the locomotives and their crews stood the strain 
he went over his entire division and back in the engine cabs. Following 
is the schedule of this first run of the regular fast service: 



-a'- 



Eastbound. 

Left Kansas City 6:30 p. m., December 18, 1887 

Arrived Macon 11:32 p. m., December 18, 1887 

Arrived Quincy 1:45 a. m., December 19, 1887 

Westbound. 

Left Quincy 2:06 a. m., December 19, 1887 

Arrived Macon 4:13 a. m., December 19, 1887 

Arrived Kansas City 9:15 a. m., December 19, 1887 

The fast Chicago-Kansas City train became known to the general 
public as the ' ' Eli. ' ' On the time card the eastbound train is designated 
as No. 56 and the westbound as No. 55. From the date of its commission 
in 1887 until the publication of tliis volume it has held its own as the 
"crackerjack" train of the Missouri system. 

During Mr. Houlahan 's connection with the western division of the 
Burlington he laid down this philosophy for successful railroading: 

"I believe in men more than in machines. It is the human judg- 
ment that averts the crisis, not the safety appliance. Use all the appli- 
ances of proven practicability, but first of all get men — men who think 
clearly and rightly. 

"The personnel of a railroad system is built up by the same grad- 
ual process it requires to raise an army to its highest degree of 
efficiency. 

"The method of instilling a feeling of personal responsibility into 
each man is to form a nucleus of cool-headed spirits, with judgment, like 
a military staff, and these men coming in daily contact with every 
department of the service will instinctively impress upon every employe 
something of their own high code of executive ability. 



HISTORY OP MACON COUNTY 65 

"I am uot one of those who believe that men should be retired 
from active service when they have left forty or forty-five behind," 
Mr. Houlahan went on. "It requires from thirty-five to forty years 
to ripen those intellects to perfect judgment. The man of forty has 
generally been tried by fire, and thereafter he avoids the flame. Like 
the veteran general on the battlefield, he knows what's best to do." 

jMr. Houlahan 's views were quoted with approval by leading rail- 
way journals, and practical results followed the system on the "Joe." 

William C. Brown, now president of the New York Central system, 
is another of the "Joe" boys. Mr. Brown came from the farm, and 
refers with pride to his knowledge of agriculture by actual contact with 
the soil. He was born in Herkimer county, New York, in 1853. A saw 
and ax were the primary tools used by Mr. Brown in acquiring his 
railroad education. Engineers on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, 
when they stopped at Browm's woodpile, would jeer him and ask how 
he liked being a "railroader." 

From wood chopper Mr. Brown climbed to section man and then 
foreman. While in that labor he studied telegraphy at night. One day 
an operator didn't show up and young Brown was given the vacant 
key. At 19 he was appointed train dispatcher on the Illinois Central, 
and never lost an hour's time or made a blunder. 

In 1881, when he was chief train dispatcher of the Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Quincy, Mr. Brown was promoted to trainmaster, and by 1890 
had climbed to the position of superintendent. 

During the six years following 1890 Mr. Brown was general man- 
ager of the Hannibal and St. Joseph, and the Kansas City, St. Joseph 
and Council Bluffs lines of the Burlington system, and he managed, 
somehow, to find time to fill the office of general manager of a couple 
of other lines. 

In 1902 he became vice-president of the New York Central, and his 
wonderful energy in reorganizing and rehabilitating the system resulted 
in his being made president of New York's greatest railroad. 

There was a spectacular event in connection with the early opera- 
tion of the Hannibal and St. Joseph road. On April 3, 1860, a fast 
mail run was made from Hannibal to St. Joseph, 206 miles, to connect 
with the Pony Express at the latter town. The officials of the road were 
tremendously interested in the test run. Add Clark, a capable engineer, 
was honored with this order from headquarters: 

"You are to make a record that will stand fifty years." 

The road was not seasoned. Light rails, from forty to fifty pounds, 
were used. The rails of trunk lines today are twice as heavy. An 



6G HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

engine, "The Missouri," the best on the road, tender and a mail car 
produced in the Hannibal shops, constituted the fast mail train. In the 
car were Joshua Gentry, who was then president ; Superintendent J. T. 
K. Hayward, Assistant Superintendent O. N. Cutler, Trainmaster G. H. 
Davis, Conductor Jack Harris and the precious mail destined for the 
far west. 

L. L. Coleman, local fuel agent at Macon, thus relates what he knew 
of the fast run: 

"In those days all engines were wood burners. On that day I was 
at Macon with my wood-sawing outfit. There were about 2,000 cords of 
wood piled four ranks deep and eight feet liigh on the railroad bank 
opposite Weed street, and also opposite Joe Jaeger's small tin and 
repair shop, and Captain Barnes' general store. The late Ed. F. Ben- 
nett handed me a telegram from the general fuel agent to wood the 
tender in the quickest possible time. I at once erected a platform the 
height of the tender. I then secured all the help that could stand on 
the platform and when the train came in sight every man loaded his 
arms as full of selected wood as he could hold. As the train slowed 
up in front of the platform, each man dropped his load of wood into the 
tender, and the train pulled out without the loss of 15 seconds. I had 
barely time to look into the car and see the occupants clutching the seats 
with both hands to keep from being tossed all around the car. The 
engine was the 'Missouri,' Addison Clark, engineer. Attached was 
one coach, the finest then on the road. It would not be used for a smoker 
today. The president of the road, Joshua Gentry, was 'elegantly' 
attired in a home-made suit of blue jeans, trimmed with velvet cuffs 
and collar. 

"I thought that the train would surely be ditched before reaching 
St. Joseph, but it kept the track, and the small mail pouch was deliv- 
ered in four minutes on the west bank of the Missouri river to William 
Cody (Buffalo Bill) and from him to others, and was carried across 
the plains and mountains to San Francisco, the ponies being driven hard 
under whip and spur all the way. ' ' 

The train reached St. Joseph ahead of the schedule and the mail 
was handed to the Pony Eider at 7 :15 p. m. 

Engineer Clark, in an interview in the Springfield (Mass.) Reg- 
ister, says his train averaged forty-three miles an hour that day, making 
the 206 miles in four hours and fifty minutes. 

That was dangerous railroading, considering the state of the track 
at that period, but the men of the "Joe" seemed to think that no dis- 



HISTOPxY OF MACON COUNTY 67 

aster could have been worse that day than a failure to make the tirae, 
and they were willing to share the risk they required of the train crew. 

At each town through which the little train swept were immense 
crowds assembled. They cheered, and the men in the mail car responded 
by waving their hats and fluttering handkerchiefs. The sweating men 
in the cab had no time to notice things outside the slender lines ahead. 
As a precaution to insure the safety of the train, Trainmaster Davis 
directed that all switches be spiked from end to end of the run, and 
no other train be allowed on the main line within an hour of the fast 
mail. 

This brings us to the Pony Express, the flesh and blood connection 
with the far west. If the men of the railroad were wrought up over 
their part of the venture, what must have been the anxiety of William 
H. Russell and his associates as they waited tidings of the long and 
hazardous flight through the mountain wilderness and across the sands, 
every mile of which presented a new problem to horse and rider ! 

The Pony Express was put in operation to meet the insistent call 
of the western miner for better mail service from back home. Hither- 
to his letters had traveled in sailing vessels around by way of the 
Isthmus, or on the overland stage, which took twenty-one days to make 
the 2,000-mile journey from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento. 

It was a revolutionary epoch. The Atlantic cable had but I'ecently 
been laid by Cyrus W. Field, and the people of the United States were 
calling Europeans their neighbors. The great west was being peopled 
by a steady flood of immigration, men of brawn and brain, who were 
dreaming dreams of the greatest country on the earth, and were work- 
ing out those dreams. In January, 1860, a WaU street syndicate made 
a proposition to transport the United States mail from New York to 
San Francisco for $5,000,000 per year and to exceed any time that had 
evei- been made with the mail sack across the continent. William H. 
Eussell, a freighter of the plains and of the mountains, staggered the 
government with a proposition to handle the mail by Pony Express 
from St. Joseph to Sacramento — 1950 miles — in eight days hy the ivatch! 
Russell, it is said, had the support of Secretary of War Floyd. A bond 
of $200,000 was put up to guarantee the performance of something 
which was regarded by many as impossible. 

A clause in the contract required that the letters be written on the 
thinnest of tissue paper. The tarifif on each letter was $5. Tuesday, 
Ai)ril 3, 3860, at 7:15 p. m., the first Pony Rider started out from St. 
Joseph on the trail to the west. The journey was covered in less than 
the schedule time and Russell's firm was awarded the contract to carr}' 



68 HISTORY OF MACOX COrXTY 

the mail with the Pony Express. But it was a hard contract. A defect 
in any of the links along tlie bleak stretch of desert and mountain would 
threaten the bond and mean a tremendous financial loss to the men who 
had put their all in the enterprise. 

To insure the faithful performance of his duty the Pony Eider was 
required to take the following oath: 

"I, , do hereby swear, before the Great and Living God, 

that during my engagement and while I am in the employ of Eussell, 
Majors & Waddle, I will, under no circumstances, use profane language, 
that I will drink no intoxicating liquors, that I will not quarrel or fight 
with any other employe of the finn, and that in every respect I will 
conduct myself honestly, be faithful to my duties and so direct all my 
actions as to win the confidence of all my emj^loyers. So help me, God." 

In " Eoughing It," the book which made him famous, "Mark 
Twain" (Samuel L. Clemens), gives a graphic picture of the Pony 
Eider, as good a isiece of descriptive work as can be found in any of his 
large number of books : 

"In a little while all interest was taken up in stretching our necks 
and watching for the Pony Eider — the fleet messenger who sped across 
the continent from St. Joseph to Sacramento, carrying letters 1,900 
miles in eight days. Think of that for perishable horse and human flesh 
and blood to do ! No matter what time of the day or night his watch 
came on, and no matter whether it was winter or simimer, raining, 
snowing, hailing or sleeting, or whether his beat was a level straight 
road, or a crazy trail over mountain crags and precipices, or whether 
it led through peaceful regions or regions that swarmed with hostile 
Indians, he must be always ready to leap into the saddle and be off like 
the wind! There was no idling time for a Pony Eider on duty. He 
rode fifty miles without stopping, by daylight, moonlight, starlight, or 
through the blackness of darkness — just as it hapjiened. 

"He rode a splendid horse that was born for a racer and fed and 
lodged like a gentleman; kept him at his ittmost speed for ten miles, 
and then, as he came crashing up to the station where stood two men 
holding fast a fresh, impatient steed, the transfer or rider and mail 
bags was made in the twinkling of an eye, and away flew the eager 
liair and were out of sight before the spectator could hardly get the 
ghost of a look. 

"There were about eighty Pony Eiders in the saddle all the time, 
night and day, stretching in a long, scattering procession from ]Missouri 
to California, forty flying eastward, and forty westward, and among 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 69 

them making 400 gallant horses earn a stirring livelihood and see a deal 
of scenery every single day of the year. 

"We had a consuming desire, from the beginning, to see a Pony 
Eider, but somehow or other all that passed us and all that met us 
managed to streak by in the night and so we heard only a whiz and a 
hail, and the swift phantom of the desert was gone before we could get 
our heads out of the window. But now we were expecting one along 
every moment, and would see liim in broad daylight. Presently the 
driver exclaims : 

" 'Here he comes.' 

"Every neck is stretched further, and every eye strained wider. 
Away across the endless dead level of the prairie a black speck appears 
against the sky, and it is plain that it moves. Well, I should think so ! 
In a second or two it becomes a horse and rider, rising and falling, 
rising and falling — sweeping toward us nearer and nearer — growing 
more and more distinct, more and more sharply defined — nearer and 
still nearer, and the flutter of the hoofs comes faintly to our ear — ■ 
another instant a whoop and a hurrah from our upper deck, a wave of 
the rider's hand, l^ut no reply and man and horse burst past our excited 
faces, and go winging away like a belated fragment of a storm ! ' ' 

The Pony Express' life was short but busy. When the Pacific rail- 
road was completed to California, in the early years of the Civil war, 
it put the Pony Eider out of a job. There is now a large claim in the 
hands of Macon attorneys (E. S. Matthews & Sons), brought by the 
heirs of Eussell against the government for a large amount of property 
of the Pony Eider service, taken as a military necessity. 

In the first year or two of its existence the Hannibal and St. Joe 
made enough history to fill a big book. The war came on and developed 
that wild and picturesque character that became so widely known and 
dreaded — the "bushwhacker." He looked at the railroad as his legiti- 
mate prey, and it was rarely that a train journeyed across the state 
without carrj'ing into the terminal marks of his attention. His work 
was especially in evidence at the big bridges. The worst disaster that 
ever occurred on the road was a result of his handiwork. A train loaded 
with people was wrecked on Platte Eiver liridge, September 3, 1861, 
killing sixteen and injuring over sixty. The New York Herald of Sep- 
tember 7 contained this account of the occurrence : 

"Terrible Eoad Catastrophe — Diabolical Outrage on the Hannibal 
and St. Joseph Eailroad — Seventeen lives lost and a large number 
wounded," etc. It recites through correspondence with St. Louis 
papers, the wrecking of a passenger ti'ain, bound west, September 3. 



70 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

The timber of the Little Platte river bridge, nine miles east of St. 
Joseph, had been burned nearly through, and the entire train went down. 
Bushwhackers are blamed for the outrage. 

Abe Hager, baggage -master of the railroad, furnished a graphic 
story of the wreck. The passenger cars were completely smashed, and 
he was the only one to escape unhurt. He came to St. Joseph, got an 
engine, physicians and necessities for the wounded, hurrying back to 
the scene of the wreck. He is quoted as saying: "The greatest excite- 
ment prevails in St. Joseph in regard to this inhuman outrage." 

An additional account says that the train carried from eighty-five 
to one hundred passengers. The fire had been extinguished before 
entirely destroying the bridge, which was a substantial work of 100 
feet span, leaving it a mere shell. But three persons, J. AV. Parker, 
superintendent of the United States express. Mail Agent Mars and 
Hager, were able to afford assistance, the others who were not killed 
outright being so disabled as to be helpless. 

Hager walked five miles out of the way back to St. Joseph, making 
the remainder of the trip on a handcar. He found a heavy oak tie 
bound across the track 200 yards from the bridge, and two miles further 
on he found the trestle work over a small stream was on fire. 

Though the wreck occurred on September 3, and the story was 
printed four days later, there is no complete list of the killed or injured. 
The names of several victims are given, but there seems to have been 
great difficulty in getting the details of the wreck. 

Trainmaster George H. Davis immediately organized a wrecking 
crew and surgeons' staff, and took charge of the train going to the relief 
of the victims. Some of the men who had caused the disaster were still 
standing about, viewing their deadly work. They recognized Mr. Davis 
as the leader of the rescue party and told him they would get him next 
time. Mr. Davis said to them: 

"Well, I'll be there when you do it. I'm not afraid of men who 
would do such a cowardly thing as this." 

Directly following the disaster the government, which depended 
largely on the i-oad to transport men and supplies, established a system 
of block houses at all the large bridges across the state. There were 
thirteen of these altogether. These were garrisoned by Federal troops. 
Time has obliterated all these curious housefoi-ts, the one on the Char- 
iton river, in Macon county, being the last to go. Having long outlived 
its usefulness as a war expedient, not much attention was paid to it, and 
one day a spark from a passing engine set fire to the roof and soon the 





CHARITON BLOCK HOUSE 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 71 

historic old structure was in ashes. There were several notable encoun- 
ters here, and some lives were lost. 

In an interesting little volume, entitled "Missions in Missouri," 
by the Eev. Bishop Hogan, is found a description of the Hannibal and 
St. Joseph block liouses, and some of the exciting episodes that occurred 
near them during the Civil war. The Eev. Mr. Hogan, it seems, was 
engaged along in the fifties in establishing mission posts between 
Shelbina and Kansas City. 

In the volume referred to is the following description of the mili- 
tary structure on the Chariton river. 

"The subject of our sketch is the only one left of a half-dozen of the 
old landmarks which were built as a means of defense to the govern- 
ment's interest and the protection of her loyal citizens. 

"There is, however, an old schoolhouse near Macon City, which, 
at one time, was used by the Union soldiers as a fort, and today there 
remains a hole shot into it by a caimon ball more than a third of a 
century ago. 

"There were several block houses built along the line of road at 
the various bridges, but the one at the Chariton is the only one which 
remains standing, a third of a century after the close of the war. 

"About the earliest reliable information was furnished us by Capt. 
Chas. P. Brown, of Ottumwa, Iowa, who, with his company D, 3d Iowa 
Infantry, was ordered into northern Missouri. Captain Brown says : 

" 'At about 10 a. m., July 12, 1861, we reached the Chariton bridge 
and Company F was detached to guard it. An incident had occurred 
hero just before our arrival, not a little exciting. 

" 'A detachment of a dozen men from the 21st Iowa Infantry had 
come from the west to guard the bridge, arriving early in the morning, 
they went to a log cabin near by to get breakfast, when a guerilla party 
suddenly appeared and prepared to burn the bridge. The boys sprang 
to their guns and attacked the guerillas, scattering them in all direc- 
tions. The leader, who was a young man teaching school in the vicinity, 
hid in the tall grass near by, but being about to be discovered held up 
his hands. Unfortunately for him, they were covered with the tar used 
in setting fire to the bridge.. This evidence of guilt so exasperated one 
of the soldiers, that in the heat of tlie moment he shot the young man 
through the head, killing him instantly. The dead school teacher was 
buried by the company and a few days later some Union people from 
Callao came and removed the body, placing it in the hands of friends. 

" 'At this time there was no block house, but we built of log and 



73 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

sawdust a small square work around an old steam mill and it was called 
Fort Bro^vn, after Lieutenant Brown of Company F, who planned it.' 

"G. H. Davis, who was twice appointed captain of a railroad mili- 
tary company, for the purpose of protecting the line of road, which has 
now passed into the hands of the government so far as oi^erations were 
concerned, tells of a block house being built in North rivei-. Medicine 
creek and Platte river. The old relics of war times have long since 
been destroyed. The Chariton block house still stands in a fairly good 
state of preservation. 

"Concerning this old landmark, Boone Baldwin, of Macon county, 
who was about tAventy years of age at the time, relates this: 

" 'The first attempt at burning the bridge took place in the spring 
of 1861. A neighbor called at our house and reported that the gueril- 
las were about to burn the bridge. I walked from my place to I.ingo 
to apprise Section Foreman Eeynolds, who telegraphed to Macon for 
help. Eecruits came towards evening, and the spies finding the bridge 
guarded passed quietly by and applied the torch at Brush creek. Later 
on this bridge was the scene of the hanging of a man by guerrillas, who 
left their victim swinging to the bridge. 

' ' ' The following morning the soldiers returned to Macon, and a few 
soldiers came down from Callao and were pi'eparing breakfast when 
they noticed black smoke curling skyward from the bridge, and rushing 
out saw the "rebels" fleeing in all directions. 

" 'The soldiers opened fire on them and killed one of the crowd, a 
young man by the name of Malone, living near old Bloomington. A 
^"eport says that later on a man by the name of Fox was captured and 
shot for being implicated in the plot to burn the bridge. After the kill- 
ing of Malone the soldiers succeeded in extinguishing the fire and saving 
the bridge. 

" 'A second plan was formed near the close of 1862 to burn the 
bridge. In the dead hour of night, when all was in peaceful repose, the 
torch was applied and the bridge destroyed. This greatly embarrassed 
the government in the transportation of soldiers, supplies and munitions 
of war to the west.' 

""With the opening of 1863 the bridge was rebuilt and a man by the 
name of Turner, in charge of a company of negroes, was sent there to 
guard the bridge and to erect the block house for its protection. The 
summer was spent in hewing the logs and shaping the structure. Many 
of the citizens now living in Macon county can testify as to the services 
afforded by the block house in protecting the road from the raiders. 

"Mr. Baldwin relates a circumstance in this connection. AVhen 



HISTORY OF MACON" COUNTY 73 

Jackson was returning from one of bis famous raids through southern 
Iowa Mr. Baldwin's mother caught sight of 1;he Jackson crowd coming 
over a hill and notified her sons. The young men slipped out of the 
back door and crawled through the brush, making their way to a place 
of safety, just as the guerrillas rode up on the other side of the house. 
The rough riders of Jackson fed their horses and ordered supper for 
the gang, which consisted of thirteen men. Mrs. Baldwin, gratified 
at the escape of her sons, went about and prepared a good meal for her 
imwelcome guests." 

Captain James G. Mcintosh, long a resident of Macon, adds an 
interesting chapter to the early railroad days from the standpoint of a 
practical engineer. Captain Mcintosh was one of the first men who 
entered a cab on the Hannibal & St. Joseph. That was in 1859, the year 
the road was completed. The approaching war was in the atmosphere 
and excitement was high. The qualifications of an engineer, as indi- 
cated by Mr. Wilber, were varied. He not only had to handle bis engine 
well, but he had to exercise considerable judgment in order to keep the 
train out of trouble by bushwhackers and roving bands. Captain Mcin- 
tosh tells of his road experience up to the time he joined the army "to 
.secrire peace and quiet." 

"Most of the engines wei-e wood burners, using the old bonnet 
stack," said Mr. Mcintosh, "but ours used coal as an experiment on 
economy. I was the fireman and 'Deacon' Manly, a seven-foot Yankee 
from Vermont, was my engineer. He was a hard taskmaster. Not 
content with attending to his own important duties, be exercised a 
guardianship over mine to the smallest detail. Every shovelful of 
coal had to be nicely spread out on the 'deck' at the mouth of the fur- 
nace before my chief would permit me to toss it into the fire. He would 
examine it like a man searching for gold. Now and then he would pick 
out a lump containing sulphur and toss it out on the right-of-way. Not 
only did the 'Deacon' assume the responsibility for my professional 
duties, but he would take me to task regarding my spiritual obligations 
as well. He gravely told me that liars and blasphemers could never 
hope to pass the pearly gates, and said that if I didn't quit tobacco and 
swearing I would one day reach a much hotter fire than was my duty 
daily to keep up on his engine. 

"I grew to cordially dislike the old man and longed to get away 
from his dominion. I thought his puritanical teachings indicated weak- 
ness and dotage. An incident taught me that I did him a great injustice. 

"There was no fencing along the right-of-way and stock strayed 
on at its own sweet will. One dismal black night we ran into a flock of 



74 HISTOEY OF MACON COUXTY 

sheep, the mortal dread of an engineman. I saw what was ahead of us 
and jumjied off the cab. But the 'Deacon' held on to the levers, a sort 
of a second Jim Bhidso, and went with the engine into the ditch. His 
loyalty saved the train from a fearful wreck, because if he hadn't hung 
on and tried to stop, the cars would have been smashed into kindling 
wood. I pulled him out of the cab. He was bruised up considerably, 
but still alive. He said he was sorry for the sheep ! 

' * The engines at that period had a pmnp which only worked while 
the drive-wheels were in motion. When a long wait on a siding caused 
the water to run low in the boilers, you would have to uncouple your 
engine and run up and down the main track to replenish the boiler. 
There were no inspirators, injectors, or glass gauges. The valves of 
the steam chest were oiled by hand from the running board. 

"In the fall of 1861 I was given command of the ' Cliickasaw, ' as 
engineer. The 'Chickasaw' was one of the best machines on the I'oad. 
The 'General Lyon' was another good engine which later on made a 
war record. Engines were all named just like steam-boats and the 
passengers had favorites among them. It was common to hear them 
say : 'We'll get in on time today because the "Chickasaw" is pulling us.' 

"There were no through trains except the specials. We stopped at 
every station. If we were infomied in time that parties were anxious 
to get away on the train but hadn't quite got their trunks packed, why, 
we would wait for them. It was the duty of the employees to be 
obliging. 

"Fate didn't permit me to enjoy my career as boss of the 'Chick- 
asaw' very long. The incident which caused me to abandon railroading 
occurred in Buchanan county in 1862. The 'Chickasaw' was pulling 
a special containing ofBcers of the road into St. Joseph. Much trouble 
had occurred of late through the acti^^ty of bushwhackers and we were 
keeping a sharp lookout. The 'Chickasaw,' with safety valve popping 
off, was rolling smoothly along, making good time, when we came in 
sight of the Platte river bridge. An instant later I saw a man step on 
the bridge and signal us to stop. About the same time we noticed great- 
volumes of smoke rolling up from the bridge. There were two guesses 
as to the motive of the man who was waving Ms hands at us. He might 
be a section hand warning us against danger or he might be a bandit 
intending to hold us up. I adopted the latter view of the dilemma and 
pulled the throttle wide open. The conductor, who had been looking out 
from the cars, took issue with me and signaled for me to stop. I felt 
a bit like a mutineer on the high seas, but as I knew the conductor's 
object as well as mine was to get the train through safely. I i^ut my 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 75 

judgment against his. As we swept on to the bridge a gang of long- 
liaiied fellows rose up out of the brush and fired into us. The conductor, 
in the meanwliile, had crossed the tender and come into the cab, laid flat 
on the deck with us and the train thundered safely across the bridge. 
The fire had been started too late to weaken the timbers. The only 
damage done was the shattering of glass in the car windows. There was 
considerable money on the train, and doubtless the bandits had learned 
of this. After getting a safe distance we slowed up and looked back. 
Tii.e bridge was entirely in flames. 

"When we pulled into St. Joseph, Master Mechanic H. A. Bowley 
came up and congratulated us for the nerve he thought we had displayed 
in jiulling the train out of danger. I told him for my part that I was 
much obliged, but I resigned my job as engineer right then and there, 
and soon afterwards joined the 9th Missouri Cavalry, under Colonel 
Odin Guitar. I slept easy of nights after that." 

The North Missouri Railroad Company was organized in 1853-4. 
Its construction was effected by city, county and private subscriptions, 
aided by bonds loaned by the state, amounting to about $6,000,000. St. 
Louis, by a vote, took a large amount of stock, and all the counties on 
the line, except Macon, took stock. According to the charter, the loca- 
tion was to be "along the ridge dividing the waters of the Missouri 
and Mississippi rivers, or as near as may be." 

Wlien the road was completed to Mexico, strong efforts were made 
to have Macon county subscribe stock. Randolph county took $175,000 
worth of stock, Adair also voted for stock and it was confidently sup- 
posed that Macon would follow suit. 

Public meetings were held in the eastern and southeastern portions 
of the county in favor of submitting the matter to a vote. Major James 
T. Rollins of Boone county and Isaac Sturgeon of St. Louis addressed 
the citizens of Macon comity at Blooraington, urging upon them the 
immense advantages the road would be to them. At a public meeting 
held at Bloomington, Dr. A. L. Knight of Macon was chosen chairman 
and J . M. Love secretary. The meeting passed a resolution requesting 
the County Court to submit a proposition subscribing $100,000 to secure 
the location and construction of the road through Macon county. 

The resolution was presented to the County Court, and the court 
ordered an election. There we-re several propositions, mostly condi- 
tional. One was that the line should be located through Bloomington. 
The condition of the charter, "on the dividing ridge, or as near as may 
be," satisfied many that it could not legally be located through Bloom- 
ington, and the proposition Avas voted down at the election. 



76 HISTOEY OF MACON COUXTY 

For some time after this the managers of the road talked of run- 
ning it through Shelby and Monroe counties, leaving Macon out in the 
cold. Perhaps this would have been done but for the mandate conveyed 
in the words of the charter. The road was finished to Macon in Feb- 
ruary, 1859. It curved up to the Hannibal and St. Joseph track and for 
some years there was a Union depot at Macon to serve both roads. 
Macon was the northern terminal. Later on the line was extended to 
Kansas City, the western diAdsion starting out at Moberly. The north- 
ern division was continued on to Des Moines, Iowa. 

In the course of a few years the road was acquired by the Toledo, 
Wabash & Western railroad system and its name changed to the 
Wabash. 

The construction of the North Missouri railroad to Macon gave 
that town, perhaps, the greatest boom it ever had. An auction sale of 
lots occurred in the presence of several thousand people. The bidding 
was lively and good piices realized for the property. This feature of 
Macon is treated in another chapter. 

What was called the Alexandria and Bloomington road was sur- 
veyed from the Mississippi river to Bloomington in 1862. The purpose 
was to build another I'oad across the state. The project was abandoned 
because of the war. 

The last trunk line to go through Macon county was the Atchison, 
Topeka and Santa Fe. This was constructed in 1887, by the Chicago, 
Santa Fe and California Railway Company of Iowa. Construction 
contracts were let in December, 1886, and the first train was run over 
the road on the first day of January, 1888. The work was pushed very 
rapidly, because the engineers of the system were in a hurry to get a 
through line into Chicago. The road runs twenty-six miles through 
the western and northern portions of Macon county. During the first 
construction the permanent work on the roadbed was planned so as to 
admit of a double track, an improvement which has recently been made. 
The Santa Fe is the only doiible track system passing through Macon 
county. Following the building of this road many important towns 
sprang up in the north and west part of the county, and the large town 
of La Plata was given a decided commercial impetus. 

One of the largest contractors' suits ever before a Missouri court 
developed out of the construction of the Santa Fe railroad in this sec- 
tion. After the work approached its completion it became evident that 
the engineers for the railroad and those employed by the contractors, 
Benezette, Williams & Co., of Chicago, would never agree on the amount 



HISTORY OF MACOIST COUNTY 77 

due on the final estimates. The section in dispute started at the Grand 
river in Chariton county, and ran a short ways northeast of Ethel in 
Macon county, a distance of forty miles. The main contention was as 
to the character of the earth, which the contractors insisted was hard- 
pan, and should be classified as such. The method of classifying the 
matei'ial, allowances made for hauling and the alleged arbitrary change 
of grade at the Wabash road and also a change in tlie line, were among 
the points in dispute. 

The plaintiffs claimed a balance due them on final estimates of 
$188,311.74. The railway engineers figured the balance due the con- 
tractors was ouly $30,399.06. 

The litigation was filed in the Macon Circuit Court about the time 
the road began operating trains. 

The parties api)eared in court for the first time in September, 1889. 
The road introduced in evidence the contract signed by all the parties, 
according to which the measurements made by the railway engineers 
were to govern. The plaintiffs contended that while they had signed the 
contract in good faith, yet they had a right to set it aside if they could 
sbow fraud or capriciousness on the part of the railway engineers. 
Judge Ellison sustained the contract, refused to pass on the quantum 
meruit and the contractors appealed to the Supreme Court of Missoiiri. 
The Supreme Court reversed the case and remanded it for a hearing 
on the qtinntum meruit. This meant an inquiry into all the matters 
raised by the contractors. 

F. L. Schofield, a distinguished attorney of Hannibal, was agreed 
upon as referee. The taking of testimony was begun in the United 
States court room at Hannibal in February, 1894. The plaintiffs were 
represented by John E. McKeighan of St. Loms and George A. Maban 
of Hannibal. Gardiner Lathrop, of Kansas City, and Ben Eli Guthrie, 
of Macon, appeared for the railroad company. 

The evidence was voluminous. The witnesses went over the road 
by foot and then down into the earth. At one time there was an adjourn- 
ment to take the evidence of B. F. Booker, then living at Mexico, in the 
Republic of Mexico. Booker had been assistant chief engineer for tlie 
railway company during the construction period. At the time the court 
adjourned to Mexico to take his deposition, Booker was dying with 
consumption. He passed away soon afterwards. The Santa Fe road 
furnished a S2)ecial car for the court, lawyers, stenographers and inter- 
ested parties to make the entire trip. Another journey was made to 
New Orleans to take the deposition of E. E. Earl, who was the division 
engineer on the western end of the construction. One of the witnesses 



7S HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

caiue all the waj- from Palestine, the Holy Laud, to testify on the part 
of the plaintili's. 

The record consisted of about 10,000 typewritten pages. It was 
prepared by Mrs. E. L. Treat of Hannibal and Edgar White, of Macon, 
who attended as official stenographers. 

The case was argued before the referee in February, 1895. The 
referee devoted nearly all of his time to his report. It was an immense 
task to go through such a large amount of evidence, to examine the 
books, profiles and various paraphernalia connected with railroad con- 
struction. He found a balance due the contractors of $83,505.77 over 
the amount allowed them by the final estimates of the engineers. The 
defendant railroad, as a matter of course, filed exceptions to this report 
of the referee. There was an argument on the exceptions before Judge 
Ellison, which lasted two weeks. Judge Ellison handed down a written 
opinion in April, 1896. 

He disallowed eveiy item which the referee had credited to the 
plaintiffs. He found that the evidence had shown no fraud or miscon- 
struction of the contract by the railway engineers. 

The main ground for each allowance by the referee was on hardpan. 
That amount allowance he figured at $50,000. Judge Ellison held that 
the claim for hardpan having been called to the attention of the engi- 
neers during the construction, and thej^ having passed upon the mate- 
rial, had decided that it was not hardpan, and the decision could not 
now be set aside "and substitute therefor a shadowy memory and 
recollection of eight years ago." 

"The result seems conclusive to my mind that defendant's engi- 
neers fairly passed upon all material and determined this was not hard- 
pan, with just the same emphasis that a verdict for the plaintiff means 
that it is against the defendant. I therefore set aside the referee's 
report and finding as to hardpan and disallow the increase of 
$50,350.41." 

The defendant railway's exceptions to the referee's report were all 
sustained by Judge Ellison, except as to the lien and interest, which 
were overruled and judgment ordered for plaintiffs for $36,785.92. 

The tender of the railroad in the first place had been $30,399.06. 
'J^he contractors appealed to the Supreme Court, which affirmed the 
finding of Judge Ellison in 1900. That terminated the case. 

The Iowa & St. Louis is the latest railroad to enter Macon county. 
It starts at Sedan, where it connects with the Keokuk & Western, and 
extends through the heart of the Chariton valley southward into Macon 
county, terminating at Elmer. Most of the right-of-way has been 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 79 

secured ou to Macou, to which place the road has been chartered. All 
along it has been the strong hope of the people of Macon county that 
the road would soon be completed to the main line at Macon, thus afford- 
ing an important outlet for passeuger and freight traffic. The road 
now has an excellent bed, and its rolling stock is first class. It has 
regular daily passenger and freight service, except on Sunday. The 
road is operated by the management of the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas 
Cit>' line, an important line of the Burlington system. 

The early history of the Iowa & St. Louis road is interesting. 

In the early part of May, 1901, W. S. McCauU, then claim agent for 
the Quincy, Omaha & Kansas City railroad, while sitting in a country 
liotel in Adair county, overheard a conversation between a railroad 
ofiicial, now high in the Hawley syndicate, and a coal operator and pro- 
moter. They were discussing the practicability of the building of a rail- 
road from Centerville, Iowa, down the Chariton river for the purpose 
of developing the rich coal fields of the Chariton valley and its immense 
agricultural resources. 

Mr. McCauU was thoroughly familiar with the region the two men 
were discussing. Being a railroad man of experience, he was quick 
to see the importance of the idea, and rapidly formed a plan to build the 
railroad himself, with the aid of some friends. Next day he consulted 
with H. F. Eeddig, then chief clerk to the general manager of the Q., 0. 
& K. C, and H. H. Kendrick, auditor for the same company. 

Articles of incorporation for the Iowa & St. Louis Railway Com- 
pany were executed on the 11th day of May, 1901, within less than a 
week after McCaull overheard the conversation referred to. On the 
18th of May, articles were filed in the office of the Secretary of State at 
Jefferson City. The Iowa & St. Louis Eailway Company had a corporate 
existence. 

The authorized capital stock was $50,000. The company was organ- 
ized to build a railroad five miles in length in "a generally northei-n 
direction" along the bottoms of the Chariton river from a point on the 
Q., 0. & K. C. E. R., at or near the town of Novinger, to a place near 
Shibley's Point. There was a clause in the articles of incorporation 
expressing an intention of the company, some time in the future, when 
its capital stock should have been increased sufficiently, to construct 
and maintain a standard gauge railroad in "a generally northern 
direction" to a point at or near the town of Centerville, Iowa. 

With the incorporation, H. F. Eeddig was elected president; W. S. 
McCaull, vice-president and general attorney, and H. H. Kendrick, 
secretary and auditor. At that time the three hopeful railroad men 



80 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

could not, by combining all their assets and credit, have secured money 
enough to build a mile of the right-of-way. But that didn't worry them 
a bit. They set to work with energy, procuring mining leases upou 
several thousand acres of good coal land, opened up prospect holes 
which showed coal in fair quantities, and in some way, unknown even 
to themselves, they built between four and five miles of ti-ack, forming 
coimections with the Kansas City Midland Coal Company's spur, which 
connected with the Q., 0. & K. C, near Novinger. 

The development of coal land gave the young railroad syndicate 
an asset which they carried to the market. Before the first year of the 
road's life the Gates-Lambert-Keefe syndicate (barbed wire men), of 
Chicago, became interested in the coal project and bought the stock 
of the railroad company. Their first move was to reorganize the latter. 
They retained Eeddig as president and Kendrick as secretaiy and 
auditor ; McCaull, the originator of the enterprise, was let out. 

Plans were immediately fonned for building from Des Moines, 
Iowa, to Macon, Missouri, under the name of the Iowa & St. Louis Rail- 
way Company. A charter was also obtained for building from Macon 
to St. Louis, under the name of the Iowa & Missouri Railway Com- 
pany. Construction on the Iowa & St. Louis Railway Company was 
begim at Centerville, Iowa, southward and northward from Conuells- 
ville, a coal town just north of Novinger. The Iowa & St. Louis tracks 
were cheaply laid, the bridges were fragile and the spring floods along 
the river easily washed them away, together with many miles of the 
roadbed. The periodical flood of the valley seems to have been a prob- 
lem which had not entered into the heads of the early promoters. To 
make the roadbed safe from the waters it required an immense amount 
of money for embankments and bridges. It is probable that the idea 
had been to start a railroad and then to sell out at a large figure to some 
system already operating in the territory. It is reported that the Iowa 
& St. Louis people finally made a deal which gave them a large profit 
on their investments. There was another rmnor to the effect that they 
were glad to make a sale which let them out even. At any rate, on 
March 23, 1903, the road passed into the control of the Q., 0. & K. C, 
the stock of which company had been bought by the Burlington. 

Although some trains had been run from Novinger to Centerville, 
the new owners did not deem it wise to operate the road reg-ularly until 
the roadbed had been put in better condition. All trains were with- 
drawn and the work of rebuilding and strengthening the roadbed and 
bridges was pushed rapidly. About June, 1903, regular service was 
installed from Sedan, Iowa, to Novinger, Missouri. Later, the seven 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 81 

miles of the road from Centerville to Sedan were abandoned. 

During 1903 the track was extended to Elmer, which is yet the 
southern terminal of the road. Since the Burlington acquired the con- 
trol, the improvement work was constant until the road was put in as 
good condition as any of the trunk lines now operating through the 
state. 

The managing offices are at Kansas City. Division headquarters 
are at Novinger. The shops, where the rolling stock is repaired, are at 
Milan, about tliirty miles west of Novinger. The completion of the 
Iowa & St. Louis would make a most important business asset for 
Macon. The road runs through the heart of the most productive agri- 
cultural regions in northern Missouri. There are numerous enterpris- 
ing towns on the line, and it is a fine territory for wholesale trade. With 
its completion to Macon wholesale houses, factories, and other enter- 
prises would certainly spring up in that town. It would also be of 
immense benefit in the north and west, enabling people to reach the 
county seat and return the same day. The ditcliing enterprises now 
being rapidly pushed in the valley will greatly relieve the road from 
the embarrassment of floods. 

Mr. McCaull, although squeezed out as one of the officials of the 
road he projected, is now its claim agent, with headquarters at Kansas 
City. He also acts as claim agent for the Q., 0. & K. C. road. J. G. 
Trimble, of Kansas City, is the general attorney for both roads. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Printing Press — Salutatory of First Macon County Paper — 
Reminiscences of Captain Lacy, Macon's First Editor — The Mul- 
ligan Guards — Some of the Pioneer Papers — Major Frank M. 
Daulton — Macon Paper Awarded Medal for Superior Typography 
— The Man Who Subscribed for 500 Papers— I. Jeff Buster, Who 
Introduced Country Correspondence — Eugene Field's Owl Club 
— Improvement in Country Journalism — "Stories of a Country 
Doctor," by Willis P. King, M. D. — "Love vs. Law," by Mary 
Anderson Matthews — A Circuit Rider's Quaint Book — Oldest 
Bible in State Owned by Macon County Man. 

itil December 26, 1848, the official publications of Macon county 
had' to made eitlier in the old Missouri Republican, founded in 1808, 
)r "The Missouri Intelligencer and Boone's Lick Advertiser," because 
it had no paper of its own. 

The paper with the long name was the first one issued in Missouri 
west of St. Louis. Its first number came out April 23, 1819. The publi- 
cation was at Franklin, which at that period was the most thriving town 
west of St. Louis. There was a land office there and the first land sales 
west of the Mississippi river were made at that point. The paper was 
published weekly, the subscription price being $3 a year in advance, or 
$4 if paid at the expiration of the year. 

The Intelligencer was the official newspaper for a large scope of 
country, and was published at Franklin until 1823, in which year it was 
moved to Fayette, the county seat of Howard. In 1834 the plant was 
taken to Columbia by Mr. Nathaniel Patton, who started a publication 
called "The Patriot." In 1843 this paper was succeeded by "The 
Missouri Statesman," Colonel William F. Switzler and John B. 
Williams, editors. 

The press on which the paper was printed was a small concern, 
with a wooden frame, iron bed, joints and platen. It was known to the 
printers' craft of the period as "the Ramage press." After its days 
of usefulness were long past, Colonel Switzler presented the old Ramage 
to the Mercantile Library Association. 

J. M. Love and A. L. Gilstrap were the pioneers of Macon county 

82 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 83 

journalism. They got together a plant and started the Blodmiugton 
Gazette in December, 1848. The first issue bears tlie date, December 
26, and contains the following salutatoi'y : 

"With this issue we begin the i)ublication of the Bloomington 
Gazette, the first newspaper venture ever atempted in Macon county. 
Today, with many misgivings, we launch our little newspaper boat 
on the broad, tempestuous sea of journalism, with a courge, neverthe- 
less, born of an honest purpose and lofty ambition, to so conduct our 
paper as to be most helpful to our little new town and community, 
morally, materially, socially and intellectually. While we disclaim any 
purpose to make our paper a 'party organ,' in any sense of that term — 
while we shall use our utmost endeavors to give our subscribers a clean, 
newsy, independent paper, we will advocate at all times such measures 
and support such men for public positions as, in our judgment, will best 
subserve the general good of our town and county, regardless of party 
advocacy or party affiliation. W^e will always be found advocating every 
good and worthy enterprise ; whether of a moral or material character, 
calculating to helja our struggling town. 

"We will be glad to have a reliable correspondent in every neigh- 
borhood in the county, and will be glad to have our friends call at our 
office and give us any items of news calculated to make the Gazette 
interesting to its readers. Our terms are $1.50, invariably in advance. 
Advertising and job printing rates made known on application. 

"Eespectfully, 

"J.M.Love, 
'A. L. Gilstrap." 



( i 



The prospectus of the Gazette was printed in Quincy, Illinois. Mr. 
Love stated that they had great difficulty in getting out the first number 
of the Gazette. The type was purchased at St. Louis, and through 
some oversight of the shipping clerk the lower case g's were not 
included, so the Gazette printers had to use the figure 9 as a substitute 
for the lower case g. The Gazette started out with a subscription list 
of about 500. For many years after its birth the Gazette office was a 
very interesting place to the country people who came to old Blooming- 
ton to get their mail and do their trading. They would always drop in 
to see the editor and listen to him explain that wonderful art called 
typography. 

Soon after the town of Macon was established Captain Alexander 
H. Lacy, a printer of Hannibal, came over and started the ' ' Macon Her- 
ald," which afterwards became "The Republican." While in Macon, 



84 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

■within recent years, Captain Lacy related his experience with, the 
Herald as follows : 

"I had been working for Orion Clemens, 'Mark Twain's' brother, 
who published 'The Union.' Hudson and Macon were rival towns 
here, and we were constantly hearing great stories about how they 
were booming. So I came over here and started the Herald, first at 
Hudson and later moved it to Macon. The first publication was got 
out in the freight depot ; it was a modest affair, but I saw millions ahead 
and was willing to put up with a little discomfort while waiting for 
them. 

"Coal had but recently been discovered at Bevier and the very 
atmosphere breathed prosperity and ducats. I got in on the ground 
floor with my paper. I recall a few business men. Jim Bag-well ran a 
store here; Dave McCord, who- afterwards got into trouble with the 
law, operated a saloon ; Sam Kem was in the tobacco business. Tobacco 
raising was the great industry of the period. Every farmer raised it, 
and there were any number of large buildings here called factories, 
where the leaf was handled and sold. 

"George Bebee and Al Horton were the lawyers. Bob Bevier, after- 
wards the colonel of a Confederate regiment, and for whom the town 
of Bevier was named, was our representative in the Legislature. There 
were five saloons, but I don't recall any churches. Business was good. 
I daresay that we obtained in those days as much job printing as the 
offices here are now getting. 

"In looking over Macon now I can hardly realize it is the same 
village where I started my little 2x4 newspaper. You have improved it 
until it resembles a regular city." 

Captain Lacy sold the Herald to Colonel Abner Gilstrap, and after- 
wards ran papers in various parts of the state, finally returning to 
Hannibal about the beginning of the war. He served three years in the 
Third Missouri Cavalry, and while out recruiting came over to Macon 
and swore in a detachment of the Mulligan Brigade, which he found 
here, and which was christened "The Hell-Roaring Guards." They 
were all Irishmen, and a brave lot when there was any trouble on. After 
completing his time with the armj", Captain Lacy entered the railway 
postal service on the run between Quincy and St. Joseph. 

Captain Lacy's latest work was the publication of the "Wet Moun- 
tain Tribune," at West Cliff, Colorado. He died there a few years ago. 

Among the other early papers of Macon county were the following : 

The Bloomington Register, established in 1852, by Thomas B. Howe 
and Francis M. Daulton. It was Whig in politics. Mr. Daulton is yei 



HISTORY OF ^[ACOX COUNTY 85 

living, ruunin'g a country papei* in Arkansas. He set type on the 
Hannibal Union with Sam Clemens. 

Major Daulton was born in Balls county, Missouri, May 27, 1832. 
He describes his Macon county experience as follows: 

"After leaving the Hannibal Union in 1852 I went to Macon, and 
from there to old Bloomington, which was a thriving town then. There 
was a coiart house and four stage coach lines running to the town. Busi- 
ness was very lively; traffic on the stage lines was heavy. James Love 
was running the Gazette, the first paper printed in Macon county. 
Abner Gilstrap started a paper, and I took employment with him as 
head j^rinter at $12 a week. After working a while I went over to 
Quincy and was married. When I returned to Bloomington ]Mr. Gil- 
strap cut my wages to $10 a week, on the theory, as he explained it, that 
two could live cheaper thaii one. I couldn't demonstrate the success 
of his arithmetic, and so I left Mr. Gilstrap, and Tom Howe and I bought 
out the Gazette. The circulation of the Gazette was only 200, but we 
got $2 a year for it, taking the pay in anything from tombstones to 
cradles. 

"The editor and the printer in the country newspaper office at that 
time were about the same. The editor always set up most of his own 
copy, because, as some looked at it, it was safer to do that than to tiTist 
such important matter in the hands of a printer who might make mis- 
takes. Even today (1909) I follow the old habit of gathering news 
around- town and then going to the type case and setting it up 'out 
of my head.' " 

After leaving Macon county Major Daulton went to Illinois and in 
1856 reported the Lincoln-Douglas debates for the Quincy Herald. He 
became well acquainted with the two great statesmen. Major Daulton 
said a peculiarity of Lincoln and Douglas was that they rarely dis- 
cussed politics except when they were on the platform. They traveled 
together, told funny stories and were, apparently, the best of friends. 

In 1854 Eufus C. White launched the Messenger, a Democratic 
paper, at Bloomington. Thomas B. Howe and James E. Sharp com- 
menced the publication of the Bloomington Journal (Democratic), 
in 1855. 

James M. Love and Harry Howard established the Macon Legion 
(Democratic), in 1859. The Legion was the last paper published in 
Bloomington. 

D. E. H. Johnson published "The Eegister" at Macon in 1861. 
The First Iowa Infantry arrived at Macon in June, and took possession 
of the printing office. Johnson, whose sympathies were with the South, 



86 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

left town. C. L. Fowler, a member of the Iowa troops, was appointed 
editor, and the soldiers published one issue of "Our "\\Tiole Union," 
dated June 15, 18G1. It was the first paper of the Civil war published 
by soldiers at the front. Following is a descriptive story taken from 
the paper : 

"It is not often that one enters a printing ofiSce conducted imder 
precisely the circumstances of the one in which 'Our Whole Union' is 
now being issued. Men in uniform stand at the cases, a row of gleaming 
muskets are stacked before the door, wdth a sentinel on guard. The 
editor's table is ornamented with a revolver, two bottles of — well — 
something to sustain a drooping spirit; in short, the only resemblance 
to a printing office is the click of the type and the music of the press." 

The price of "Our Whole Union" was $1.50 a copy, paid in advance. 
Advertising rates were $1 a square, or $60 per column per year. 

This is taken from the leading editorial : 

"Johnson, wherever you are — whether lurking in the dim woods, 
hunting your cow, or a fugitive on the open plain, goodbye! We 
never saw you, never expect to, never want to, but for all that, old fel- 
low, we won't be proud. So, Johnson, goodbye. We drank some poor 
whiskey out of your bottle. You won't forget us, Johnson, will you?" 

C. L. Fowler, who edited "Our Whole Union," is now staying at 
the National Military Home, Kansas. He was so pleased with his news- 
paper experience at Macon that he went into the business after the 
war and became quite noted as an editorial writer and publisher. 

As far as known, there are now but two copies of "Our Whole 
Union" in existence. One is in a glass case in the State House at Des 
Moines. Another is the valued war relic of a soldier in Muscatine, Iowa. 

In 1865 Colonel Clark H. Green, a man of considerable newspaper 
experience, established the Macon Times, and continued the publication 
up until his death, in the fall of 1871. The paper was then sold to 
W. C. B. Gillespie, Hez Purdom and John N. Howe, who published the 
paper until 1872, when Gillespie purchased Purdom 's interest. 

Gillespie & Howe ran the paper a few months. In the winter of 
1872-73, T. A. H. Smith associated himself with Mr. Howe, and they 
purchased the interest of Mr. Gillespie. After operating a short while, 
the Times was consolidated with the Macon Democrat and called the 
Democratic Times, and passed into the hands of James M. Love and 
Edward C. Shain, who published it until the fall of 1874. In that year 
it was sold at trustee's sale to B. F. Stone and Walter Brown. Not 
long afterwards Mr. Stone purchased Brown's interest. In August, 
1875, tliere was a wholesale consolidation of the Macon newspapers. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 87 

The Democratic Times, the Macon Daily Pilot, by Baxton & Greene, and 
the Macon Journal, by John M. London, were amalgamated into one 
concern, and the Examiner Printing Company organized, with a capital 
stock of $10,000. In this combination Mr. Stone held the controlling 
interest, and a written contract that the paper should be continued as a 
Democratic journal. For a while a daily and weekly were published, 
but later the daily was discontinued. The Examiner was an early 
advocate of the nomination of Samuel J. Tilden for president on the 
Democratic ticket. When Tilden was nominated the paper was so active 
in his support that the county gave a Democratic majority of over 1,000 
for the ticket. Before the close of the campaign the entire stock of the 
paper passed into Mr. Stone's hands. In the summer of 1877 Mr. 
Stone sold the establishment to Purdom & J. A. Hudson. In Febru- 
ary, 1878, Mr. Hudson sold his interest to I. J. Buster, one of the first 
country correspondents in Missouri. Purdom & Buster published the 
Examiner until the office was sold in the spring of 1879. Afterwards, 
the business, good will, and what was saved of material, were sold to 
W. C. B. Gillespie & C. H. Steele. The name of the paper was changed 
to the North Missouri Register. Gillespie & Steele sold to J. A. Hudson 
on the 1st of February, 1883. Mr. Hudson reorganized the office, put- 
ting in steam presses, and restored the original name of the paper, the 
Macon Times. 

Mr. Hudson was one of the most energetic newspaper men the 
county ever had. He was an imijortant figure in all the press associa- 
tions and in politics. Being a practical printer, and knowing the busi- 
ness from the ground up, he brought the Macon Times up to a standard 
which resulted in its being awarded a fine gold medal for being the 
best printed paper in Missouri. It is a fair assertion that the Macon 
Times acquired greater circulation and influence under the manage- 
ment of Mr. Hudson than it ever had before. When the campaign of 
189C came on the Macon Times was non-conmaittal on the gold standard 
issue until its editor had thoroughly digested the problem. He spent 
almost all of his time in searching through St. Louis libraries and every- 
where he could find information on the subject of the two metals, gold 
and silver. The party in the west was clamoring for free silver. Mr. 
Hudson, as a result of his long and painstaking investigations, came to 
the conclusion that his party was wrong on the issue; that the gold 
standard was right, in order to maintain the prosperity of the coimtry. 
He succeeded in bringing quite a number of prominent Democrats 
around to his views, but the vast majority of his constituents favored 
William J. Bryan, the Democratic nominee for president, and free 



88 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

silver. Mr. Hudson could not support an issue which he considered 
wrong, and he disposed of his paper to a company. For some time it 
was operated by Joseph Heifner, Ben White, Ben Eli Guthrie and R. A. 
Guthrie, the editorship being vested more or less in each of the gentle- 
men named. Mr. Hudson removed to Columbia, Missouri, and pur- 
chased the telephone system there, wliich he greatly developed and 
still operates. 

In August, 1901, there was another consolidation of the ]\Iacon 
newspapers. The Macon Times and the Democrat were acquired by a 
company and consolidated under the name of the Times-Democrat, with 
Joseph J. Heifner as editor-in-chief. At the same time the Macon 
Eepublican acquired the Macon Citizen, leaving only two papers in the 
town. In 1909 the paper was purchased by W. E. MeCully, Fred H. Ted- 
ford and others, and is now being operated under the name of the Macon 
Publishing Company, with Mr. Tedford as editor and general manager. 

The Macon Republican was established on March 2, 1871, by Gen- 
eral F. A. Jones and Major S. G. Brock. General Jones died January 
7, 1882, and the paper continued under the management of Major Brock 
until its sale to Mr. Philip Gansz on January 1, 1890. 

Under the management of Mr. Gansz the Macon Republican has 
been developed into a great newspaper and its printing department 
does work for large concei'ns in various parts of the state. While it is 
Republican in politics, yet its fair, conservative policy has won to its 
support nimierous Democratic friends. The payjer's aim has been to 
print all the local news in a non-partisan manner, and this has been 
one of the strong features in extending its circulation. 

Both of the Macon papers are models of country journals. They 
are well-^jrinted, contain a larger amount of reading matter than the 
usual country publication and are all-home print. 

The Messenger of Peace, a primitive Baptist publication, was 
founded at Macon by Elder J. I^. Goodson, Sr., on November 15, 1874, 
and soon became one of the leading publications of its denomination in 
the United States. For some years it was printed in a local printing 
ofSce, and afterwards the contract to pulilish it was given to the North 
Missouri Register. Not long after starting the paper Elder Goodson's 
sou, J. E., Jr., became associated with him in the enterprise. Both 
men were ordained preachers and did a great deal of traveling among 
the Primitive Baptists, who subscribed freely for the paper. During 
its existence in Macon, the Messenger of Peace had a wider and larger 
circulation than any other paper in the town. It was made up mostly 
of the experiences of those who had been "called." Elder Goodson, 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 89 

Jr., died August 19, 1890, and Elder Walter Cash, a Primitive Baptist 
minister, became associated with Elder Goodson, Sr., iu the ]3ublication. 
Two years after his son's deatli Elder Goodson answered the summons, 
leaving Elder Cash in sole control of the paper. 

Elder Cash continued the Messenger of Peace at Macon for a short 
while, and then moved the publication office to Marceline. Later he 
removed it to St. Joseph, and still continues the publication with success. 

Tlie Messenger of Peace enjoyed the distinction of receiving at one 
time the largest amount of subscription money ever paid to a Missouri 
publication, having had $500 bequeathed to it by a wealthy Montana 
man. The entire sum was to be used in sending the paper to those who 
were too poor to paj^ for it. 

I. Jeff Buster, who claims to have been the originator of the system 
of country correspondence, lived in Morrow township when Colonel 
Clark Green was running the Macon Times. One night a literary 
was held at the district school, and Mr. Buster read a humorous paper, 
reciting the doings of the neighborhood. It took well with the crowd 
and several persons urged him to send it to one of the papers over at the 
county seat. Mr. Buster sent it to the Times, which paper promptly 
turned it down. A few weeks later Mr. Buster was in Macon and he 
called upon Editor Green. 

"We got your stnff, all right, Mr. Buster," said Colonel Green, "but 
it was too inconsequential. You had a whole lot of tommy-rot in it about 
George Jones painting his barn, and the Smith girls visiting down by 
Hammock's ]\Iill, and a play party over at the Widow Fitzgerald's. 
This is kind o' childish, you know. What the people want is good edi- 
torial writing, and the news from Jefferson City and the National Capi- 
tal. They don't care about that little neighborhood gossip." 

' ' How many subscriptions have you got over in Morrow township ? ' ' 
asked Mr. Buster. 

"Oh, I don't know — some ten or twelve, I guess," replied the editor. 

"Well," returned Mr. Buster, "if you'll print this letter from me 
every week containing this stuff you call tommy-rot I guarantee that at 
least half of the township Avill take your paper, and perhaps before long 
I can make it unanimous." 

"Shucks!" 

"Are you game to wager a new hat that I can't do it?" said Buster, 
with some heat. 

"See here, Jeff",'' returned the editor, "you and T are good friends, 
and I don't want to hurt your feelings. I am willing to try that stuff 
awjiile, Init, remember, you must let me print your name to it. I don't 



90 HISTORY OF MACON COtHSTTY 

want people to think that we are getting out such gruel up here. I'll 
take your bet. ' ' 

Mr. Buster went back home and told some of his friends of the 
curious wager he had made with the editor over at Macon. They be- 
came very much interested in the matter and lent a willing hand in 
getting up the news and also soliciting subscribers. Inside of a month 
the Macon Times had nearly every man in Morrow township on its 
subscriijtion list ; and its editor was writing to people in other townships 
trying to induce them to do in their locality what Mr. Buster had done 
in his. From that time on the country correspondence has been reck- 
oned as a most valuable asset by every enterjorising country news- 
paper in the land. It happened on one occasion that a sensational 
murder occurred right near Mr. Buster's home, and liis description of 
that affair was as accurate and interesting as anything that ever ap- 
peared in a newspaper. Mr. Buster continued to act as correspond- 
ent for the Times as long as he lived in Macon county. 

In the early 70s the Missouri Press Association met in annual ses- 
sion at the old Wabash hotel, in Macon. Eugene Field was a promi- 
nent member and he made lots of fun for the editors. Other promi- 
nent men attending the association were Joseph B. McCullough, edi- 
tor of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat; Colonel William F. Switzler, of 
Columbia ; Judge John W. Heniy, then on the Circuit Bench of this 
district, but later of the Supreme Bench of the state; Colonel John 
F. Williams; Major W. C. B. Gillespie and many others. All of the 
men mentioned are now dead. 

It was during the meeting here that Field organized the Owl Club, 
which afterwards was established as a "musical" institution at Colum- 
bia, with branches in all the towns where Field visited or stayed long 
enough to organize one. 

The Owl Club sang the old-fashioned songs. The only qualification 
for membership was an excellent set of lungs, and a tliorough willing- 
ness to use them on any and all occasions. After Field had the young- 
sters pretty well drilled he started them out in town singing at the top 
of their voices. Then he slipped through an alley, hunted up a police- 
man and told him to arrest the crowd for disorderly conduct. In vain 
the young editors told the vigilant watchman that the mayor had 
given them the keys to the city, with full liberty to use them. The watch- 
man reported that the mayor had used the term figuratively; that he 
had seen no keys and that his oath of office required him to lock people 
up when they made too much noise. So he took them around to 
the cooler ;uk1 ynit them h\. There they discovered that Field was 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 91 

missing. They told the arresting officer that if he wonld hunt up 
Field he would explain who they were and make the matter all right. 
Finally the guardsman consented to look up Field, and, of course, 
he didn't have much difficulty in locating him, as the future great news- 
paper man was found standing on a corner shaking his sides with 
laughter. Field accompanied the officer to the prison, was let in and 
peered through the bars as if he were studying some curious specimen 
of wild animals. The prisons clamored loudly for Field to explain the 
situation and get them out. After a careful scrutiny, his face as ecu. 
posed as marble. Field turned to the officer. 

•'What did you want with me?" he asked. 

"AVhy," returned the guard; "these guys say they are friends 
of j-our'n." 

"Never saw them in my life before," said Field, emphatically. 

This satisfied the officer and he paid no more attention to the im- 
portunities of the crowd to be let out. 

As he passed out of the jail Field complimented the officer upon 
his faithful attention to duty and said he did not doubt but that if he 
would look up his list of crooks for whom rewards were otfered he 
would likely find two or three in the crowd. 

Before the night was over, however, Field relented. He returned 
to the hotel, notified the older editors there about the menagerie down 
in jail and led them down to take a look. Of course explanations were 
made and the prisoners released. The mayor was profuse in his apolo- 
gies, but Field kept out of sight the balance of the meeting. 

While he was president of the Missouri Press Association, Mr. 
Philip Gansz, editor of the Macon Republican, spoke concerning the 
imi^rovements in country journalism as follows : 

"Those who have witnessed and taken part in the development 
of Missouri during the past quarter of a century should catalogue among 
the state's expanding enterprises, the country newspaper. The change 
for the better in country journalism is as marked as that of any other 
important enterprise. 

"Within the easy memory of most of us the belligerent editor flour- 
ished. It seemed to be his idea that the fiercer he was the greater 
was his influence. He believed his readers rated his editorial ability 
according to the strength of the vitriol he poured on his disesteemed 
contemporary down street. Every issue was, to use a phrase of the 
street, 'a red-hot number.' Sometimes the intensity of the language 
provoked a personal encounter, but more frequently it was passed liy a*" 
'newspaper talk.' 



92 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

"That class of writing nowadays would excite more than a sensa- 
tion. Even the crossroads' papers do not indulge in it. I thinlc the 
change was largely brought about by the readers, who became tired of 
so much warlike talk, without any funerals. They demanded of the 
editors more sincerity and less fussing and scolding. The editors were 
keen to scent the change. In fact, the better class of them welcomed 
it gladly. Newspapers became more dig-nified and their statements 
were made with a greater degree of care. 

"What stands out most prominent in a comparison of the Mis- 
souri journals of today with those of twenty-five years back is the 
intelligent acceptance of responsibility, a broader and more tolerant 
spirit and higher ideal as to the mission of the press. The editor 
would no sooner tolerate vulgarisms in his columns than he would in 
his home. It is true that he aspires to give advice on most every sub- 
ject within the domain of reasoning, and he generally gets up some 
pretty good reading on any subject, whether he knows anything about 
it or not. Nothing is too big for him. He is supposed to have views on 
all subjects, and he has them. His very audacity along such lines is 
developing him. Like the discerning lawyer suddenly called into a big 
case, he feels his way, and takes advantage of the educational features 
along the route. 

"A strong element entering into the efficiency of rural journalism 
of today is the editor's thorough acquaintance with the public men 
and with the character and resources of his state. He generally knows 
intimately the United States senators, and always the various congress- 
men in his part of the state. 

"He can give you from memory the majorities for congress in his 
district for ten years back, without referring to the record. Without 
consulting a report of any kind he can accurately describe the main 
features of production in over half the counties of the state. 

"He acquires this sort of information naturally in the course of 
business, and retains it without effort. About once a month, or per- 
haps oftener, he makes a journey to one of the larger cities of the state 
to select new machinery or supplies of some kind. These trips are gen- 
erally gauged to occur simultaneously with the advent of some inqwr- 
tant convention or meeting. Or perhaps during the engagement of a 
great actor. In consequence, when writing of the city life he is able 
to speak with greater authority than some metropolitan editors do about 
the corn raising districts, which they rarely condescend to visit. 

"With the almost complete obliteration of personalities among 
journals of importance comes a more fraternal spirit, and even rival edi- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 93 

tors are found working together nowadays upon any enterprise prom- 
ising good to the town, county and state. This millenial condition is 
mainly due to the growth of culture and intelligence among the peo- 
ple of the country. They demand of their editors a higher grade of 
dignity and discernment than was thought sufficient in many of the 
embryonic towns a coujdIc of decades back. 

' ' The country press is loyally appreciating its responsibility in de- 
veloping the state. It watches closely each turn of the industrial wheel, 
which may add to the prestige of Missouri. This loyalty is shown today 
in the general support given to all enterprises, no matter in what part 
of the state they are instituted. Northern Missouri papers, far from 
the river, advocate approi)riations for the benefit of navigation. The 
river papers speak in terms of praise of those sections more depend- 
ent upon the railroads. And so it goes ; the press is broadening out and 
talking more and more for a great nation, a great state and a great 
people. And it is best that this is so. No community which lives for 
itself alone ever becomes important. The press is one of the strongest 
means of keeping up fraternal relations with our neighbors, and its 
work is having a mighty influence in the uplift of the nation." 

"Stories of a Country Doctor," a well-bound and highly interest- 
ing little volume, which has had a general circulation in Missouri, is the 
work of Dr. Willis P. King, a native of Macon county. Dr. King was 
bo]-n here December 21, 1839, and lived the life of an ordinary country 
lad until the age of fourteen, when he ran away from home to get an 
education. He died in Kansas City, in 1909. In his exciting little book, 
Dr. King presented a great many rural incidents, the material for which 
he gathered in this county. 

"Love vs. Law," is a novel by Mrs. Mary Anderson Matthews, 
wife of Otho Matthews, an attorney of Macon. The book is an inter- 
esting love story, the main character being a young woman who is am- 
bitious to rise in the legal profession. Having entered upon her career, 
she becomes an earnest exponent of woman's rights, and makes a very 
capable presentation of her case to Congress. After winning all the 
laurels possible for her, the young woman yields her ambition for the 
sake of her love, and becomes a dutiful and affectionate wife. The book 
was printed by an eastern publishing company and has been run through 
two or three editions. The author is a legally enrolled attorney, hav- 
ing served as city attorney of Palmyra previous to her marriage. 

Elder J. W. Cook of Elmer has recently published a little book of 
peculiar interest, entitled "Forty-five Years a Minister." This work 
was reviewed by a writer for the New York Sun and the Post-Dispatch 



94 HISTORY OF MACOA' COUNTY 

because of the curious incidents related. The author does not pretend 
to be a man of great learning, but in his forty-five j'ears of clerical la- 
bor he has seen much of life, and he tells it just as he saw it. While en- 
gaged in his chosen profession Elder Cook earned his livelihood by 
plowing, chopping wood and hauling. Sometimes he would hire out to 
a neighbor as a conmion laborer for fifty cents a day. During his long 
services as a circuit rider, or country pastor, Elder Cook says that his 
yearly income for all his pastoral duties combined didn't average $20 
a year. Sometimes he would travel long distances through snow and 
ice and his only compensation would be his meals. At other times he 
would be given a pair of gloves or some socks. Had anybody presented 
him with a $5 bill he would have been wonderfully surprised. The elder 
kept a record of his work, which he presented in his book as follows : 

Sermons preached, 5,784; miles traveled, 35,840; weddings per- 
formed. 780 ; miles traveled to officiate at weddings, 15,600 — all on horse- 
back or on foot. Funerals preached, 936; miles traveled for funerals, 
18,720. 

Perhaps the most interesting literary relic in Macon county is a 
Welsh bible owned by Squire W. D. Roberts of New Cambria. This work 
was printed in 1588, and is the oldest book of any sort in this state. 
It was the first printed translation of the bible into Welsh, but a transla- 
tion of the New Testament had been printed a few years previous. On 
the flyleaf are these words written in Welsh : 

"John Foulk is the true owner of this book, 1867, July 21. Blessed 
is the man that walks not in the way of the wicked. ' ' 

The old volume looks its age on the outside, but the printing is clear 
and the paper well preserved. There are elaborate scroll marks at the 
beginning and ending of the book. One of the backs is gone, but the 
other pine board, covered with leather and held in place by stout raw- 
hide, yet remains. Squire Roberts is unable to name the original owner 
of the ancient volume. It fell into his great grand-father's hands in 
the eighteenth century, and passed down to Squire Roberts through 
the succeeding generations. 

The history of the Macon Republican and the Macon Times-Demo- 
crat appears above. The other Macon county publications are as 
follows : 

The Macon Crusader, by Bunce and Davidson ; Temperance ; estab- 
lished 1909. 

The La Plata Home Press, by the Home Press Publishing Com- 
pany; J. L. Baity, editor; Democratic; established in 1876. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 95 

The La Plata Republican, by J. F. Weaver; Republican; estab- 
lished July 1, 1892. 

The Bevier Appeal, by F. D. Jones; Independent; September 20, 
1889. 

The Callao Journal, by AV. D. Franklin; Independent; established 
April 1, 1908. 

The Ethel Courier, by W. E. Windle; Democratic; established July, 
1894. 

The Elmer Journal, by L. B. Osborne; Republican; established in 
1906. 

The Atlanta Express, by A. C. Howlett, and the Gifford Gazette, 
by the Gazette Printing Company are among the newcomers to Macon 
county journalism and both are lusty and enterprising newspapers. 

The Church Herald; edited by J. F. Watkins and J. A. King; "Or- 
gan of the People designated as the Church of God," commonly called 
the Holiness people; was established at Fort Scott, Kansas, in 1890 
and was moved to College Mound, Macon county, in 1904. 

Believing an association for the cultivation of literary tastes, the 
acquisition of knowledge and the general improvement of its members 
to be in the highest degree beneficial, fifteen ladies of Macon met at the 
liome of Mrs. J. F. Williams, in the month of November, 1885, and 
organized the Anti-Rust Club. 

At this first meeting the following officers were unanimously 
elected: Mrs. Williams, president; Mrs. L. A. Smith, first vice-presi- 
dent ; Mrs. John Scovern, second vice-president, and Mrs. A. C. Long- 
den, secretary. 

Two committees were appointed; one to formulate a constitution 
and bylaws, the other to select the course of study. In December these 
committees made their reports to the fifteen charter members, who 
were Mrs. J. F. Williams, Mrs. Louisa A. Smith, Mrs. John Scovern, 
Mrs. A. C. Longden, Mrs. Julia H. Clements, Mrs. E. Talbot, Mrs. E. B. 
Clements, Mrs. Joe Patton, Mrs. M. H. Hubbs, Mrs. F. Baird, Mrs. F. 
Williams, Miss M. F. Thomas, Miss S. A. Moulton, Miss Evelyn Smith 
(Mrs. J. P. Kem), Miss Emma Smith (Mrs. Emma Kennan). 

The limit of membership was placed at twenty. The rather unusual 
name the club selected originated in the motto adopted, ' ' Better to wear 
out than to rust out. ' ' 

The first meeting for active work took place in January, 1886, the 
course of work being of an liistorical nature. This club being composed 
of busy home-makers, the first meetings were literally held in fear and 
trembling, but the timid ones gradually gi-ew accustomed to the sound 



96 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

of tlieii- own voices, and much enthusiasm for the work prevailed. 

During 1892-1894 Mrs. L. A. Snuth served the organization as pres- 
ident. The club was adjourned for a period of four years, and Tesuiued 
its meetings in 1898, since which time it has met continuously. From 
the period when the work was resumed until 1904 the club had the good 
fortune to have Mrs. Williams as president. Upon her departure for 
St. Louis to live, she was made honorary life president, and a worthy 
successor was chosen, Mrs. Kem, who still serves as the club's president. 

During the twenty-five years this club has been organized the edu- 
cational results of its systematic and regular study have been incal- 
culable. "Whatever subjects have been chosen the club has considered 
it worth their best efforts. 

Their j^unctuality, faithfulness, and willingness to undertake what- 
ever duty was assigned, have been good examples for the community. 
Year-book programs have been prepared by much painstaking study. 
The members have always been chosen with the view of their being 
loyal, not afraid to work, and not willing to waste their time on trivial 
subjects. The study of the classics has been the club's ideal. The 
meetings have been characterized by a spirit of enthusiasm and looked 
forward to with pleasant anticipations. 

Not only has the club been a real benefit for the sake of its influ- 
ence, but also for the lectures and lecture-courses brought here through 
its efforts. 

The literary club and woman's club movement have been called 
the "People's University." It is not a meaningless phrase nor an over- 
classification. They aspire to an intellectual paradise along the lines of 
serious and earnest thinking, and results will surely follow. "It is 
not what stays in our memories, but what lias passed into our character 
that is the possession of our lives!" 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Mines and Mining — The Pilgrimage to California — Phil Ajrmour and 
Ned Croaekin — A Miner's Dream — Discovery of Coal in Macon 
County — Alexander Rector — Thomas Waedell — Strikes, Panics 

AND THEN PROSPERITY "ShOOTING OfF THE SoLID" RiOTS OF 1899 

— A Mine Disaster — A Journey Through Gloomy Avenues — A 
Mining Town that Died — Miners are Long-lived — Statistics from 
State IVIining Report — Early Gold Excitement in Chariton Val- 
ley — Development of Valuable Ore at New Cambria. 

Macon county was a lusty oliild of eleven when the workmen at 
Colonel Sutter's sawmill at Coloma, California, in January, 1848, struck 
some curious stuff in the channel which turned out to be gold. Sutter 
and his men kept quiet about the discovery until their mill was com- 
pleted, when a lot of the ore was sent to Sacramento to be tested. The 
amazing result of the test soon reached San Francisco, and from there 
the news was spread over the world, adding richer color as it traveled. 
It was the main topic of conversation in this nation. Men supposed 
the hills and valleys of California were literally underlaid with gold, 
awaiting the scratching of the ground. The further east they were the 
stronger was tliis belief. There was warrant for it in all the slow- 
traveling letters from the far west, each one freighted with intelligence 
of new discoveries. The nation held its breath until the spring of '49, 
when the mightiest pilgrimage ever seen on this continent began. From 
morn till night the highways were dotted with great white wagons, 
moving slowly behind one, two and three yoke of oxen — "California 
or bust," many said, laughing with hope. 

Macon county sent many of her best sons on the long trek across 
the deserts and the mountains. They turned from her broad acres, 
pleading for her husbandman's touch, to the alluring call of the sunset, 
a sunset brilliant with promise. They smiled at the stories of fierce 
Indian warriors, of burning sands, of dangerous mountain passes. It 
was a sort of epidemic — this vast pilgrimage to the coast. It invaded 
the blood like the summons to war. Strong young men felt they just 
had to go ; it was the right thing to do ; they would return, their lumber- 
ing craft of the plains loaded with gold — some day. Then they planned 

97 



98 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

great things for their villages on their home-coming. They would 
first pay off the mortgage and give the old folks a bank account that 
would keep them in ease the balance of their days. Next they would 
build a new church and increase the pastor's salary. Then would come 
a town library, a city hall, new public school building and a few other 
small things. These attended to, they would travel and see the old world 
— England, France, Germany, the Holy Land — go everywhere. 

People smile now, but it was very real then. The writer has the 
above, almost word for word, from a Macon county citizen who was a 
part of that great army of hopefuls in the year '49, and he said it was 
those thoughts which caused he and his comrades to endure uncom- 
plainingly the bitter hardships of the long overland journey. 

One stormy evening a prairie schooner and oxen, an outfit exactly 
like hundreds that had been passing through the early spring, stopped 
on the i5ublic square of Bloomington. Four weary-looking young men 
climbed out and slowly attended to their oxen, and then went into the 
little tavern, where they put up for the night. In the early morning, 
before the travelers were up, someone painted these words on the canvas 
of their wagon : 

"Success to these brave young men." 

Later the wayfarers came out, proceeded to hitch up their oxen and 
resumed their journey to the west. Nothing much was thought of the 
incident at the time, but many years later B. M. Clark, then living in 
Shelby county, wrote the story of his trip to California in '49, and 
stated that he and his companion had become heartsick of their enter- 
prise when they reached Bloomington, and had decided to start next day 
from whence they came. But when they got up in the morning and read 
the blessing from their unknown friend at Bloomington — a stranger 
who had pronounced them "brave" — they unanimously resolved to 
make themselves worthy of his confidence. They had not found much 
gold in California, Mr. Clark wrote, but they had kept on until they 
had passed all obstacles on the way, and had reached the point at which 
they were aiming. The lesson was such that each of those young men 
had made it his life's philosophy, "once his hands were put to the plow, 
never to turn back until the end of the furrow was reached. ' ' 

A few years ago a St. Louis newspaper beat the bush about Mis- 
souri, to scare up the remnants of the famous army that had treked 
across the desert and mountains in '49 in quest of gold. The result was 
much interesting lore of adventure and quaint incident. A writer who 
had traveled much, both in the gold and later days, said : 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 99 

"We sometimes think it an unfortunate thing that so much more 
money was invested by the Argonauts than they ever realized out of 
California; that $10 should be spent for teams, provisions and general 
layout, to every one that came back in gold dust. But it was not the 
purpose of the Almighty to make the nation rich when he tucked gold 
among the hills; it was to make men go over there and develop that 
country ; to hew down the timber, bridge the canyons, tunnel the moun- 
tains and make this nation great from ocean to ocean. That was the 
rich reward for the pilgrimage of 1849 and those of later years. 

In the Macon county roundup but six men responded to the roll call. 

James M. Green cleaned up $20,000 in gold dust and arrived safely 
back in Macon county with it. On the advice of friends, he invested 
nearly all this money in negro slaves. Soon after, the war came on 
and the slaves were made free. Mr. Green died janitor of the Bevier 
public school, an honest, hardworking citizen. 

Ned Croarkin went out with Phil D. Armour, who later became 
the packing king of Chicago. They were congenial spirits, working side 
by side with pan and sluice-box many days. Saturday night they would 
divide their i^ile by drawing a case knife through the center of it. Later, 
when Armour became rich, he educated one of "Uncle Ned's" boys in 
a law school. "Uncle Ned" made frequent journeys from Macon to 
Chicago to see his old comrade of the gold days, and Armour was never 
so glad as when "Uncle Ned" was his guest. It is doubtful whether 
the great pork packer ever had a warmer friend or one who was more 
congenial to him than Mr. Croarkin. 

Dave Nickell, after whom the town of Nickellton, Macon county 
was named, went to California in '49 with a crowd of gold hunters, 
journeying across with ox teams. Mr. Nickell met with moderate suc- 
cess, returned to Macon county and resumed his vocation as a farmer. 
One night he had a dream. He saw a rich gold ledge near where he had 
worked and became so strongly impressed that he hitched up the old 
ox team and drove back to California along the trail he had followed 
the first trip. He found the ledge of his dream all right, but it was 
as barren of gold as those bricks which are sold to the unsophisticated. 
Mr. Nickell returned home for the second time and remained here for 
good. He amassed a large fortune and died, leaving behind, as a greater 
heritage to his children, an honored name. 

Jefferson Morrow, the first sheriff of Macon county, was also a part 
of that great pilgrimage to California. Among the others were Mike 
Hornback, J. B. Clarkson, John J. Jones, Dr. Al Eay, Daniel Cornelius, 
Jeptha Banta, S. S. Lingo, M. M. Turner, Aleck Nichols, Levi Cox, J. J. 



100 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

West, Col. Thomas Pool, Matt Halley, E. S. Halley, Lewis Cox, Hardin 
Butner, Hugh McCann, John Murphy, James and Carter Landrum. 
James Banning, D. D. Fowler, J. B. Hutchinson, Burrell and Enoch 
Griffin, John Tilley, John Fisher, Nathaniel Brogles, "William Gates, 
"William Stanfield, William Balmear, John Melone, John Midley, James 
M. Stone, Thomas Hale, Daniel C. Hubbai'd, the first county clerk ; Wil- 
son Fletcher, Lewis Smith, Carter Wilkin, Thomas Bourk, Joseph 
Bourk, A. and S. Mendenhall,^ Washington and Benton Surber and 
George W. Anderson. 

In presenting the history of the discovery of coal in Macon coimty 
and its development, the publishers of this work are indebted to the 
intelligent and jjainstaking research of the late Elder F. Theo Mayhew, 
Dr. W. P. Eowland, Frank D. Jones, editor of the Bevier Appeal ; R. S. 
Thomas, former state coal mine inspector, and to Robert Richards, the 
present efficient inspector of the mines. 

The first discovery of coal in Macon county was made east of Macon 
by Hopkin Evans, just about the time the Hannibal & St. Joseph 
railroad began operating its trains. The place was known as Carbon, 
and for a while it looked like ciuite a town would spring up about the coal 
works. The coal produced by Evans was very hard and of an excellent 
quality. The vein was operated for only a short while, however, because 
of the instability of the roof, and the works there had to be abandoned. 
Ml'. Evans afterwards went to Bevier and became a well-to-do citizen 
there as a result of his industry and investments. 

In 1860 Alex Rector, then a young man of twenty, was employed 
by William Hughes to work on his farm, a mile and a half west of 
Bevier, between two streams known as Middle Fork and Garrett Branch. 
Rector's salary was $13 a month. 

Rector's first work for Mr. Hughes was to sink a well for the pur- 
pose of striking water. The excavation was begun near the edge of a 
large hill. AVhen he was down about twelve feet the digger struck two 
feet of slate and farther on a thick bed of coal. Later investigations 
discovered that this was a six-foot vein. 

Rector thought he was unluckj'; he had failed to get water. And 
even if he had struck it, that black material in his well would have 
destroyed the usefulness. Discouraged at his lost labor, he hunted up 
another place where he hoped to have better luck. Of course, he talked 
in a casual way about the stuff he had struck in Hughes' well, attaching 
no particular consequence to it, however. 

Two railroad men, Thomas and Halleck, soon heard of Rector's 
discovery and established a shaft where Rector had dug for water. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 101 

They employed Rector and his father and Cleve Stacy to chop hickory 
logs and -ivall the shaft. This was the first work of that character done 
in the mining district which was destined to become the greatest in the 
state. The logs walling the mine were placed a little ways apart, so 
as to form a sort of ladder for the workmen to climb up and down. 

The parties operating this first shaft called the place New Castle, 
naming it after a famous coal town of England, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

The pioneer company did not operate long before it sold its coal 
rights to Mr. Hinton, of Hannibal, who installed a horse-gin, and hoisted 
from two to three cars of coal per day. The average weight of a car 
of coal then was from eight to ten tons. 

By this time the excitement of the coal discovery about Bevier 
became intense. People were awakening to the fact that they had within 
arms' reach a mighty industry, one which promised to revolutionize 
trade conditions in that section. The Hannibal & St. Joseph locomotives 
all burned wood at that period, iisiug great bonnet stacks, which looked 
like balloons. Fuel stations were scattered at frequent intervals along 
the line, and large forces of men were constantly at Avork in the forests 
chopping down valuable timber to be burned in the engines. This waste 
was even then discussed by the railroad officials, and they were tremen- 
douslj' interested in the discovery of coal about Bevier. 

Colonel Eobeau, who owned the farm just east of Mr. Hughes, 
employed David Reese to excavate a tunnel for coal on his farm near the 
railroad. Miners call a horizontal excavation a slope. This was the first 
slope mine in the district. Colonel Eol)eau named the scene of his 
operations Hazleton. 

This brings us to 1861, when the great coal man of the Bevier dis- 
trict came to Macon county. Thomas Wardell was born and reared in 
England, in the heart of the great coal producing section. He came to 
America to seek his fortune and was at Kewanee, Illinois, when he 
picked up a Macon county newspaper and read a discourse on the embry- 
onic coal operations here. He took the next train to Macon county and 
managed to secure the lease of the Hazleton from Colonel Robeau. War- 
del] 's main capital was energy, courage and thorough self-confidence. 
In later years he was the leader, and was even then, to some extent, 
of the coal operators. He was a man of sharp, decisive action, a thor- 
ough business man, and those who knew him longest and best maintain 
that he was always fair. 

Wardell immediately inaugurated improvements in the Hazleton 
mines; secured contracts with the railroad for taking his coal, and 



103 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

inspired the confidence of the men about Bevier to back him in all his 
earlier enterprises. 

East of Hazleton John Cross and John Clifton sunk a shaft, calling 
it Oakwood. That was in 1862. 

W. S. Watson, a brother-in-law of Wardell, came from Knoxville, 
Iowa, and put down a shaft on the George Parker fann, calling the scene 
of his operations Centerville. It will be noted that in the early days 
of the industry the various coal mines were designated by names instead 
of by numbers as they are now. 

In 1862-3 the railroad company took a hand in the coal mining 
operations about Bevier and sunk a shaft near the depot, where the first 
steam engine in the district was used to hoist coal. This shaft would 
load from eight to twelve cars a day. All the other plants were then 
depending upon horsepower to get their product to the surface. 

The mines discovered above were all west of the Bevier depot. 

In 1866-7 the Centerville Coal & Mining Company was organized, 
including all the mines then in operation at Bevier. 

Five mines east of Bevier were sunk during the seventies. 

Eleven mines altogether were working out along the railroad track 
and the various operators were forced to follow the production south- 
ward, where new mining towns were established. Within recent years 
the Central Coal & Coke Company has constructed a road extending 
sixteen miles southward to Ardmore. This road, which is put up in 
modern style and is equipped with high class rolling stock, handles gen- 
eral freight and passenger traffic along its line and takes care of the 
coal produced by the Northwestern Coal & Mining Company just south 
of Bevier. The division headquarters of the road are at Bevier. 

The following figures are furnished by Elder Mayhew in the course 
of his sketch concerning Mr. Rector and the coal industry. 

"Tlie largest output of coal in one day for 1904 was 175 cars; total 
nmuber of cars sent out during the year 1904, 47,764. The average 
tonnage per car was from forty to fifty." 

Eector died at the age of seventy, having devoted all his working 
years to mine labor. He was contented with his lot, made good wages 
and had plenty to eat and wear. The end came to Mr. Wardell, the 
man who made such energetic use of Eector 's discovery, in 1888. The 
lives of the two men are interesting in comparison. When Wardell 
reached Bevier he and Eector were on the same footing as regards 
worldly goods. Wardell went into the mines with pick and shovel as a 
laborer, but his active brain soon furnished wider avenues for his 
endeavors. He died one of the most successful and one of the wealthiest 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 103 

coal operators in the west. Eector lived longer than Wardell, and at 
his death was worth about the same as he was when his pick struck coal 
on the Hughes farm in 1860. 

The land which now constitutes Bevier was entered by Lewis Gil- 
strap. When the railroad was located Mr. Gilstrap sold out to Mr. 
Bevier for whose son, Col. E. S. Bevier, a lawyer employed by the rail- 
road comijany, the town was named. 

The next proprietors were Duff & Co., a Boston firm. In 1858 this 
company laid out the future city, extending, as oi'ig-inally platted, from 
the railroad on the south to Livingston street on the north, and from 
Carroll street on the west to Adair street on the east. 

In 1859 the railroad was extended through Bevier and it at once 
became a distributing point for supplies to College Mound to the south, 
and Bloomington, then the county seat, to the north. 

In 1861 a slope called No. 6 was put down on what is at present 
the Black Diamond farm, then owned by Lewis Robeau, near tlie rail- 
road and a little east of the first trestle west of town. This was named 
Hazleton, but it also was abandoned on account of too much water. In 
the same year came No. 4, known as Oakwood, which was located on land 
now o'sxTied by Lew Lewis, one mile west of Bevier. This proved to be a 
pocket and was soon worked out. 

Nos. 1, 2 and 3 were put down during the winter of 1861-2. The site 
of No. 3, one-half mile west of town, owned by W. ^. Watson, was known 
as Centerville. A store building now occupied by Lewis L. Williams 
was the nucleus for the new town. Streets were laid out and are still 
found on the township maps. 

At mine No. 2, owned by Hopkin Evans, just at western limits of the 
city, apparently no effort was made to establish a town. Mine No. 1, 
located at the west end of the depot platform, put down by the railroad 
company under the direction of C. 0. Godfrey, with Thomas Wardell 
as superintendent, and the location of a large company store on what is 
now known as the Watson Block site, with the precedence of an estab- 
lished depot, settled the matter in favor of building a permanent town 
on the present site of Bevier. For some five years or more, imtil 1867, 
there was not a great deal of centralizing of dwellings, though the inde- 
pendent small storekeepers a,ll opened in Bevier. 

In 1864, on account of war conditions and the depreciation of paper 
currency, and in order, too, to hold men there, the companies informed 
the men that they would pay them one per cent per bushel more than 
they had been paying. A meeting was called to accept this generous 
offer, when it was thought only fair to ask for another cent — the miner 



104 HISTOBY OF MACON COUXTY 

was not to be outdoue in generosity. The request was promptly granted. 

In 1865 the ojjerators refused to recognize tlie union any longer and 
a strike was called, resulting in the union's defeat. 

In 1867 an effort was again made to organize a union and a strike 
was on. In this strike, for the first and last time, women were called 
to the front and with tongues, tinpans and stale eggs they succeeded in 
a fair way to humiliate the "black legs," as those taking the places of 
the men were at that time termed. But on one rainy Saturday, when 
the women had the blacklegs corralled in the engine house of mine No, 
1, afraid to venture out, the sheriff of the county, with twenty-nine 
deputies, swooped down on the crowd and corralled the women. They 
were all taken to Macon, retained over Sunday and then allowed to come 
home. This broke the strike, the union losing out. 

About this time — 1867 — the three mines, 1, 2, and 8 were consoli- 
dated into a joint stock company known as the Central Coal & Mining 
Company. From this time Pevier grew rapidly. The first settlers were 
Welsh and English, with a scattering of Irish and Scotch, and an occa- 
sional American to leaven the mass. The independent merchants, who, 
with one exception, had gone to the wall, again took heart. One-story 
frame store buildings sprang uis on front street and two and three- 
room frame dwellings were soon ornamenting numberless lots of the 
platted town. The First Congregational church was the first building 
erected for purposes of worship, and as there was no schoolhouse nearer 
than the Miners' Hall, one mile west of town, it was used also for school 
purposes. The Welsh Congregational church, built immediately after, 
was a close second. 

In 1870 the schoolhouse, consisting of two large rooms, was com- 
pleted and occupied. From 1867 to 1873 was a period of unbroken 
prosperity. Everybody had money and paid his bills, and with what was 
left over enjoyed life- as best he could. 

Bevier was a regular western boom town these days. The saloons 
were wide open and the ducats flowed into them steadily. The rural 
enthusiast, booted and spurred, the "best man in sixteen counties, sir!" 
charged into town on Saturday afternoons, filled his long-necked bottles 
with more ginger, and then tried his lungs. He rode hard up and down 
the streets, proclaiming his constitutional rights to life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness, and defying any one-gallus galoot in the bailiwick 
to debate the matter with liim. There was usually a "round-up" the 
Saturday following pay-day, furnishing enough westei-n color to stock 
a magazine writer the balance of his days. That, liowever, has been 
the universal characteristic of young mining towns of tlie west, and at 



■HISTOIJY OF MACOI^ COUNTY 105 

all times there were in Bevier a solid, substantial citizenship, working 
quietly and steadily for law and order, for the observance of Sunday 
and the better things of life, and to this constantly growing element is 
due the splendid position Bevier occupies today as a city of churches, 
of good morals and a thorough respect for the law. 

In 1873 the panic following the Civil war affected Bevier as it did 
all the other sections of the country. An effort on the part of the coal 
companies to reduce the price of mining from 6 cents to 5 cents a bushel 
caused another strike, which dragged along for months, when the union 
again lost and one of the concerns, the Central Coal & Mining Company, 
w-ent into bankruptcy. Tliis was the darkest period of Bevier 's history. 
For five or six years there was but little work in winter and practically 
idle summers, and nowhere to go to better conditions, for a succession 
of crop failures over the country generally and grasshopper plagues 
in Kansas added to the money panic, and made it impossible to recuper- 
ate. But after this depression the town went forward, keeping pace with 
the rest of the world. Loomis & Snively bought up the remains of the 
Central Coal & Mining Company, with the exception of mine No. 2 which 
had fallen into the hands of Mr. Atwill, of St. Joseph. They proceeded 
to open up mine No. 4, one-fourth of a mile east of the depot, and W. S. 
"Watson about the same time opened up his mine No. 1 a little further 
east. These added to mine No. 3 still further east, opened up by Thomas 
Warden, in addition to the Smnmit mines, which he had purchased, 
placed Bevier again on the prosperous way, and so it continued until 
1885, when the coal companies decided to fight the union. Negroes were 
for the first time brought to work in the mines, and after a bitter and 
protracted struggle they became established as a permanent part of the 
population. For a few years peace again reig-ned, when under an effort to 
reduce the wages, which was resisted by the men, the companies in 1888 
brought in Swedes from Chicago to break the strike and again the men 
lost out. After this until the disastrous panic of 1893 prosperity was 
noted on every hand. During and following this period, mines 43 and 46, 
"Watson No. 2, Black Diamond No. 7, and 61 and 66 were opened. 

With the prosperous times following the panic of 1873, the people 
felt the need of a better government, so on September 5, 1881, the County 
Court was induced to incorporate the village of Bevier, with Daniel 
Rowland as its first chairman of the Board. During the negro and 
Swede strikes, as they were termed, there had occurred riots, with which 
the village found itself powerless to cope and on one occasion the state 
militia was called upon to protect life and property. This was following 
the killing of Thomas Wardell, one of the leading operators, by parties 



lOG HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

who have never beeu located. Two men were brought to trial for the 
affair, but after a stubborn legal battle, lasting the greater part of a 
week, the defendants were acquitted, and the tragedy is as much of a 
mystery as ever. 

The killing of Mr. Wardell was the most unfortunate occurrence in 
Bevier's history. It gave the town an unpleasant reputation abroad, a 
reputation which has been entirely obliterated h}^ its good record of 
later years. The death of Mr. Wardell deprived the Macon county coal 
district of one of its most energetic and forceful characters, a man who 
had in him the capacity and the will to do great things for the devel- 
opment of the county's industries. Bevier had a sentimental as well 
as a material interest for the great coal operator. It was here he made 
liis real start in life, showed what he could do and enjoyed the first 
fruits of his intelligent effort. He felt closer to the place than to any 
other point where his great interests had ever drawn him. 

On March 16, 1889, through an election called for the purpose, the 
village of Bevier was reorganized into a city and, on April 2 following, 
Lewis Nowlan was elected its first mayor. 

During the twenty years from 1873 to 1893, Bevier grew in popu- 
lation, houses sj^rung up on all sides and wooden sidewalks replaced 
the pathways; the one-story business houses on Front street, which 
were burned out during the Swede strike, were partly replaced with 
brick, and Macon street was converted into a business street, the one- 
story frame dwellings giving way to the business houses. The year 
1893 found the Watson block erected, with the Northwestern building 
and Odd Fellows' Temple under way. During these years, two more 
churches had been added until there numbered nine, and a handsome 
central school building, costing $30,000, has been included in the archi- 
tectural development of the town. 

The panic of 1893, which continued four years, again set matters 
back. One of the companies, the Loomis Coal Company, crippled by the 
importation of strike breakers, went into bankruptcy. Building was 
at a standstill and predictions were heard on all sides of the city's doom. 
Strikes against the reduction of wages were numerous, the men invari- 
abh^ losing. The present union was formed the following year and the 
tide turned. One company, the Kansas & Texas Coal Company, which 
held out against recognition, was forced to sell out after spending $200,- 
000 in the fight. Since this time wages have been increased and Bevier 
has moved forward smoothly and steadily. Brick business blocks are the 
rule, two-story frame and brick dwellings as Avell as a large number 
of handsome one-story cottages, have been built in and around the city. 



mSTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 107 

Two prosperous, substantial banks are now housed in brick buildings 
and a three-story brick structure with opera house on the ground floor, 
second to none in cities of twice Bevier's population in Missouri, attest 
the faith of all in the great mining center. Wooden sidewalks are rap- 
idly giving way to brick and granitoid, and the outlying districts have 
been taken into the city limits, so tliat the population has increased to 
between 2,000 and 3,000. In this time, too, the Missouri & Louisiana 
railroad has made Bevier its terminal and along its line have been sunk 
mines 24, 25 and 28, which, added to mines 8, 9, 10 and 66, make Bevier 
the most important coal producer of Missouri. Other mines will be 
opened in the years to come and there is no reason why Bevier should 
not furnish the men to do the work in the future as in the past, and as 
Bevier must be the distributing point for the coal from the vast coal 
field to the south, the city must in the prosperous years continue to grow 
even greater than before. 

Since the advent of the United Mine Workers of America in the 
Bevier field, embracing all the miners and mine workers within the folds 
of that splendid organization, and the plan of joint agreements have 
been adopted by the operators and miners through the organization, 
there have been but few mining difficulties to mar the harmonious rela- 
tionship between them, so that good contracts and steady employment 
have marked the industry for years past. As a result, the annual coal 
production has been increasing almost every year. Statistics indicate 
that the high-water mark in coal production in the Bevier coal field 
was readied during the year 1907, when a total of 29,439 cars, or 1,032,- 
143 tons were mined and shipped. The greatest month of that year 
was October — 3,042 cars, or 108,782 tons. 

In 1896 there was a dispute between State Coal Mine Inspector 
Charles Evans and W. E. Murlin, superintendent of the Kansas & Texas 
coal mines, as to what was really meant by the term, ' ' shooting off the 
solid." The matter was brought to the attention of the court by the 
mine inspector by filing an action against Mr. Murlin, to compel him to 
obey the law as the mine inspector understood it. The case immediately 
attracted wide interest in the mining districts of the west. 

Murlin was charged with the violation of Section 7077 of the mining 
law adopted by the State Legislature in January, 1895. It was alleged 
that the violation occurred at mine 33, Ardmore, and mines 43 and 46 
near Bevier. This is the law the inspector claimed Murlin had disre- 
garded in his mines : 

"And in all dry and dusty mines discharging light carbonated 
hydrogen gas, or mines where the coal is blasted off the solid, shot firers 



108 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

must be employed to fire all shots after the employees and other per- 
sons have retired from the mines." 

The next section jDrovided a penalty of not less than $50 or more 
than $200, or by imprisonment in the county jail not less than three 
or more than twelve mouths, or by both such fine and imprisonment. 

The purpose of. the mine inspector was to force the defendant to 
employ shot firers so as to relieve the miners of the hazard of making 
their own shots. That is why it became material to have a legal defini- 
tion of the term, "shooting off the solid." 

Mr. Murlin contended that shooting off the sohd was not the 
practice in his mines, because the operatives loosened the coal by a side 
cutting, which made it easy to remove as if the vein had been under- 
mined. The practice, Mr. Murlin insisted, was entirely safe for the 
miners. 

The inspector replied that in order to remove the practice from 
the classification of shooting off the solid the coal had to be first under- 
mined by a deep cutting with a hand pick. 

The case came up before a justice in July, 1895, and Mr. Murlin 
was acquitted. Nothing daimted, the inspector filed an information in 
the Macon County Circuit Court, and secured the attendance of expert 
miners from all over the coimtry, either in person or by deposition, and 
prepared to make a strong fight for his contention. When the case 
was first called the defense objected to the information on the ground 
that the term, "blasting off the solid," was not specific enough to inform 
the defendant what he would have to meet and that he could not properly 
prepare a defense to such an allegation. The attorneys for the mine 
inspector insisted that they had followed exactly the language of the 
statute, and that their information was good. The Court — Judge Elli- 
son — remarked that in a case of this sort it was necessary to go a little 
further than the statute and allege more than "blasting oflF the solid" 
to fairly put the defendant on his guard and let him know the issues he 
would have to meet. 

This second defeat didn't dismay Mr. Evans, the determined inspec- 
tor of the coal mines. He instructed the jirosecuting attorney, Mr. 
R. W. Barrow, to perfect his appeal to the Supreme Court. 

The higher tribunal, in an opinion written by Judge Gantt, and con- 
curred in by Judges Sherwood and Burgess, sustained the mine inspec- 
tor on every point. The court, in its opinion, referred to the disaster 
at Rich Hill, Mo., in the Keith & Perry mines in 1888, liy wliich twenty- 
throe miners were killed and fifty others seriously burned, and said that 
had the law, in regard to the employment of shot-firers been in existence 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 109 

and in force at that time, only one life could have been imperiled by the 
explosion. Further, on the opinion, Judge Gantt said : 

"If the Legislature can regulate the harmless business of the citi- 
zens on the ground that possible fraud may be perpetrated, surely there 
can be no hesitation in holding that a regulation requiring mine owners 
to operate mines in which the dangerous agency of blasting powder is 
used, to so use and handle that powder as to protect the lives and insure 
the safety of their miners." 

Judge Gantt also said: "The statute is wise in its purpose, and it 
is the duty of the courts to enforce compliance with its plain and obvious 
provisions." 

So the indomitable inspector won at last, and from that time shot 
firers have been employed in all the Macon county collieries to go down 
into the mines and touch ot¥ the powder after the workmen have left. 

For several days during the first part of November, 1899, there was 
a reign of terror about the mines, owing to a clash between the negroes 
employed at 61, the officers of the county and some white miners. The 
first news reached Sheriff A. J. Glenn in the shape of a telegram from 
Edward Vail, an official of the Kansas & Texas Coal Company. The 
telegram read as follows: 

"A party of colored miners was attacked by armed men west of 
Bevier and left lying on the track badly wounded, perhaps dead. Your 
presence needed immediately. Edward Vail." 

Sheriff Glenn had been a cowman in Wyoming, and had handled 
desperate situations before. He immediately deputized some men and 
went over to the scene of the trouble. When he arrived the negroes had 
retired to the enclosures at 61, where they remained during the night. 
The sheriff returned to Macon. 

The next day was Sunday. The negroes secured possession of some 
arms and started down the track. They took a position in a cut and 
began firing in a northeast direction, towards the Watson mines and the 
homes of a number of union miners. 

Sheriff Glenn was again summoned liy Mr. Vail, who stated that the 
negroes had become uncontrollable. Prosecuting Attorney Ben Frank- 
lin drove over with the sheritf , reaching Bevier about 12 :.30 p. m., Sun- 
day. The town was found to be considerably excited. The people clam- 
ored for instant action against the negroes. Both Glenn and Franklin 
addressed the crowd, urging moderation and promising to do everything 
they could to restore order. While the meeting was in progress a man 
rode up and related the narrow escape of himself and his family from 
the bullets of the blacks. He said that his house had been riddled and 



no HISTORY OF ^iIACOX COUNTY 

he and bis folks had been forced to lay flat on the floor to avoid the 
bullets. 

This fresh outrage greatly increased the excitement, and it was with 
some difficulty that the citizens could be induced to remain quietly until 
the sheritf returned from the mines. 

The white miners held a mass meeting in the afternoon, at which 
time they resolved they would not return to work in any of the mines 
until all danger of the negroes attacking their homes had been guarded 
against. 

There was a meeting in the city hall at Bevier to talk over the situa- 
tion. It was called at the request of the sheriff. There was a large 
crowd present. Among the pi'ominent ones there were John J. Bovard, 
then manager and now president of the Northwestern Coal Company; 
John H. Gay, auditor ; L. J. Loomis, of the Black Diamond Coal Com- 
pany; W. S. and John Watson, of the Watson Coal Company, Mayor 
H. A. Bott, ex-mayors James G. Edward and Lewis Nowlau, W. E. Eob- 
erts, of the United Mine AVorkers of America; Prosecuting Attorney 
Ben Franklin ; Sheriff A. J. Glenn ; D. E. Hughes, an attorney of Macon ; 
AV. A. CljTnans, T. D. Francis, postmaster ; A. D. Goodale, F. D. Jones, 
editor Bevier Appeal, and Dr. D. D. Rowland. 

Sheriff Glenn explained matters as fully as he could and asked the 
advice of the citizens as to the proper course to take, under the grave 
exigency confronting him. Everybody realized the seriousness of the- 
situation. The negroes were well armed and had given every evidence 
of being desperate and reckless. Ail sorts of rumors had been coming 
in hourly. It was even stated that the negroes were planning an attack 
on the town. Requisitions were made for guns, and e^'ery household 
was sui^plied with arms and ammunition. 

In addressing the citizens in the hall Prosecuting Attorney Franklin 
stated the law of the case and advised that deliberation be exercised until 
sufficient evidence could be secured to locate the parties guilty of inciting 
the riot. He then said they should be promptly and vigorously 
prosecuted. 

Some of those in attendance were in favor of immediate action — 
the arrest and disai'mamont of all the negroes at 61. 

Finally, a resolution was adopted requesting the sheriff to put 
on a sufficient force to maintain order and to insure protection to the 
residents in the south part of Bevier. 

There was quietude all the balance of Sunday night and Monday. 
In the afternoon of Monday notices signed by the sheriff were posted 
around town and at the mines. These requested that everybody refrain 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 111 

from carrying firearms. A strong posse was stationed just north of 61 
and another near mine No. 7. The sheriff swore in Superintendent 
Vail and the mine guards as deputies and instructed them not to allow 
am- of the negroes to pass out of the mine limits. 

Sheriff Glenn, unaccompanied by deputies, drove down to the spur 
of mine 61, hitched his horse and walked in among the crowd of negroes 
who had been causing the trouble. Several rifles were pointed towards 
him, but the sheriff' did not flinch. lie is quoted as having said on that 
dramatic occasion. 

"You can shoot me if you want to, men, but if you kill me, there will 
be others to take my place and they will kill every one of you. They 
are in no mood to tolerate this outrage. I am the sheriff of this county, 
and I am here to preserve order. I want you fellows to lay down your 
guns and go back with me to the mine." 

The negroes looked at the little officer sullenly, then lowered their 
weapons and went back to the works. There they handed over their 
rifles and were placed in charge of a sworn deputy. This incident prac- 
tically ended hostilities between the negroes and the whites. 

John Killholland, a well-known mining man, hap^jened to be near 
one of the encounters between the whites and the blacks during the riot. 
He said that seven negroes left the mine and started towards Bevier, 
traveling by way of the track at No. 43. In that vicinity were several 
white men. Two of the negroes, it was said, displayed weapons and 
threatened to use them. Mr. Killholland was sinking a shaft near the 
place, and says he saw the negroes fire in the direction of some small 
children. Almost instantly, it appeared to him, the whites and negroes 
were in battle array against each other, using their weapons rapidly. 
There was a thick wood on the west side of the track, and the negroes 
retreated to it, followed by about twenty men. Each side used the trees 
for shelter, but the blacks fell steadily back. Mr. Killholland stated that 
there were fully 500 shots exchanged during the battle. Occasionally 
a negro would drop, then rise up and limp away. But, finally, the blacks 
retreated out of range and the firing ceased. The whites did not pursue 
them very far, fearing an ambuscade. 

During the riots, which occurred at several different points, it was 
reported that a great number of men had been slain and their bodies 
secreted, but after order was restored and investigations made, no fatal- 
ities were discovered. Quite a number, however, were injured. Many 
houses bore the marks of bullets. A great deal of shooting was done, 
more or less at random. 

At one time during hostilities Mr. John H. Bovard happened to be 



113 IIISTOKY OF Mx\COX COUNTY 

dangerously near the firing zone, superintending some track work. As 
he was not a combatant, lie moved to a safer spot. In discussing the 
situation Mr. Bovard remarked at that time: 

"Your sheritf, I think, is trying hard to do his dutj'. Of course, 
it has been a somewhat difficult proposition for him to handle. I think 
he ought to ^eep .those negroes out of town, at least until things 
quiet down. 

"We have a good town here and good people. I have been in a 
nimiber of mining towns, and I know something about them. You can 
say for me, without reservation, that I have never seen a person 
insulted on the streets of Bevier, nor a drunken man. The real work- 
ingmen of this town never molest anybody. I am satisfied with con- 
ditions and prospects here." 

After quiet was restored, the sheriff put under arrest the parties 
suspected of being implicated as leaders and the law took hold of them. 

One of the old Bevier miners, in discussing early day troubles, said 
that they used to make bullets for the old Springfield rifles by digging a 
hole in a brick and using it as a mold. When the hole was full of melted 
lead the overflow would be scraped off with a case knife. It was a quick 
method and the balls thus made would sing as mournful a song as those 
which were traveling from the latest army rifle. 

The sheriff of Macon county had the most trying position of any 
man connected with the duty of putting down the riots. In discussing 
this, a Bevier citizen said : 

"In a time of war an officer ought not to try to explain things to 
everybody who asks him questions. The right thing to do is for the officer 
to plan his campaigTi and then go ahead and work it out according to his 
system. It is mighty easy for a fellow to get rattled by those who do a 
great deal of talking. I remember during a strike some years back 
the boys met and discussed the prospect of taking the mines. They 
talked long and loud about how they would do it, and finally they 
started out on their campaign. The enemy fired back, and the only 
one of the lot who held his ground and responded with his blunder- 
buss was a quiet little chap who had been at the pow-wow, but hadn't 
said a word about what he was going to do." 

On J'riday morning, Augiist 16, 1901, three miners were killed and 
two seriously injured by the explosion of a 25-pound can of Dupont 
powder in the Kansas & Texas Coal Company's mine No. 52, a short 
distance west of Excello. It was what is known as a slope, the .tunnel 
having been sunk for a short ways in the hillside. The three men who 
met death were W. E. Brown, aged 76 ; J. C. McCuUy, 40, and Charles 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 113 

P. Stokes, 31. The injured were I. J. Lucas, 65, and Jolm MeCanne, 
32. Charles Stokes started to open the can of powder. The lid did not 
move smootlily and McCully told him to stand aside and he would show 
him how to get into the can. MoCully struck the lid what seemed 
to be a light blow with a pick; he followed this with a more vigorous 
stroke. A terrific explosion followed. The five men named above 
were thrown against the sides of the entry, blazing and burning like 
pillars of fire. In their fearful agony they rolled around on the ground, 
shrieking and calling for help, all the while frantically trying to tear 
the burning garments from their bodies. Some men who were working- 
at an air shaft some distance away heard the cries and ran to their 
rescue. They tore the clothing from the poor fellows' bodies, enduring 
serious burns themselves in doing so. McCully, Brown and Stokes 
were taken to the hospital at ]\rol)erly in the afternoon, and after endur- 
ing dreadful suffering passed away. Stokes lived twelve hours after 
the accident and McCully died at 1 :30 Saturday morning. Brown 
following him at 5. 

W. H. Frazier, one of the men who was sinking the air shaft, was 
the first man on the scene of the accident. His story of what he saw 
was as follows : 

"The first thing I knew about the matter was when I heard what 
I thought was a shot, but as it was followed almost instantly by terrible 
screaming I knew something had gone wrong. We dropped our tools 
and dashed down the hill. As we hurried along we saw a great pillar 
of smoke arise in the air and move slowly and solemnly away. It looked 
like a monster balloon. McCully was the first man I saw. He was a 
living pillar of fire. His sliirt was burned completely off. All of them 
were trying with their maimed hands to put out the fire that was scorch- 
ing their lives away. The cries from those poor fellows will ring in my 
ears as long as I live. If I had known that I was going to witness such 
a dreadful sight I am afraid I would have turned and fled in some other 
direction. As it was, none of us thought of the horror of it just then. 
All that entered our heads was to relieve the poor men as quickly 
as we could. 

"It was pitiable to hear them call to us, 'Oh, save us, men,' 'For 
God's sake, do something for us!' 

"I tore the shreds of McCully 's clothing off and threw them to 
one side, where they were rapidly consumed. Then I turned my atten- 
tion to Mr. Brown. I didn't know who he was. You couldn't tell one of 
the men from the other. They were so disfigured by the burning and 
the powder. We got Brown's garments off, and when we were wrapping 



114 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

him up in one of the men's coats, someone told me who he was. By this 
time assistance was coming from all directions, and the charred bodies 
were all wrapped up and driven to town. 

"I don't like to talk about this thing. I have been in the army 
and seen a great deal of suffering, but nothing quite so fearful as this. 
After it was all over, I was as weak as a cat ; my legs would hardly hold 
me up. People who visited the mines soon after the explosion picked 
up buttons, buckles and metal pieces the men had in their pockets. 
A number of finger-nails were found and several fingers literally 
burned off. The heat these poor men endured was about the same 
as if they had been placed in a small room of solid fire and a force 
draught turned upon their bodies. Every hair on their heads and faces 
was burned off, giving their features a weird, uncanny look. 

"I don't see how anyone could be blamed for this unfortunate 
affair," Mr. Frazier went on. "It was an accident, pure and simple. 
It has always been the custom of the miners to press their jjicks through 
the lids of the powder cans to get at the contents. Some struck the lid, 
but I believe the rule is rather to push the sharp point of the pick 
through the tin. McCully was the foreman and was considered a safe 
and careful man." 

The Sunday following the disaster funeral services were held at 
Mount Salem church. The attendance was enormous, nearly every 
home in the neighborhood being represented by people who sorr(Twed 
for the dead miners. 

The funeral services were conducted by the Eev. F. T. Mayhew, of 
Bevier, and the Eev. M. L. Heifner of Macon. 

Not long after the Supreme Court's decision afiSrming the law 
regarding shot-firers, a member of the statf compiling this history was 
invited to accompany "Jack" Richards and "Bill" Jones, two of the 
shot-firers in Northwestern colliery No. 8, on their rounds. "Jack" 
and "Bill" promised to be gentle with the layman and to see that part 
of him reached home alive. The tenderfoot went out to the mine, arriv- 
ing there a short while before dusk. Engineer James Leyden, a big, 
good-natured sort of fellow, welcomed the visitor in his large and well- 
kept machine room, grinning slightly as he thought of what was in store 
for him. Jack and Bill were there, dressed up like desperadoes, it 
seemed to the tenderfoot, but it was only the ordinary regalia for use in 
the pit: The shot-firers scrutinized the explorer and sarcastically sug- 
gested that he might have shown them a little more respect had he 
worn a high hat and shined his shoes. Then they lighted their pit 
lamps and led the way to a place that looked like it might be the gate- 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 115 

way to tlie iuferuo. The tenderfoot followed, trailing along in the 
midst of the four shot-firers, and the little party passed on to one of 
the cages. There was the sound of a gong and the wire ropes overhead 
began to move. After a drop of 130 feet the "cage" struck the "bot- 
tom" so gently that not a man on it could detect the contact. This was 
the last naercy to the visitor. Leyden, the engineer, knew he had 
troubles enough ahead without his adding to them. At the bottom a 
little coffee-pot, which the shot-firers said was a lamp, was filled with 
lard oil, lighted and handed to the guest of the mine. 

"You want to hold it behind your wi'ist so the wind won't blow it 
out," said Jack. 

The visitor followed instructions, and when he got into the current 
on the double entry there was the smell of burning cloth. His coat 
sleeve had caught lire. 

"Never mind," he said, feebly, when the shot-firers turned around 
to sympathize and to criticize; "I can have it patched." 

At the turning of the "First East," two of the shot-firers, John 
Eamsey and Ben Evans, went straight ahead. 

"So long!" was the parting of the two little forces. Only five men 
were in the underground world, with its miles of narrow streets, hall- 
like rooms, its cross-cuts and its caverns. With heads slightly bent, 
Jack and Bill led the way along the "First East." The roof here was 
of solid rock and fairly high. The roadbed between the narrow rails 
was firm and walking was easy. 

"This ain't so bad," remarked the tenderfoot, who thought he'd 
show his nerve was with him. 

"Huh!" 
The observation from Jack was enigmatical, rather than reassuring. 
Ou the right there was a fissure in the coal. Two great ears projected 
over a wooden barrier, and cast a sinister shadow. The big ears 
belonged to "Murphy," one of the pit mules. His "flat" was of nearly 
as meager limitations as the conventional sort above ground. "Mur- 
phy" looked bored when the three foot travelers stopped and tried to 
make friends with him. 

"He's heard the company's going to put in motors,'' said Jones, 
"and it's made him sullen. While back he was the most sociable mule 
in the pit." 

There are from twenty-five to thirty small mules stowed around in 
the honeycombs of No. 8, and it is said they fare well under ground. 
They are given periodic baths in sunshine, during which they express 
their joy by trying to kick holes in the sky. 



116 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

On through the gloomy avenues the trio marched, their torch lamps 
revealing great slides of rock and coal on the side, and here and there 
a black hole penetrated by a narrow iron track. Into one of these 
Jones dauntlessly led the way. As they advanced the roof came down 
and the men had to bend lower, reaching their hands out ahead like 
great spiders. For a long time the tenderfoot tried to unloosen the 
cross timbers with the top of his head, and then he learned the lesson 
of humility. The roadway began to get soft and soon the gray mud 
and water reached over the ankles. The recruit murmured. 

"Wliy don't you walk on the rails?" demanded Jack. 

The slender iron rails were about as inviting a prospect as a slack 
wire. But the man who had come to see endeavored to obey the sug- 
gestion. One foot went off into the ooze so suddenly that he fell against 
a side prop and went to his knees. The ruination of his new trousers 
didn't insult him so much as the afifront to liis bones. But he got up 
and stumbled along after his companions, whose tiny lamps were flick- 
ering far down the inky corridor. A good quarter mile of slush and 
water and they came to a solid wall. It was the end of the fifth entry 
south. 

"Nothin' doin'," said Jones. 

They explained that all the rooms along that entry were marked 
"0," by which the shot-firers understood that there were no cartridges 
for them to touch off and no holes to tamp. Tlie information is con- 
veyed by marks on a small board at the mouth of the miner's room. 
Through a cross-cut almost entirely filled with fine coal and debris the 
party passed into the next entry. 

"Now, here's what you come to see," said Jack. "You stand here 
now and don 't move on your life ! ' ' 

The shot-firers darted off like shadows of the night. Now and 
then their lights could be seen twinkling in the distance like fire-flies. 
Then they would disappear. Presently there came a dull roar like the 
boom of a cannon. This was followed by a cyclonic rush of wind which 
blew off the tenderfoot's new hat and put his lamp out of business. 
He was alone with his imagination and darkness that could have been 
carved with a meat ax. Sulphur fumes followed in the wake of the 
wind. Two more heavy blasts came in quick succession. One was near 
the entry and the fire from the five-pound cartridge made a pyrotechnic 
display that would have been worth money on the Fourth of July. 
Volley after volley of coal crashed \"iciously against the side of the 
entry, and the cross timbers cracked. 

"B-o-o-m! B-o-o-m! B-o-o-m!" 



HISTOKY OF MAC0:N' COUNTY 117 

It was a reproduction of the Boer war 130 feet below daylight. 

The cannonading was getting closer and fiercer as if the battle line 
were advancing. Now and then there was a tearing sound as if some 
angry carpenter were splitting a plank, and the soapstone roof over- 
head moaned uneasily. 

' ' Come with me ! Step lively, now ! ' ' 

Jack kindly relit the tenderfoot's lamp and showed the way. Block- 
ing the "neck" of a room was a loaded car of coal. The shot-firer 
shinned through a space that would have squeezed the life out of a cat 
and hauled the layman after him by the coat collar. On the other side 
of the coal car was a wide space that looked like a miniature forest. 
A wilderness of props was supporting a "touchy" roof in the miner's 
room. Arriving at a high black wall in the far end. Jack pointed to 
something which looked like a baby garter snake climbing out of its 
hole backwards. 

"That," he explained, "is a fuse. See the other one just like it 
over there on the face?" 

"On whose face!" 

The shot-firer grabbed the tenderfoot's arm and hustled him to the 
far side of the black wall and there indicated a twin sister of the first 
garter snake. 

"Now, you touch your lamp to this one," he said, "and I'll fire 
the other." 

"Ain't going to do it!" 

"If you don't fire that fuse I'll— I'll lose you!" 

Had Jack threatened him with a club it wouldn't have l)een half 
so dreadful. The tenderfoot held liis lamp to the garter snake about 
as intrepidly as a lady lights her first cigarette. The thing burst out 
into a shadow of sparks like a Chinese "sizzer." The scholar made a 
wild break for cover, losing his hat and lamp on the way. In pushing 
between the coal cars and the side of the "neck," he lost all the buttons 
off his vest and a few feet of skin, but he wasn't worrying over trifles 
that night. When he got out in the entry he looked back over the car 
and saw Jack standing between the two cheerfully si)uttering fuses, 
calmly retrimming and lighting the abandoned lamp. He also took 
thought to pick up the tenderfoot's hat and knock the coal dust from it. 

"That's the way with you fellers," said the shivering layman 
indignantly; "you stand in front of a cannon, and when you get your 
head blown off you lay it on the (•oini)any." 

"Aw, gwan!" said Jack, as he de.xterously slid by the coal pile 
and came out into the passage way. 



118 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Here Jones, who had been jilanning devastation up the entry, 
joined them, and they hiked along through the slush toward the " First 
East" again, helped along by the young hurricanes from the exploding 
cartridges behind them. A short jog along the east entry, and the 
shot-firers again plunged into a "hole" running south. Midway of this 
was a long line of loaded coal cars. A jutting rock prevented passage 
between one of the coal cars and the side of the entry. Jones leaped up 
on the cars and crowded forward in the scant space between roof and 
load. The tenderfoot realized what he was rnp against. 

' ' I am going home, ' ' he said, turning back. 

"Which way do you start from here to get to your home?" 
inquired Jack sarcastically. 

"Throw him on the car. Jack," said Jones, from the other side, 
"an' I'll yank him across." 

Jack grasped the layman's legs and hoisted him on the loaded 
coal. Jones reached his body forward and grabbed his hands, while 
Jack eased him along by the belt. The two or three white spots that 
had stood out on his shirt and collar up to this time withdrew from 
complicity in the enterprise, and the black became unanimous. Jor- 
dan's stormy highway wasn't a circumstance to that journey across 
the coal cars. When at last all three stood safely on the far side, the 
shot-firers held up their lamps and admiringly inspected their 
companion. 

"This puts us all of a color, eh. Jack?" said Jones, grinning. 

"Yes," replied Jack, hesitatingly, "but I still think he ought to've 
worn them kid gloves." 

Through the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth subentries 
the shot-firers plodded along to the inspiring thunder of artillery and 
the rush of infant tornadoes. When every miner's room in that section 
of the great colliery had been attended to they headed westward for 
the "bottom," going back along the "First East." The tenderfoot, 
recognizing various landmarks under the rocky roof, felt keen relief. 
All the shots had been fired and he was still alive. 

Reaching the place where they had parted with Ramsey and Evans, 
the weary men sat down on a prop timber and began refilling their 
lamps. 

"Do you always load up your little tea-kettles when the work is 
over?" asked the lay pilgrim. 

Jones stoi^ped and looked up with a curious smile. 

"Friend," he said, "we're just half through. We got the 'First 
West' and twelve sub-entries ahead of us. Up to now we've been 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 119 

traveling in good air. From this on you'll be a daisy if you keep that 
'tea-kettle' of yours going." 

"Good Lord!" 

"You see," Jones went on, with a wink that even the darkness 
couldn't hide, "whenever the company's medicine man reports that 
some fellow is getting too frisky they made a 'fire-shooter,' as you call 
it, out of him. It fixes him, generally. 

The roof in the west side was lower, because the vein was thinner. 
The lamps burned feebly and often went out. At one place Jones held 
up his lamp where a wagon load of rock had fallen out of the roof and 
left a sort of ledge extending over. Tbe lamp almost instantly went 
out. 

"Black damp," he said, senteutiously. 

It is the vampire of the coal mine. The fatal wings stretch out and 
gently fan the grimy toiler to pleasant dreams — dreams that last into 
eternity. The black damp hovers near the top, but at the slightest 
cessation of the air current it will flood the entries and the rooms. The 
percentage was so small in No. 8 that the miners were hardly aware of 
its existence. 

Pretty soon there was a dull intonation to the south and the sky- 
rockets came out and danced a jig. Spitefully the nut coal crashed over 
the passageway for a minute, and all was still in the direction of the 
shot. Overhead the soft roof began to make sulleu noises, as if seeking 
a better lodging place. It didn't take any imagination to see things 
moving. The shot-firers' pupil saw a chance while Jones was holding 
up his lamp and scooted. 

"You heard it, did you?" asked Jones, as he caught up with him. 

"I am sorry to feel it necessary, Mr. Jones," said the layman, 
stiffly, "to support all your statements with proof. You act as if I 
doubted your word." 

The shot-firer laughed. 

"Come on, now, and I'll show you where they're drawing pillars," 
he said. 

"Drawing pillars" is the most delicate undertaking in a mine. 
The pillars are solid coal between rooms, and are left to supi^ort the 
roof. When the pillars are drawn the roof is likely to fall at any time. 
While engaged at such work the miner ]iro]is well u]i to his work and 
takes every possible precaution. Only the oldest and most experienced 
men are permitted to draw pillars. The remuneration is good, because 
the coal comes down easily and in great chunks. For this the pillar 



120 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

workman is willing to shake hands with death every hour he is in 
the ijit. 

After passing through a long, muddy entry Jones stopped at a 
place that looked like a great cavern. Immense boulders had fallen 
out of the roof and lay piled up like the ruins of a temple. The shot- 
tirer looked all around the dark pillars for "garter snake tails." 

"Nothing here tonight," he said, disappointedly; "I wanted to 
show you how they take out those pillars. ' ' 

The pupil sighed his relief. Then he told the lie of polite society. 

"It's too bad." 

"Yes," said Jones. "We had our walk up this entry for nothing." 

Then he brightened up and said: 

"But come here and I can show you a bell rock." 

He held his lamp up to the roof, where the thin edge of the rock 
breaking out was showing. It looked like one might pull it down with 
his finger, and that it would be smooth and flat like a pane of glass. 

"A bell rock," said Jones, "is a rock that breaks off in a feather 
edge, like you see this, and suddenly spreads out as you approach the 
center of it. It may weigh 500 pounds or it may weigh a ton. It is a 
distinct rock imbedded in the general strata — sort of a pocket, you 
might say. It may stand for years. It may fall in a second. Nine out 
of ten of the damage suits brought against coal companies are for 
injuries and death occasioned by fall of bell rocks. They cause more 
trouble than everything else added together." 

The novice, with his usual precaution, moved. Jones laughed and 
dived into the black ink toward the main entry again. Along the 
western entries were great piles of props and timbers, awaiting the 
call of the miner to protect his roof. The miner is responsible for 
his room, but the company has to see that he has plenty of timber 
handy. The road-ways here and there were covered with slabs of rock 
that had fallen since the mule drivers had quit work in the afternoon. 

Miners sav most heaw falls of rock occur between midnight and dawn. 

J. ^ 

They have a theory that the earth is more restless between those 
periods. 

At a number of places the shot-firers passed from one entry to 
another through a cross-cut where the coal and fallen rock came so near 
the roof that they had to crawl through on hands and knees. They 
traveled ten miles through tunnels, holes and caverns, across bogs and 
over fallen rock and coal, plowed through mud and mire that would 
have stalled an ox team, squeezed between coal cars and sides of entries 
or crawled over them, and for not one second were they in doubt as 



HISTORY OF IFACOX COUNTY 121 

to their surroundings. Every foot of that murky, ten-mile journey 
was as familiar to them as his division is to a veteran locomotive 
engineer. For this sort of knowledge and work the shot-firer gets 
$2.83 a day. 

The cage was waiting when tlie party returned to the broad avenue 
of the bottom. The men stepped on, Jones pulled a lever at the side 
and the hoarse whistle of the big engine on top cheerfully responded. 
When the cage gate was thrown open the pilgrims from the nether 
world looked up and saw the stars were out and that darkness 
enshrouded the great coal valley. But it was not the l)itter gloom of 
the sort from whence they came, and there was no "danger of the dia- 
mond-studded "roof" above crashing down upon the lirawny sons who 
toiled beneath. 

The town of Lingo, a few miles west of New Cambria, on the Bur- 
lington railroad, was founded in 1873 by Thomas and George Jobson, 
botli of whom yet live in Macon county. The Jobsons were farmer 
boys, but they had been interested in railroad work, and had noticed 
that the railroad company was abandoning the use of wood and depend- 
ing almost exclusively on coal in its locomotives. The place which they 
called Lingo, in honor of Judge Samuel Lingo, member of an early 
county court, was originally known as "Peabody's Woodyard." 
Colonel Peabody there stacked u]) his wood, which was purchased by 
the railroad for its engines. 

The Jobsons figured that since there was coal in large quantities 
at Bevier, likely some of the same material existed about Lingo, and 
they resolved to put Peabody's Woodyard out of business. At 110 feet 
they struck a good vein of coal. The young men had some money, and 
they purchased 120 acres on which to operate their coal mine and build 
the town of Lingo. The railroad sold them the land at $6 an acre. 
After having thoroughly demonstrated the existence of good coal under 
all the land thereabouts, the Jobsons interested some capitalists and 
organized a mining company, with a capital stock of $30,000. Con- 
tracts were made with the railroad company to furnish coal to its loco- 
motives. The Jobsons, then in their 20s, found themselves in the 
possession of a great, big business, but that was just what they wanted, 
and they were prepared to handle it right. 

The first attempt at mining was on what is called the room and 
])illar system. Welsh miners from Bevier were employed. But it was 
soon foimd, owing to the pectiliar formation of the coal, that it could 
only be mined advantageously on the long wall system, a plan used in 
Austria, where the roof is not good. So it became necessary to sectire 



123 TITSTORY OF JIACON COUNTY 

Boliemian and Austrian miners. The Jobsons found some of these men 
at Braidwood and Streator, 111., and sent to Austria for others. 

Things began to liven up at Lingo. New houses were built rapidly, 
merchants purchased large stocks of goods, and farmers began driving 
in and making it their trading point. The population was distinctly 
foreign. The Bohemians were big, stalwart, fun-loving fellows, and 
they had great times of night dancing and singing. They brought their 
women with them, and they were as lively and full of fun as the men. 
Sometimes there were dances which lasted all night. Old and young- 
took part in them, and all drank a good deal of beer. After the fun 
was over, the Bohemians would put on their working harness, go down 
into the mines and labor as steadily as if they liadn't been up all night. 
Once a year the Bohemians would hold a festival, during which they 
would carry around through the streets of the town the efBgy of some 
traitor to their country who had been executed. Arriving at a certain 
place which had been ]3repared for the occasion, they would solemnly 
hang the effigy and deliver it over to the Evil One. 

The force that svmk the original shaft at Lingo was composed of 
F. A. Quinn, William Blake, John Vanderpool, John Saunders and 
John Eedman, all of whom are dead. 

Lingo thrived steadily and for a time many of its residents thought 
it would rival Bevier as a coal mining center, but finally the Jobsons 
disposed of their holdings and their successors had some trouble with 
the railroad, which quit using Lingo coal. The mines passed through 
various hands, and finally, in the 90s, the Armours acquired 600 acres 
of land, which included the entire town of Lingo. Every building was 
painted a bright yellow in conformity with the color of the Armour 
property. The Armours ran the mines steadily, using all the coal 
produced, until the miners at Lingo went out on a sympathetic strike 
with their brethren who were working in some other mines the Armours 
owned, a few years ago, and then the packing company shut down 
its coal mines altogether and began using oil as a means of producing 
steam. The strike was fatal to Lingo. From a town of 500 population, 
with churches, stores, schools and many dwelling houses, it dwindled 
to a hamlet. The miners left for other fields, the merchants went out 
of business and many of the houses were moved away. The railroad 
loaded up the station on some flat cars and moved to another point. 
Trains ceased to stop there except on signal. The once lively mining 
town was practically off the map. 

In speaking of Lingo recently, Thomas .IoIjsou, one of its found- 
ers, said. 



1 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 133 

"I was mighty sorry to see the town go down. There is plenty of 
good coal there yet, and if it is properly managed I am confident it 
would yield good revenues to the operator. AVhen I was the individual 
owner of the mines, from 1884 to 1888, they made money, Imt every 
man I had on the pay roll was a producer. I never kept about me a lot 
of clerks and bosses, but saw to it that every man was actually needed 
and worked. You have to figure mighty close these days to make money 
in coal. When I was down there I was postmaster, storekeeper, o]>er- 
ator, clerk and bookkeeper for the mines. Yes, these things kept me 
pretty busy, but we were making money and that was all right. I 
believe I could go back there today, take charge of those mines and 
make them profitable. I would liked to have seen Lingo stay on the 
map. It was the only town I ever started and I was hopeful in my 
younger days that it would eventually become a great city. For a while 
things were looking that way. I believe yet that somebody will take 
hold of that coal down there and operate it profitably. It can be done, 
without a doubt." 

Has the man who works underground with pick, shovel and blast- 
ing ])owder, in a room the size of a kitchen pantry, a better chance for 
reaching threescore and ten than his brother who toils in the sunlight? 

That is the view of R. S. Thomas, former coal-mine inspector 
of Missouri, who had a fixed belief that coal mining and longevity go 
hand in hand. 

"You never hear of a coal miner having consumption," said Mr. 
Thomas, "unless he contracted the disease before he went into the pit. 
And even then he finds the peculiar properties of a coal mine bene- 
ficial to his lungs, and often becomes well and strong by reason of his 
woi"k underground. 

"The air in a large coal mine is always kept pure and free from 
germs. The temiterature is regular and the elements in the coal are 
strengthening for weak lungs. We have a number of hardy miners in 
Missouri who were taken into the pit in the old country (Wales) at 6 
to 10 years of age to act as trapper boys. These youngsters kept 
steadily at woi'k until they Avere promoted to be reg-ular miners, and 
thrived under conditions which, in most trades, would retard their 
development — I mean beginning work so early. 

"It seems that Providence has made the health of the miner good, 
as compensation for his hazard. Nearly all of them who manage to 
dodge falls of rock, the breaking of cables and other dangers incident 
to the craft, live to a green old age. They not only live, but they keep 
at Avork. It would surprise Dr. Osier if he knew how many men 



1-JJ: HISTOKY OF MACOX COUXTY 

far past sixty years were yet working in the mines at Bevier. Uncle 
Johnnie Griffith, who died a few months ago at the age of eightj-four, 
worked in the pit from the age of seven until a year before he died. 
Some think if he hadn't knocked off work he might be living yet. He 
began as a trapper boy in Wales, his father carrying him to the mines 
on his back. His last work was in mine No. 61 of the Central Coal 
Company, near Bevier, and he made a full hand every day for three 
years after he was eighty. With the exception of a short time, when 
he ran a hoisting engine, Mr. Griffith has practically been in the pit 
three-ciuarters of a century." 

Mr. Thomas has made some research at Bevier, the largest coal 
camp in the state, to ascertain the ages of veterans, still working, 
between the ages of sixty-five and eighty-six, and furnished this as a 
partial list: 

Evan Maddy. William Hardesty. 

D. J. Roberts. Thomas Francis. 

John T. Richards. John J. Malley. 

Walter Johnson. David D. Thomas. 

Ben Browett. Robert W. Jones. 

Thomas Griffiths. Augaist Hillman. 

John T. Williams. W. S. Watson. 

Rowland Thomas. Jacob Ruch. 

William P. Thomas. Jolm Simpson. 

Robert N. Jones. James Raw. 

Robert X. Davis. Robert Taylor. 

Thomas Matthews. Joseph Stott. 

David L. Davis. Isaac Thomas. 

William Cross. John Barron. 

Thomas R. Thomas. Jacob Julius. 

William C. Williams. T. W. Thomas. 

The following brief sketches of two or three men of the pick are 
representative of the life histories of the majority of men on the list: 

James E. Tanner was born in Newlierry, Burksliire, England, July 
14, 183:2; started to work in the mines of that country at the age of ten 
years, and has worked continuously until a few years ago. He came 
to St. Louis in May, 1850; landed in Bevier forty-two years ago, worked 
here awhile, then went west with Thomas Wardell and AV. S. Watson; 
opened u]) mines at Rock Springs and Carbon, Wyoming. Came back 
to Bevier and has resided here ever since. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 125 

John T. Eicliards, born in North Wales, Denbifsliire, April 16, 
1840; started to work in the mines at eight years of age, has been work- 
ing continuously ever since. 

Charles Perry, who recently died, was born in England June, 
1825; started to working in the mines at the age of seven years and 
worked up until he was seventy years old. 

William Clark was born in County Durham, England, October, 
1839; started to work in the mines very young, and is still following 
mining every day. 

James Burton, born October 17, 1827, at Newtown, near Spenny- 
moor, Durham County, England; started working in the mines at ten 
years of age, and worked in the mines up to 1857. Came to America 
in the year of 1857 ; arrived in Pennsylvania the same year, and worked 
in mines at different places up to the year of 1869. He then came West 
and landed with family in Bevier in 1869, and has lived in Bevier ever 
since ; he has worked in the mines till he was over eighty years of age, 
having started working as a trapper, and has worked at every other 
kind of work to be done around a mine. He is still working every day. 

"And here's another thing," reinarked Tom Williams, a veteran 
who had to abandon the pit some years ago, owing to a fall of rock, and 
who later was Circuit Clerk of Macon county; "you never hear a miner 
puff and blow when he runs. His 'wdnd is as good as an athlete's. His 
lungs are sound, although coated tbick with coal dust. I spit coal dust 
for .ten years after I fpiit mining, but my breathing apparatus was per- 
fect. Nearly everybody at Bevier burns coal for all purposes, because 
it is cheap. Most other towns in these parts use wood for fireplaces 
and heating. Now, in time, the tops of those Bevier hbuses become 
coated with coal soot from their chimneys, and the rain falling on the 
roofs passes into their wells and they drink it. A Bevier family does 
not like water unless it is caught that way and goes through that proc- 
ess; that's the only kind of water that tastes good to 'em. Why? 
Because it has properties that kill pneumonia and typhoid germs. It's 
an absolute fact that people don't have such maladies when they use 
water caught in that way. I've lived among them a lifetime, and I 
know that. I can't give the scientific reason for coal soot's beneficial 
influence on well water, but there's no earthly doubt that it has such 
influence." 

A local physician who lias had considerable experience in the min- 
ing district was asked if there was any scientific explanation for a col- 
lieryman's immunity from disease. 

"He is working a new place, absolutely free from germs," replied 



VZG HISTUEY OF :\JACO.\ CUUXTY 

the doctor. ' ' The j^oisons of the atmospliere hovering over the average 
man never get to the miner while he is at work. Another thing I have 
noticed: The wound a miner receives, no matter how severe, rarely 
suppurates or becomes inflamed. That is because there are no germs 
of inflammation in the man's body. This indicates that there is some 
antiseptic action of the sulphur or the coal dust, with which he comes 
m contact. Sulphur is recognized as an active germicide. The tend- 
ency of such agents is to prevent and eradicate tuberculosis. You 
and I, who go about in the sunlight, have doubtless been exposed dozens 
of times to the inhalation of tuberculosis germs, but, our systems being 
in condition, the germs are destroyed. If the system is weak, they may 
develop. The miner is not exposed to this risk while at work, which is 
the greater part of the time. 

"I think this accounts in large measure for the healthy, rugged 
physique of the average miner. He may not be a brawny giant, but 
his blood is in good condition because of the purity of the atmosphere 
fed into his respiratory organs. ' ' 

The coal mines of Missouri do not generate gas. That is why there 
has never been an explosion in them. There is what is known as damp, 
but it is soon dissipated wlien the, air current is turned against it. 

"In the old country mines were often set afire by a gas explosion," 
said John E. Richards, a North Wales man. "Our boys here hardly 
know what gas is by actual experience, because these mines don't have 
it. But it is the 'king of terrors' over in Wales. There they go down 
after coal much deeper that we do here. The colliery in which I was 
employed as gas boss at Euabon was from 300 to 350 yards down. 

"The gas comes from want of ventilation. In those deep, extensive 
mines, with their galleries extending many miles in all directions, 
pitching up and down with the coal veins, and their hundreds and hun- 
dreds of worked-out rooms, it was practically impossible to control 
the gas at all places. The gas is exploded by being ignited with a 
naked flame. It was a rigorous rule that no smoking was allowed in the 
mines. Our lamps were covered with gauze or glass, and could only 
be unlocked by the gas boss or his deputy. 

"A gas explosion in a mine does not sound like the discharge 
of powder or dynamite above ground. It is a sort of dull, sup]:)ressed 
roar, a mighty groan of the underworld. The immediate result is a 
terrific rush of wind. Men are thrown tlirough the entries like toy 
soldiers. Great timbers and coal boxes are shot by as if struck bj' 
cyclone. 

"The casualties resulting from the explosion, however, are not as 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY ISr 

great as those wliicli follow from the terrible afterdamp. This chokes 
the life out of the miuer before he can start to ruu, even if he's 
unscathed by the explosion. 

"The Davy lamp flame burns blue at the top when you are 
approaching a gas territory. It is then the pit boss's duty to fix up his 
danger signal and to hike out in a hurry. 

"White damp is the most deceptive thing you ever ran across on 
land or sea. It fools you, because your lamp burns well — in fact, it 
grows brighter when you enter it. Not thinking what it means at first, 
a man is incHned to push on. You don't feel any oppression on the 
lungs ; your light tells no tales. But suddenly you start to raise an arm. 
It hangs limp by your side. Your legs get shaky and you feel an almost 
uncontrollable desire to lie down. Energy has left you, and you don't 
feel worried about the troubles of this old world any longer. 

"There are gardens with flowers, beautiful walks and balmy air. 
That is the moment, my boy, when you want to grit your teeth and 
tight and pull for the shore. If you can't walk, get down on your knees 
and crawl, for in two minutes you'll be asleep in that beautiful garden, 
to awake no more in this life. 

"The black damj^ is a fairer enemy. When in it your lamp burns 
low, and you get timely warning. A pure curi-ent of air is the antidote 
for both conditions. If you have ever heard a miner pray in public 
you will have noticed that he thanks the Almighty for an abundance of 
atmosphere. 

"What I have said about the damp is from my experience in Wales. 
There is verj" little of it in the Missouri coal mines." 

Keota was opened up in 1900 by the Kansas & Texas Coal Com- 
pany, which at that time operated two mines. Later on this company 
•was absorbed by' the Central Coal & Coke Company. This and the 
Northwestern Coal & Mining Company are the two large concerns of 
the district. The Central Coal Company employs about 1,000 men. 
Keota 's population is close to 500. It is a thriving town, with a good 
farming trade and healthfully situated. At present this list comprises 
the local officers of the Central Coal & Coke Company: Arthur Vail, 
superintendent of mines ; Isaac Rice, foreman of Mine No. 66 ; Mon- 
roe Barnes, foreman of Mine No. 25; James Weeks, foreman of Mine 
61; George A. Wandt, manager of mine officers; Gomer L. Thomas, 
manager of general store. 

The postmaster at Keota is Dr. F. B. Daily. 0. E. Thomas is 
justice of the peace. 

The coal company has lately erected, at a cost of $75,000, a coal 



128 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 



washer, something new in this district and a contrivance of great 
importance in the mining industry. E. 0. Jones is the foreman of this 
branch of the work. 

The last mining report issued by the Bureau of Mines, Mining 
and Mine Inspection was for 1908. During that year Richard S. 
Thomas of Bevier was chief coal mine inspector. 

The following table is taken from the last official report: 

MACON COUNTY. 



Name of company or 
person operating. 



3° 



ao 

3 01 



Sp 



^2. 
; 3 



SE. 



EO 



^ 


Pri 


ces 


Coal 


how c 


lispos 




paid per 
ton for 








3-0 

Q ^ 


w 


I 




3Z. 


mining 




S ZL 


3^ 


coal— pick 


■3 


gc 


— M 


?.'^ 


work 




crq n 
■ fo 


!?3 
; a 
• a 
: "< 


m — ■ 

■ o 

: & 


5' 


■Ji 
c 
3 
3 


O. 


■ (-•■ 














■ 


". 


■- 


; 3 





5 'i 



: sr 



Cent. 
Cent. 
Cent. 



Cent. C. & C. Co. No. 10 

Cent. C. & C. Co. No. L'4, 
& C. Co. No. 25 
& C. Co. No. 28 
& C. Co. No. 61. 

Cent. C. & C. Co. No. 66. 

Dennis, J. H 

Gates. J. N 

Gronoway. D 

Helmet Mining Co 

Hurd & Hurd 

Isaacson & Underwood. 

James Eros 

.Jones. Jno. H 

Lunsford. H. & A. G... 

N.-W. C. & M. Co. No. 8. 

N.-W. C. & M. Co. No. 9. 

Smith & Hall 

Vestal & Wyatt 

Totals 



4,000 
800 



$7,000,000 16,403 
27,019 
133.699 
94,642 
164,096 
128,755 
1,746 
1,560 
1,250 
10,220 
4,000 
9761 
3,5S0| 
2,5381 
5121 
150,0001127,729 

1128,061 

3.510 

i 834 

851,130 



25,000 

3,000 

800 



16,403 

27.019 

133,699 

94,642 

164 0961 

128,7551 

1,7461 

1.5601 

1,2501 

10,2201 

4.0001 

9761 

3.5801 

2.5381 

5121 

127,7291 

128.061: 

3,51fl| 

834, 

S51,130|$l 



$22,964 

37,826 

187,179 

132,499 

229,734 

180,257 

3,928 

3,900 

2.375 

17,067 

5,000 

1,5611 

7,1601 

5,076 

896 

187,761 

184.408 

6,142 

1,251 

217,584 



$1.40 
1.40 
1.40 
1.40 
1.40 
1.40 
2.25 
2.50 
1.90 
1.67 
1.40 
1.60 
2.00 
2.00 
1.75 
1.47 
1.44 
1.75 
1.50 



$0.67i 
.6' 
.6 
.67 
.67 
.67 

1.30 

2.00 

1.21 
.85 

1.12 
.85 
.95 
.67 

1.50 
.67 
.67 

1.00 

1.00 



$0.67 
.67 
.67 
.67 
.67 
.6 
1.30 



1.25 
'l.i2 



.95 
.67 

1.50 
.67 
.67 

1.00 



15,559- 

25,835 

131,136 

92,516 

159,001 

126,135 

50 



9,763 



3,580 



123,192 
126.402 



82| 116 
12 



80 

56 

239 

1,606 

1,560 

1,236 

148 

4,000 



2,057 

504 

1,281 



10 



3,500 
834 
813,169il8,171i2,284 



63 



540 

181 

50 



43 

1,2 si 



646 

1.172 
2,500 
2.046 
4,499 
2,200 
40 



14 
309 



438 



1,975 
1,659 



17,506 



Following is a summary of the Macon county coal mines, as found 
in the inspector's last printed report: 

Central Coal & Coke Company. This company owns and operates 
six mines, embracing several thousand acres of coal land. The com- 
pany is capitalized at $7,000,000. The officers are C. S. Keith, presi- 
dent; J. C. Sherwood, vice-president; F. E. Doubleday, manager of 
mines, and Arthur Vail, division superintendent. The mines are known 
as Nos. 61, 66, 24, 25, 28 and 10. Mine 61 is equipped with modern ma- 
chinery, good tipple and a commodious engine house and boiler room, a 
large dynamo supplies power for electric haulage, two six-ton motors 
bring the product to the mine bottom. The coal is hoisted from a shaft 
125 feet deep. The coal seam averages 4i{. feet ; overlaid with a soap- 
stone, sand-rock and slate roof. 

Mine No. 10 has first-class equijmient. Coal shaft, 137 feet. Ven- 
tilation is provided by a 12-foot fan. The equipment of Mine 24 is 
first-class ; good tipple and top houses, commodious engine house, 
boiler room and blacksmith shop. The machinery is of the best, includ- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 129 

ing a Litchfield first motion engine, which hoists the coal ont of shaft 
124 feet deep. Coal averages from 4i/^ to 5 feet ; 14-foot fan. Equip- 
ment of Mine 28 is also first-class. Up-to-date tipple, engine and boiler 
room and blacksmith shop, Wright-Adams engine, self-dumping cages 
and safety catches of latest pattern ; 12-foot fan. 

Mine 25 is a slope; coal is pulled up over an incline plane to a 
landing, where it is dumped into railroad cars. Steam power is used 
for hauling the product to the surface and for rimning the fan. Coal 
averages from 4 to 41/. feet; 12-foot fan. 

Mine No. 66 is similar to No. 61. The shaft opening is 57 feet 
and the coal has an average thickness of 41/2 feet overlaid with soap- 
stone, sand-rock and slate roof. The equipment of mine is up-to-date in 
every particular, and is provided with every facility for rapid and eco- 
nomic handling of the production. At the inspection in January, 
1908, all the top structures were found in good condition; 14- foot fan. 

Northwestern Coal & Mining Company. This company is one of 
the largest in the state, owns 850 acres of coal lands in Macon county 
and is capitalized for $150,000. Officers: John H. Bovard, president; 
S. B. Ladd, vice-president; C. Gr. Thurston, secretary and treasurer. 
Officers at the mines: Louis Larson, superintendent; E. Simpson, fore- 
man of Mine No. 8; Perry Aldridge, foreman of ]\Iine No. 9. Both 
mines are in active operation, No. 8 being located a mile south of Bevier, 
and No. 9 three-quarters of a mile southeast of *No. 8. Both mines 
are connected by a spur switch more than a mile in length from the 
Missouri & Louisiana railroad, which delivers the product to the Bur- 
lington railroad at Bevier. 

In mine No. 8 the equipment is up-to-date in every particular, and 
every care is taken to keep them so. Top structures were found in 
good order. Mine No. 9 is equipped in up-to-date manner, has a good 
tower, a commodious engine house and a first motion Litchfield hoisting 
engine. Ventilation by 14-foot fan. Underground works in these mines 
are giveji every possible attention. All abandoned rooms and entries 
were securely filled up on date of inspection. 

Other mines briefly mentioned by the inspectors were the Grono- 
way mines at Macon and the Isaacson & Underwood mine, three and 
a half miles west of Bevier. 

The Home Coal Company of Macon began operations the first of 
November, 1909. It controls several hundred acres of land. The oper- 
ating shaft is in the southeastern part of town, on a spur connecting 
it with the Burlington railroad. The company was capitalized at 
$10,000, and is officered as follows : Ben Davis, president ; J. P. Moore, 



130 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

vice-president and treasurer; Waldo Edwards, secretary and attorney; 
Charles White, former general foreman for the Central Coal & Coke 
Company, mine manager, and Thomas Evans, mine foreman. The com- 
pany has what is known as a geared engine, 60 horsepower, double 
cage and first-class tipple and upper works. The coal vein is from 
22 to 25 inches and is operated on the long wall system. Sixty men 
are employed, including miners and day men. The company supplies 
the domestic trade about Macon, but is arranging to handle outside 
trade on an extensive scale. The coal is of excellent quality, being 
found at 80 feet below the surface. This is the first steam mine to 
be operated about Macon, and from its very start it has had more 
orders than it could handle. 

Robert Eichards of Bevier is now State Inspector of coal mines, 
having been appointed to succeed E. S. Thomas. 

In October, 1875, there was considerable excitement up the Chari- 
ton valley about Mercyville, now Elmer, concerning gold discoveries. 
A correspondent of the Macon Eepublican writes this in the issue of 
October 14 about the situation: 

"New Cambria, October 11. Great excitement! Our hotels are 
crowded with strangers going to and returning from the gold regions, 
this being the most accessible point. Doubt no longer exists that gold 
can be found in paying quantities. It has been found in dust as high 
as fifty colors to the pan. Nuggets have been found varying from the 
size of a grain of wheat to that of a grain of corn. The number now 
prospecting in the vicinity of Mercj^ville is estimated at from 400 to 
800, the people coming here from all parts of Missouri, Illinois, New 
York Ohio, Iowa and many other states. All agree that the prospect 
for go^d is as good as that of California or any other western state or 
teri'itory. Your correspondent, having a desire to know the true facts, 
visited the region himself last week and looked the whole field over, until 
he was thoroughly satisfied that it was no humbug. He saw the par- 
ticles washed out in different places, and has now in his possession 
a specimen the size of a half grain of wheat. Anybody can see it by 
calling at my office in this town. I Jiave also some beautiful specimens 
of fine stones of the order of diamond, ruby, agate, etc., all of which 
will compare favorably with any found in foreign countries. Every 
person I met was jubilant and all were busy arranging to engage in 
mining for the precious metal. Old miners are cursing themselves 
because they had in days gone by spent all their means to prepare 
themselves to go to the far west to dig for gold, when at the same 
time, had they but known the truth, they could have found it right at 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 131 

tlieir own doors in paying quantities. Hurrali for old Macon! The 
good time has come! — A." 

Tlie character of mining prosecuted at that time was Icnown as 
placer, like that of California in the early days. The excitement up at 
Mercyville finally died down when the gold ceased to appear, though 
from time to time small discoveries have since been made. 

The following sketch relative to mining for valuable mineral in 
Macon county is prepared for this history by G. A. Yager, secretary- 
treasurer of the Pioneer Gold Mining Company, New Cambria: 

"Back in the seventies California miners who had returned to 
their Macon county homes noticed the black sand in the brooks that 
empty into the Chariton river on the west side. 

"The old-fashioned rockers were set to work, quite a little gold 
was washed out, excitement ran high for a while, but when the state 
geologist (Mr. Win slow) reported it to be a 'glacier deposit, such as 
could be foimd in many places in the Mississippi valley, but not in pay- 
ing quantities,' the boom died. 

"Had Mr. Winslow been an old miner instead of a young, inex- 
perienced man, his report would have been different. The gold was 
rough and little work, showing local origin ; glacial gold is worn smooth. 
Had the truth been known at that time, prospecting would have brought 
to light the hidden vein found many years later. 

"There is a strip of country, beginning at Hammock's Mill, run- 
ning north and west some miles, which is of a different formation 
from the country east, south and west, where the coal is found. It 
is strongly mineralized, but tlie vein being of blanket formation, show- 
ing no outcropping, nothing was done to prospect for mineral. Perry 
Baldwin, who owned a large tract in this belt, formed a company of 
New Cambria people forty-three years ago to prospect for coal on his 
land. A shaft was sunk 100 feet. Eock was struck and work stbpped. 
Years later a contract was made with well-drillers to sink to coal for 
$225. They sunk twenty-seven feet, found no coal, but struck a forma- 
tion their drill would not touch. To save the $225 they salted the 
hole with coal, reported a 3i/2 foot vein, got their money and left for 
parts unknown. 

For the want of capital no more work was done by the company. 
After they had passed away, a son of Perry Baldwin became possessor 
of the land. By this time coal was in demand. A SVo-foot vein, 12.3 
feet from the surface, on the railroad, is valuable. The present Mr. 
Baldwin started sinking for the coal eight years ago. The drill-hole 
was followed but no coal found. The rock showed mineral all the 



132 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

way, yet little was thought of it; coal was what they were after. 
Thomas Mordecai, of Lingo, who had worked in the shaft, believed 
it carried gold and other minerals. He persuaded Mr. Baldwin to 
send samples of the ore to Denver to his friend, David J. Eeed, an 
experienced miner. The ore proved to run $15 per ton in gold, silver 
and by-products. 

"In March, 1908, Mr. Eeed formed a partnership with G. A. Yager, 
who is interested in mines and land in Colorado and Nevada. Work 
was carried on for six months. The large vein was thoroughly tested 
by them and other experts and found to be pay ore. They purchased 
160 acres of this land, formed and incorporated the Pioneer Gold 
Mining ComiDany, and sunk one of the finest shafts in Missouri. 

"A mill will be erected in a few months and Macon county will 
produce the first gold in Missouri." 



i 



CHAPTER IX. 

Schools and Academies — The Blue Back Spelling Book — Singing 
— Geography — ^An Instructor Who Taught Manners — W. A. 
Mathis — F. Theo Mayhew — McGee College — St. James Military 
Academy — Colonel Blee's Magnificent Enterprise — Consoli- 
dated School at Elmer — The Macon High School — School 
Statistics. 

At a late meeting of the North Missouri school-teachers, held at 
Macon, there were several instructors who were characters in the days 
of the busy birch rod and the blueback spelling book. Some of these 
men had taught the young idea, how to shoot, fifty years ago, and were 
still on the job, in the rural districts. There were no women teachers 
who had grown old. The early-day instruclfor of Missouri was invari- 
ably a man, and his importance was such that he did not have to take a 
back seat for congressmen or senators. He was scarce, and valued 
accordingly. Such a treasure in a fairly large district could command 
$25 a month and his board to boot. In those days $25 was a heap of 
money, and the princely salary was as much of an element contributing 
to the teacher's social standing as his learning. 

' ' On the first day of school it was the custom of the teacher to read 
before the scholars a long list of written rules which were to govern 
during the term," remarked Prof. J. K. Cox, who attended and aftei- 
wards taught the Middle Fork district school, down on Salt river. 
''There were as many articles and subdivisions in these rules as in the 
Revised Statutes, and they were broken about as frequently. I remem- 
ber one severe law decreed that 'boys and girls shall not be allowed to 
play together; the boys must play on one side of the house and the girls 
on the other.' 

"A crossing of the dead line by either sex might mean a severe 
flogging or a long stay after school travailing with arithmetic, accord- 
ing to the method of the teacher. 

"Penmanship and spelling were treated as arts by the pioneer 
school-teacher, and he followed all sorts of schemes to interest the 
scholars — there were no 'pupils' then — in them. 

"It was while the spelling fever was at the boiling height in our 

133 



134 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

school that I contracted my first distressing case of love. Her name 
was Jennie something— so many came after that I have really for- 
gotten her last name — and I thought her corn-colored hair pure gold 
and that stars had to' go to her eyes for inspiration to illuminate the 
earth. Of course, I had a rival; a slim, smooth-talking fellow who 
had been reared over about Hannibal and who had about him the fasci- 
nating air of having seen a real city. We thought 'Mark Twain's' 
village on the Mississippi a wonderful place, then — something like we 
regard Chicago and New York now. My rival's name was Bob Latham, 
and he not only made me lose sleep about Jennie, but he was some 
pumpkins as a speller. I rather prided myself on my ability in that 
line, and so did Miss Jennie, in a mild way. 

"Bob had been beating my time fiercely for nearly a week, when 
the master notified us he was going to close the winter term with a big 
spelling match and give the winner a medal. Glory day to youth! 
Never did we work so hard to prepare ourselves with the old blue 
book. At noon on the day of the combat Bob, Jennie and I were still 
on the firing line, though a score of good spellers had gone down. We 
were then getting 13-inch words from the pedagogue's battery, and the 
excitement was running as high as a tie play between the Cubs and the 
Giants. Finally the word 'plebeian' came thundering across the breast- 
works to Miss Jennie, who spelled it with serene confidence, but left out 
the'i.' 

" 'Next,' said the inexorable master. 

"Well, the next was your hmnble servant, and his quick decision 
in that awful emergency has been a source of gratification to him 
through all the years. 

" 'P-1-e-e-b-e-i-a-n,' said I, with confidence as great as Jennie's. 
Of course, that put me out of the ruiming, and when the word had 
traveled to Bob he grabbed it exultantly and landed it all right. But 
when school was out there was one thing he didn't land, and that was 
Miss Jennie. She knew that I could have spelled the word, and as 
she walked home with me what she said made me forget the cold and 
the numerous heavy chores awaiting me at home. I don't recollect of 
her ever deigiiing to notice Bob after that." 

F. Theo. Mayhew was given a district school near Callao because 
in the eyes of the directors he was red-headed and looked like he was a 
good scrapper. Mayhew wasn't a large man, and one of the big boys 
soon brought his capacity to an issue. They fought all over the school 
room, and at last the red-headed teacher had the boy lying across 
a desk and at his mercy. Wliile holding his victim, the teacher ordered 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 135 

another boy to bring the switches. Mayhew decided he would settle 
then and there for all time the mastership of the school. The bad boy 
wasn't a game loser. While taking what was coming to him his yells 
resounded throughout the district. A big six-foot woodsman, smoking 
a cob-pipe, sleeves rolled up from arms that looked like hams, darkened 
the door. Mayhew stopped a moment to glance at the visitor, who he 
recognized as the father of the boy he was licking. The scholars, too, 
ej'ed him apprehensively. 

"Need any help, teacher?" asked the big woodsman, quietly. 

The big man was a member of the school board and at the next 
meeting he introduced a resolution raising the teacher's salary. 

Among the archives of Macon county is a curious document signed 
by one of the early-day teachers of the county and sent to the superin- 
tendent, telling why he wanted to resign his job. It was written by a 
young man, who had been sent to a rather wild and woolly district in 
the hopes that he might work a reformation. After trying it for some 
time he eased his mind along with his resignation,^ which read as 
follows : 

"Prof. Thompson — Honored Sir: I am in trouble and want to 
quit. I am in need of fixing — bad. The school's all right; it's just 
myself that needs medical attention. The first hostile act occurred 
when I put curtains up at the windows. Before I had a chance to see 
whether they would keep the sun out or not, I was waited upon by one 
of the directors and the clerk, who curtly ordered me to 'take them 
things down!' They explained that such luxuries gave the children 
high falutin notions, and made them feel above their surroundings. 

"There is a ladder which the directory uses to fix the chimneys 
when the wind blows 'em down, and they insist that during its period 
of inaction the ladder be hung up in the schoolroom over the pictures 
of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. I remonstrated. They 
overruled me. 

"Then the children began bringing their hounds to school with 
them, and every day there were six or eight of the beasts lying under 
the desks, snapping at files or else fighting among themselves. I am a 
bit nervous, and this annoyed me. I told the children to leave their 
dogs at home. They said they brought them along for protection, going 
through the woods. I borrowed an old shotgun and next day there 
were a couple of good dogs awaiting the undertaker. The balance got 
away before I could reload. I was haled up before the board and 
notified that on the next offense the value of the dogs, $5 each, would be 
taken out of my shadowy salary. The way I figured it, if a few more 



136 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

dogs attend school I will be out something like $100 at the end of the 
term, and in debt to the district. Hence my resignation. 

"I like the atmos^jhere out here in the woods. The frog chorus, 
which sweeps up from the bottoms, is the most soothing music to which 
I ever listened. I sleep well and enjoy the appetite of an anarchist. 
There are many things about this job that will appeal with surprising 
strength to some ambitious pedagogue who is fond of dumb animals 
and of kids who can yell like a freight engine. I have enjoyed these 
things, and now I want to stand aside and give some other good man 
a chance. It is not fair for one person to hold on to a snap all tlie 
time. So please let me off — right away — or sooner. Faithfully and 
earnestly yours, D. E. "Williams." 

In an address to the teachers concerning the pioneer school days, 
former County School Commissioner Robert G. Mitchell said : 

"I suppose some of you older teachers have heard of the 'singing 
geography' system, but it may be new to some of these younger ones. 
Time was when the pedagogues of the backwoods, despairing of all 
other schemes for pounding rivers and continents into yoimg hoosiers' 
heads, found in it a hope and success. Spelling and geography were 
twin essentials in the pioneer curriculmn. Pity their importance is not 
as highly regarded today. A boy or girl who can spell accurately and 
is conversant with the physical divisions of earth comes mighty near 
knowing enough to get through life. 

"The chart method of teaching geography was introduced in the 
schools of Macon county in 1834 by John Thompson, the first teacher 
the county ever had. This was simply the use of wall charts, the stu- 
dents being lined up to study them. But it was found difficult to 
impress these charts on the homespun youth, and another and more 
successfvil scheme was followed by Prof. Eufus White, who came here 
from Louisville, Ky., six years later and started a school at Bloom- 
ington, which was then the county seat. Professor Wliite's method, 
which had been first used in Kentucky by John Clark, was called "the 
association of ideas," a name that nowadays might fit an organization 
that delved into the occult, or promoted dress reforms. 

"This system can best be understood by reference to Colonel 
Sellers' diagram of the Salt Lick branch of the Pacific railroad, which 
he was showing his wife. The various towns, hills and rivers were 
indicated by pipes, tumblers, salt cellars, pickle dishes, inkstands, can- 
dlesticks, etc., placed in their respective positions on the dinner table. 
A strap or a shoestring served the teacher to indicate the course of a 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 137 

river, a tomato can might be Pike's Peak, a cob pipe miglit do for Mount 
Vesuvius and a wasp's nest, dug out of the corner of the building, 
would be naturall}' associated Avith AVashington. "Were the system 
in use now Professor White might find a windmill would serve his 
purpose better for the latter town. 

"The idea that memory of names and places had to be fixed by 
some extraneous system was so general among the early-day instruc- 
tors that they labored constantly for improvement in that direction. 
Out of this belief developed the practice of singing geography. Prof. 
Abner T. Rollins of Maine came to Missouri in 1844 as a grand master 
of the singing system. He had something of a voice, and when he 
started his rival school to Professor AVhite's 'association of ideas' he 
acquired an early and enthusiastic patronage. It was a good deal 
easier to sing towns and gulfs and continents into the youthful mind 
than to carry about a cai-go of tin cans, monkey wrenches and boot- 
jacks to illustrate 'where they were at.' So the Maine Yankee's acad- 
emy of vocal culture became popular. The method was to write this 
sort of an example on the big blackboard by the stove : 

AIR— "BONNIE DUNE." 

Let North America be first, 
In our descriptive rhyme rehearsed; 
Its northern bound, the Arctic waves, 
Its cast the Atlantic Ocean laves. 

The Gulf of Mexico we see 
Upon its southern boundaries; 
Its western sides 
Are washed by the Pacific tides. 

We now recite what oceans, bays, 
Seas, gulfs and straits this land displays; 
With the Atlantic sea begin 
That hems the Eastern border in. 

The islands let us now repeat, 
South Georgian isles come first, 
Arising from the Portland seas. 
Where Arctic storms arc nursed. 

Bank's Land and Saline Isles 
Are to this group assigned, 
Tlien Byrum and Martin isles, 
Cornwallis, too, we find. 

"When a scholar once got that song pounded into his head he'd 
never have to guess; when you'd ask him where the Atlantic Ocean was 
he's just begin singing till he ran across it, and then jump in. Of 



138 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

course, the songs were extended so as to cover every important country 
and physical division. By the time they had learned them all he was 
quite a good singer as well as a geographical expert. 

"The results of Professor Eollins' instruction can be found today 
among many of his Macon county students, now grown gray. Nearly 
all of them remember these old geograjihy lessons, and can recite them 
readily to the tune with which they were memorized. And though the 
system has long gone out of fashion, they are enthusiastic in its 
praise. 

Pioneer schools by Dr. Gross : Going to school in the pioneer days 
of Macon county was not what it is today. The first schoolhouse in 
Northwest Macon county was put up in Kock Creek district about 
sixty years ago. It was built of logs, sixteen feet square. There was 
but one door, and no windows nor fireplace. It was intended strictly 
as a summer school, and it was figured that fires would not be needed. 

Schools were kept up by subscription. I was seven years of age 
at that time and enjoj'ed the distinctipn of being a student of Rock 
Creek. A man of fifty was our teacher. He was a crusty old fellow, 
who seemed to have acquired his education in Hoop-pole county, Indi- 
ana. However, what little he knew he taught us. We advanced rap- 
idly in backwoods English, such as reading, spelling, writing and arith- 
metic. One good rule of the old master's school was that which required 
every boy to remove his hat immediately upon entering the school 
room, and to salute the teacher with becoming deference. On Friday 
afternoons the teacher would divide us up, the boys on one side and the 
girls on the other, the largest boy at the head of the line and the largest 
girl at the head on her side of the building. Then, at a signal, the head 
boy would take the head girl and introduce her to all the other scholars, 
one at a time, and also to the visitors, if any happened to be there. 
Then the next boy would take the next girl and proceed in the same 
way until everybody had been formally and correctly introduced. I 
was kind of weak-kneed when I went through that performance the 
first time, but now I can see the importance of it. It enabled the schol- 
ars to act correctly when in the presence of strangers, and I am cer- 
tain that there was a characteristic attaching to the pupils of that old 
backwoods teacher not found in many of the more modern schools. He 
would ]3rompt]y suppress any rude or boisterous conduct on the school 
grounds. 

Our seats were made of split logs, with tlie flat side up. There 
were pins imderneath, legs, you might call tliem, to hold up the seats. 
In the course of three or four years, however, a new schoolhouse was 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 13J) 

erected, which had a window, a brick chimney and a fireplace. This 
was quite an innovation, we thought, because this building was adapted 
to school work in the winter time. Our teacher here was Nick Langs- 
ton. The third teacher of this school was William A. Mathis, who yet 
lives at Callao, now being about eighty years of age. 

"We were now studying some courses which forced us to put our 
thinking caps on — algebra, philosophy and astronomy. I have not 
heard of the last-mentioned studies being taught in a district school 
since then. 

My next school was in District No. 4, which was taught by Dr. 
Andrew T. Still, the discoverer, or the man who was the first to recog- 
nize the great importance of osteopathy as a means of treating physical 
ailments.* Dr. Still was given a salary of $15 per month. The schol- 
ars seemed to make rapid progress under him, as they also did under 
the other teachers whom I have mentioned. The average boy or girl 
could onlj^ take time for from ten to fifteen months school then; that 
was thought to be sufficient for them to begin the battle of life. 

At the time of which I write the young people seemed eager to 
secure an education, and they put up with all sorts of inconveniences 
without thought of complaint. They laughed at snow-storms, rains and 
muddy roads. They were strong and healthy and glad to be out in the 
open. Books were scarce ; there was no coal oil, and night study was 
pursued by using grease lamps. Occasionally we were fortunate in 
obtaining some tallow caudles, but I daresay that the majority of the 
students were driven to the extremity of learning their lessons after 
nightfall by the use of a torchlight, or by holding their book so that the 
fires from the big backlogs would illuminate the pages. ^Mien the fire 
burned low, some small sticks or pieces of bark would be thrown on to 
brighten it. These things were not obstacles ; they were makeshifts 
whicli served the purpose. The winter winds howled and the storms 
beat against the tiny window panes, but tlie children of the household, 
secure in the stoiit old log cabin, nestled aliout the warm fireplace and 
thanked the good God for sending them the advantages of a district 
school, and they showed their appreciation by earnest efforts with 
their books. 

W. A. Mathis, who has the distinguished record of being the oldest 
school teacher in Macon county, was born in Tennessee in 1829; came 
to Randolph county, Missouri, in 1831. There he attended his first 
school. Noah Gross, who later moved to Macon county, was his first 
teacher. Mr. Mathis' first school was, of course, of the log-cabin vari- 



' A sketch of Dr. Still will be found in the biographical department. 



140 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

ety, a good deal like those described by Dr. Gross. There was one long 
window at the back end of the bnilding which rejoiced in a pane of glass. 
A wide plank was fastened to the wall beneath this window and was 
used by all the students as a desk. The books were Webster's Blue 
Back Speller and Pike's Arithmetic. For reading lessons, the schol- 
ars brought anything they could get, story books, histories or almanacs. 
Each student read his lesson by himself. Very few of the teachers were 
educated men, applying the present-day rule. They had scant knowl- 
edge of English grammar, geography and history. Hardly any of them 
could master common fractions. Prior to 1850 there were no free 
schools ; all were run by subscription payments made by the patrons. 
No examinations or certificates were required of the teachers. 

Mr. Ma this' next teacher was the Rev. Nick Langston, who hap- 
pened to be a thorough student, and the pupils progressed rapidly under 
him. Shortly after he was grown Mr. Mathis began teaching himself, 
at the same time attending the high school at Bloomington. The high 
school was then tauglit by the Eev. I. B. Allen. Later, Mr. Mathis 
attended McGee College at College Mound, one term. He taught his 
first regular school at Rock Spring schoolhouse, in Walnut township, in 
1850. The building there was very similar to the one described above, 
except that it had a blackboard four feet square. Mr. Mathis received 
as a wage .$16 a month. 

The public school system, which was adopted in 1850, was the 
beginning of a new era in the cause of education in Missouri. Better 
schoolhouses were built and more competent teachers employed. Higher 
salaries were paid. After having taught school in Macon county for 
five terms, Mr. Mathis was paid $30 a month for his services. In 1857 
he went to Howard county, because wages were higher there. He taught 
five terms at one place, receiving $50 per month; board cost $6 a month. 
He taught all the bi'anches now being tauglit in public schools and sev- 
eral of the higher ones, sucli as algebra, geography, astronomy, chem- 
istry and physics. A school day then was eight hours in the summer 
and seven hours in the winter, beginning at 8 o'clock in the morning 
and ending at 5 o'clock in the evening in summer, and at 4 o'clock in 
the winter. Mr. Mathis said there were not as many tardy children 
then as we have now at 9 o'clock. 

After the Civil war had been in progress for some time, Mr. Mathis 
concluded that it was too warm for him in Missouri, so he abandoned 
his profession for several years, but in 1872 was elected su]ierintendent 
of schools in Macon county, and in 1875 resumed his professional career 
as an instructor of youth. He taught ten terms in Macon county and 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 141 

about the same length of time in Howard county, making in all about 
thirty terms up to 1893, when he w^as chosen school commissioner of 
Macon county. Since going out of that office he has resumed his 
occupation as a teacher. 

In making the comparison between the early day and the modern 
schools, Mr. Mathis said: 

"Great improvement has been made in school buildings, in the 
methods of teaching within in the last half century, but they have been 
so gradual that I can hardly note the difference, unless I compare the 
present with the past. 

"Now we have good school buildings in almost every district. The 
seats are well made and comfortable. The schools are well equipped 
with globes, maps and apjjaratus of various kinds. Then the school- 
houses were mere rude huts and had no supplies whatever. Now we 
have model schools and a state university, where young men and women 
are educated and drilled to become teachers and to engage in the vari- 
ous professions and enterprises of life. In my early days we had none 
of these training schools. Teachers had to work out their own edu- 
cational systems as best they could. In consequence the supply did 
not always meet the demands. A great many teachers were imported 
from the east. Then we didn't have enough books, now we have too 
many. The minds of children should not be overly-crowded while too 
young. To over-esert the mind has the same effect upon it as over- 
exertion of the body. We have laws prohibiting the employment of 
children in mines, factories, etc. We should likewise have laws against 
the over-crowding of young minds. Many an ambitious child has 
been ruined for life by his teacher overtaxing him with studies. A 
fair amount of labor is beneficial, but too much, especially on the young, 
is disastrous." 

F. Theo. Mayhew was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, October 
20, 1841 ; he died February 27, 1907, at Bevier. 

At the age of five Mr. Mayhew moved with his parents to West 
Tennessee, and to Macon county, Missouri, when he was seventeen. He 
arrived at Callao, A^^ril 23, 1859, since which time his labors as a 
teacher, a preacher and all-round man of industry were about Callao 
and Bevier. A portion of his time Mr. Mayhew was a weighman at the 
Bevier mines and he also worked as a general storekeeper. 

Mr. Mayhew began teaching school in January, 1863. He con- 
cluded his labors as a teacher in March, 1889. Part of the time, 
while teaching school, he also preached, his first sermon being 
delivered at Antioch church, near Bevier, May 1, 1867. He taught 



143 HISTOKY OF MACOX COUXTY 

school at Callao fifty-five months; at Bevier, fifty-four months; Smoot 
schoolhouse, near Bloomiugtou, seventeen months; Oak Gi'ove, near 
Callao, five months ; Brammer schoolhouse, near Bevier, three months ; 
Forrest schoolhouse, near Callao, four months ; White Oak schoolhouse, 
north of New Cambria, eleven months, in all making 149 months or 
twelve years and five months. 

As a minister, Mr. Mayhew officiated at 250 weddings, and from 400 
to 500 funerals. He preached all over Macon county and in many 
adjoining counties. The greater part of his discourses were made in 
schoolhouses, arbors, dwellings, chapels, on highways and in groves. 
His opjiortimities for an education were comprised in ten months' 
schooling. 

A few years before his death Mr. Mayhew desci'ibed his experience 
as a school teacher of the sixties : 

' ' The pugilistic style of controlling the j^outh was then the custom, 
not because of the teacher's choice, but in deference to public opinion. 
The good old scriptural rule, 'spare the rod and spoil the cliild,' was 
the law of school teachers. District boards sized up applicants by their 
appearance and their evident nerve. On one occasion a board requested 
my services to teach in its district. I told the members that it was too 
far from home; that they could get some one living closer. To this 
they replied: 'We want you; we like your red face, your red hair and 
your Irish looks. They tell us that you handle the big boys about right 
and that scares the little ones into good behavior.' I took the job and 
did my best to give satisfaction. 

"When I took charge of the little old log schoolhouse on my first 
attempt to teach, I was armed with a certificate which Uncle Thomas 
White procured for me through his influence with the powers who issued 
such things. It was a day of great anxiety to me, but I managed to pull 
through, and, as I studied hard all the time, my scholars made real 
progress. It was during the early days of the war and it was pretty 
hard to keep the boys from fighting. There was a constant hurrah for 
Lincoln or Davis, General McClellan or General Lee. I finally had to 
lay down the rule that politics were not to be discussed at school. My 
salary was $18 a month and board. I stayed with one of the directors 
and paid him 75 cents a week for feeding me and giving me a bed. 
The balance of my teaching career was pretty much that of others, 
whose stories you doubtless have. 

"The first teachers' institute in Macon county was held in the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church at Macon, in the winter of 1866-67. There were 
from twenty to twenty-five men present and from five to six women. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 143 

That is somewhat different from the present ratio, which is about ten 
women to one man. 

"The next institute met at Atlanta; attendance very mucli larger 
and greater interest manifested. Here I made my first attempt to 
speak in public, and it made them all laugh heartily. I don't recall 
just what I said, but they seemed to appreciate it. The third edu- 
cational institute was held at Macon in the smnmer of 1868. Lon 
Haynor, now of the Citizens Bank, Fletcher Burch, Dr. Bristow and 
myself roomed together. This was a. splendid meeting. One of our 
instructors was Professor Watson, author of the National Readers and 
Spellers. By him we were taught orthography and how to articulate the 
alphabet with all the variety of sounds. 

"Professor Kerl, author of Kerl's Grammar; Professor Spencer, 
originator of Spencerian penmanship, and also author of works on 
mathematics and history, and Professor Parker, state superintendent 
of schools, were among the distinguished visitors. It was one of the 
most important gatherings ever held in the county. We understood our 
lack resulting from a want of systematic effort and saw that by organi- 
zation and getting together there was a great future ahead for the 
public schools. 

"Prof. W. A. Mathis and I organized a Saturday institute in north- 
west Macon county about the fall of 1872. Captain Ben Eli Guthrie and 
a minister from Macon each gave us good lectures. The Rev. William 
Sears (we called him 'Uncle Billie' then) also addressed the teachers. 
This was the birth of the association idea in Macon county, a plan 
which has been followed in after years to the immense betterment 
of our educational system." 

McGee College, at College Mound, was incorporated under act of 
the 17th General Assenlbly of Missouri, approved February 23, 1853. 
The original board of directors was composed as follows : James Dysart, 
Thomas McCormack, Stephen Gibson, Isaac Teter, Stewart Christel, 
Macon county; William A. Hall, Giles Crook, Joseph Turner, Matthew 
C Patton, Samuel C. Davis, Nicholas Dysart, Randolph county; James 
B. Mitchell, William HoUiday, Monroe county. 

The act described McGee College "as an institution purely liter- 
ary, affording instruction in ancient and modern languages, the sciences 
and liberal arts, and not instituting any regulations which would render 
a place in its classes offensive to the reason of liberal-minded persons, 
whatever may be their religious persuasions." 

The 6th rule of the charter provided "that McGee Presbytery of 
the Cumberland Presbyterian church shall have power to fill any 



14i HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

vacancy that may occur in the Board of Trustees; may displace any 
of the trustees who may become disqualified for their duties by age, 
infirmity of body or mind, or who neglect their duties from a disregard 
of the interests of the institution." 

Seventh. "That the first meeting of the Board of Trustees shall 
be held in the college on the second Saturday in March, 1853, providing 
that seven members of the board shall be a quorum to transact any 
business of the corporation." 

College Mound is in the southwest part of Macon county, on a 
beautiful eminence, giving a broad view of the picturesque landscape in 
almost every direction. The college building is a large, commodious 
brick structure, one of the finest and most imposing of its class in its 
day. Two majestic towers corner the building on the east. The town 
was situated on a stage line running from Huntsville to Des Moines, 
Iowa. Soon after the establishment of the college it grew to be quite 
an important place. A nmuber of boarding houses were erected and 
several other structures. The attendance, previous to the Civil war, 
was about 200 students, coming from the various portions of Mis- 
souri and surrounding states. The Kev. James B. Mitchell, member of 
the Board of Trustees, was chosen president and filled the office as 
long as the institution was operated by McGee Presbytery, with the 
exception of two years (1865-6) when the Eev. John M. Howard, who 
came here from Ohio, acted as president. 

When the war came on many of the students enlisted, some on the 
side of the Blue, and some on the side of the Gray. The school was 
closed until the war ended. In 1867 it was reopened and Mr. Mitchell 
was recalled to the presidency. 

W. J. Patton was professor of mathematics and Ben Eli Guthrie, a 
former student, was chosen teacher of languages. Miss Kate Davis had 
charge of the primary department; Mrs. Kate Hendricks, whose hus- 
band had been Lieutenant S. M. Hendricks of the Confederate Army, 
was instructor of music. Lieutenant Hendricks was a student of the 
college previous to the war. He was killed while guarding an embank- 
ment on the Mobile & Ohio i-ailroad near Corinth, in 1862. 

Following the w^ar for several years the school prospered; its 
attendance increased from 200 to nearlj'' 300. Some men, who after- 
wards became widely known in th^ west, were enrolled on its books. 
The rapid construction of the railroads throughout Missouri was par- 
tially the cause of the college's abandonment. It was twelve miles back 
in the country, while other institutions could be found more advanta- 
geously situated on railroads. For some time the handsome old build- 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 145 

ing was in disuse, but finally was purchased by the Holiness people and 
is today being successfully operated by that denomination as an educa- 
tional institution. 

The Eev. "Jimps Dysart" was among the earnest promoters of 
McGee College. It was his land on which the town and college were 
built. During the school's existence, except while the war was going 
on, he was a member of tlie Board of Trustees. It seems there is no 
complete record in existence of the enrollment of McGee College. Not 
long ago the late Eobert G. Mitchell, son of President J. B. Mitchell; 
Major B. E. Dysart and Captain Ben Eli Guthrie furnished the follow- 
ing list of the living almnni from memory: 

The Eev. B. P. FuUerton, St. Louis ; Major A. W. Mullins, lawyer, 
Linneus; Frank Sheets, lawyer, Chillicothe ; L. H. Moss, lawyer, St. 
Joseph; Dr. John T. Mitchell, Kansas City; Eev. J. W. Mitchell, Mar- 
shall; Eev. W. 0. Perry, Stewartsville ; George JMayhall, lawyer. New 
London ; Eev. D. E. Bushnell, Alton, Illinois ; Captain John M. London, 
Kaseyville; Bingham Trigg, Marshall; Eev. J. T. Johnson, Chicago; 
Eev. H. M. Boyd, Weaverville, North Carolina ; Eev. J. D. Hull, Japa- 
nese missionary ; Eev. W. Benton Farr, Texas ; Hon. F. C. Farr, lawyer, 
Kansas City; Hon. W. "VV. Whitsett, lawyer. Pleasant Hill; Captain 
Ben Eli Guthrie, Major B. E. Dysart, Captain Ben F. Stone, Judge E. S. 
Matthews and John T. Banning, all of Macon. 

Captain Guthrie recalls the following students, now dead, who 
joined the Confederate army: 

D. D. Porter, Eev. A. D. Manning, Lieutenant S. M. Hendricks 
(killed in action), Thomas J. Moore (Idlled in action), and E. J. 
Guthrie. 

Within recent years a handsome Memorial Chapel has been erected 
by the Presbyterians near the old college building. The structure cost 
about $5,000, and is a beautiful piece of architecture. The chapel was 
dedicated with imposing ceremonies. The Eev. B. P. Fullerton, of St. 
Louis, who had attended the McGee College, officiating. 

At the beginning of the Civil war Dr. F. W. Allen was conducting 
an institution known as the Macon College. The doctor was a gentle- 
man of means and had a wide acquaintance throughout the state. Many 
who afterwards became prominent were among his students. Former 
Governor A. M. Dockery was a student and great admirer of Dr. Allen. 
On the 13th of June, 1861, Mr. Dockery was reciting the Latin lesson 
to Professor Allen. The incident which terminated the college occurred 
soon afterward and is thus described in a letter from Mr. Dockery, 
written when he was a member of Congress to a friend in Macon : 



146 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

"Dear Sir: 

"The closiBg of Dr. Allen's school at Macon occurred about the 
time of the breaking out of the Civil war. I recited the last lesson 
at a late hour on June 13, 1861. The lesson was Latin and I was the 
only student of that class present. All the scholars except myself had 
gone home, and I had just entered upon the recitation when attention 
was attracted by some hurrahs in the southern part of the city. The 
windows were raised to ascertain the cause of the commotion. Pro- 
fessor Allen and I looked out and noticed the passing of a long train 
on the Hannibal t&; St. Joe railroad. The men on the train were cheer- 
ing. My first idea was that the people on board were Mormons on their 
way to the West, as they had been passing over in great numbers of late. 
I was soon undeceived, however. Shortly after our attention was called 
to the train we noted that the Confederate flagpole was toppling and 
about to fall. Then we saw that the people on the train were soldiers, 
and learned afterwards that they were a part of the 16th Illinois Reg- 
iment. The troops left the train and headed at once for the Confederate 
flagi^ole, which was located immediately north of Bagwell & Johnson's 
store. It was the work of only a few moments to cut it down. I was 
told later on that the troops cut the pole up into small fragments and 
carried it away as souvenirs. Our recitation terminated abruptly. 

"At that time passion was high and everybody was laboring under 
more or less excitement. Professor Allen had some difficulty during the 
evening growing out of the strange situation, and the school was not 
opened. I remained in Macon until the fall of 1861, when I moved to 
Keytesville. Professor Allen went to Monroe county for a time. The 
next we met, as I now recall, was in the St. Louis Medical College dur- 
ing the winter of 1862-63. We there attended medical lectures together. 

"Very truly yours, 

"A. M. Doekery." 

A little closer inquirj' into the incident concerning the Confederate 
flagpole disclosed the fact that Dr. Allen rushed down into the town 
and voiced his protests against the destruction of the flagpole. Most 
of the soldiers treated it good-naturedly, merely laughing, but a citizen, 
A. T. Turney, took the matter up on behalf of the government, as he 
supposed, and in the encounter that followed was knocked down by Pro- 
fessor Allen, wlio at that time was a small man but very quick and 
nervy. The Federal forces cheered the professor for his gritty stand 
for his cause on that day. 

St. James Academy was founded in 1875 by the Rev. Ethelbert 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 147 

Talbot, now Bishop of Penusylvauia. The Rev. Dr. Talbot had been 
appointed rector of St. James parish two years previous. He was a 
man of indomitable energy and before long the school acquired a high 
standing as an institution of learning. It was run in connection with 
St. Agnes Hall, a school for young women. When the Rev. Dr. Talbot 
was appointed Bishop of Wyoming and Idaho, the school passed into 
other hands and had a varied experience until it passed into the control 
of Col. F. W. Blees, in January, 1892. Colonel Blees had recently 
come to Macon and was appointed head master of the Academy to suc- 
ceed the Rev. C. G. Davis, who had resigned. With the appointment 
of Colonel Blees as head master of the institution, it was made non- 
sectarian. From that day on down to the present the name of Colonel 
Blees has always been associated with Macon's development and prog- 
ress. The patronage at first was mostly local. The courses of study 
were as follows : Commercial, English, scientific, classical, shorthand 
and typewriting. The tuition was $42 a year, payable semi-annually in 
advance. In his first advertisement Colonel Blees stated that St. James 
Military Academy would reopen Tuesday, January 5, 1892, at 8 :20 a. m. 

There was a sale of the academy property on April 22, 1892, and it 
was bought in by the Board of Directors. Colonel Blees continued as 
the head of the institution. 

The directors were E. McKee, H. S. Glaze, John Scovern, F. W. 
Blees and T. E. AVardell. Following were the officers: E. McKee, 
president; H. S. Glaze, vice-president; John Scovern, ti-easurer; Col. 
F. W^. Blees, superintendent. 

The school began its next term in the fall, with a patronage of about 
80 students. The buildings had been overhauled and repaired inside 
and out. The faculty was as follows : Col. F. W. Blees, superintendent ; 
J. 0. Felker, instructor in commercial department; J. B. Fairchild, 
methematics and natural science ; A. C. Parker, commandant, instructor 
of English and drawing; Miss Tillie Holtekamp had charge of the pri- 
mary department. 

For several years Colonel Blees successfully conducted St. James 
Military Academy and placed it in the front rank of the educational 
institutions of Missouri. W'hile in the midst of his work sad news came 
to him from the Fatherland. This necessitated a journey to Germany 
to be with his parents in their last illness. The school was temporarily 
abandoned. With the death of his parents Colonel Blees came into pos- 
session of a large sum of money. Returning to Macon, he immediately 
began to build up and foster enterprises of all sorts. It was due to his 
urgence and assistance that the town was supplied with such a complete 



148 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

sewerage system. Factories were established, buildings improved and 
Macon soon took on the appearance of a modern little city. But Colonel 
Blees's great ambition was to construct here one of the fimest academies 
in the West. To this plan he devoted a great deal of time and thought. 
The splendid prestige of Blees Military Academy stands today as a 
monument to his love for Macon and her people, and is tyjaical of his life 
work, which was always along educational lines. The Academy and 
grounds cost something over a half million dollars. The place is regal 
in its appointments. If it were placed in a great city like St. Louis or 
Chicago it would be marked for its stateliness and beauty. The Acad- 
emy was opened in September, 1899. The arrangements were not quite 
complete at that time, and Colonel Blees,, always quick to act in an emer- 
gency, purchased the Palace Hotel and quartered the students therein 
until everything was ready at the Academy for their reception. 

Major M. Von Binzer was the rirst commandant. With character- 
istic energj" Colonel Blees took charge of the Academy and pushed it 
to the front. On its opening he made an address to the students and 
visitors which was illustrative of his philosophy of life. A portion of 
this address was as follows : 

"The eyes and the hearts of millions in America are turned today 
to New York where homage is being done to the greatest hero this gen- 
eration has produced. Admiral Dewey. There they are celebrating the 
triumph of American armies on land and on sea. But in this they are 
likely to forget some things. They maj" forget that this is a triumph 
of trained physical manhood and courage over mere brutal audacity. 
It is a triumph of the trained mind over the intellectual sloth. In the 
excess of our enthusiasm for the great sailor who has brought such sig- 
nal success to our cause, let us not forget that back of the hills of Ver- 
mont there is a schoolmaster who took hold of the life of a child and 
impressed it with responsibility, and told it of opportunity. That old 
school master has much to do with the success of Manila Bay. Like- 
wise it is for the culture of hand and mind and heart, for the making of 
men who are ready for the opportunity when it comes, that Blees Mili- 
tary Academy is foimded." 

The Academy was dedicated with imposing exercises in January, 
1900. For that occasion a three-coach special was run between town 
and the Academy every half hour, and the train was filled nearly every 
trip up until midnight. It was estimated that from three to five thou- 
sand people visited the Academy during the day. 

In his address of welcome, with a voice shaking with emotion, 






-^' 




"THE REILEIGH" 

HOME OF JOHN W. RILEY, MACON, MISSOURI 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 149 

Colonel Blees thus spoke to the large crowd assembled in the handsome 
recreation court: 

"Some eight years ago I was called upon to take charge of the St. 
James Military Academy. It was under circumstances most discourag- 
ing. A few months afterwards, when I first had the opportunity to give 
an account of my stewardship of that institution, I promised the people 
of this community that within ten years they should have the strongest 
military institution in the entire state of Missouri. I see not only a 
few, but hundreds of faces in this gathering who were present on that 
occasion, and the applause at that time was just as hearty as it is now, 
although it was evident there was some skepticism; some applauded 
merely as evidence of good wishes, with but little expectations that the 
pledge would be carried out. As to how it has been redeemed you may 
be the judges. 

* * Now, I have the pleasure and the privilege of welcoming you here 
to see what has been done, and I trust that your presence may be an 
evidence of your intention to stand by this institution as you stood by 
poor old St. James Academy in its misfortunes. I sincerely appreciate 
your confidence in the past and bespeak for its continuance in the 
future; with the approval of the Almighty Helper and your good will 
we cannot fail. For your presence today and kind greeting I again 
return a grateful acknowledgment. Thank you, thank you all." 

Bishop Tuttle of St. Louis delivered a classical address. 

Superintendent W. W. Clendenin also spoke and Mrs. M. Von 
Binzer sang a solo. Those taking part in the dedicatory ritual were 
Bishop D. T. Tuttle, Col. F. W. Blees, Superintendent W. W. Clendenin, 
Commandant M. Von Binzer and Architect E. J. Kirsch. 

The Academy steadily developed until it became one of the famous 
institutions of the nation. It has had, of course, its periods of ups and 
downs, but has thrived through them all and has become an established 
fixture in the educational scheme of the country. 

The most unfortunate thing that has occurred in the Academy's his- 
tory was the death of its founder, Colonel Blees, which took place in 
the Southern Hotel, St. Louis, in September, 1906. Death was due to 
heart failure. Other hands took up the work of Macon's earnest friend 
and it has gone on uninterrupted. Mrs. F. L. Liebing, who was for- 
merly Mrs. Blees, and who was alwaj's her husband's friend and 
adviser, and shared with him in all his ambitions, has seen to it that 
the founder's wishes and policj- are being carried out. The following is 
the present staff of the academy: 



150 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Colonel F. L. Liebing President 

Colonel G. L. Byroade Superintendent and Commandant 

Captain W. S. Hunter Science 

Captain F. P. Kimball Mathematics 

Captain E. N. Wbiteford English 

Captain P. E. Werkshagen Modern Languages 

Captain J. M. Swan Commercial Branches 

Captain S. Kelsey History and Manual Training 

One of the most interesting educational enterprises in Macon 
county is the consolidated high school at Elmer. This splendid build- 
ing was completed in 1905. It was the first and is yet the only consoli- 
dated school in this section of the state. It was constructed to serve 
the three districts of Elmer, Mercyville and Gunnels. Since its erection 
Elmer and Mercwille have been incorporated into one town known 
as Elmer. Including a two-years' high school course, the school has 
ten grades and is doing work in all of them. Prof. A. F. Smith was 
the first principal. The present faculty is as follows : 

J. W. Finnell, principal ; Lizzie Parry, Ethel Shumaker and Ora J. 
Epperson, teachers. The consolidated school building contains 6 rooms, 
is heated by steam, and well ventilated. It is built substantially of 
brick and makes a handsome appearance. 

The largest public school building in the county is at Macon, known 
as the Central High School. It was erected in 1906, at a cost of $40,000. 
The building contains 17 rooms, including a large auditorium for 
associations and teachers' meetings and the like. This building has 
all the modern appliances and is one of the most favorably situated 
and imposing edifices in the city. In the south part of the city is a 
ward school, where primary work is done. There is also a large public 
school building for colored students. 

Professor S. E. Seaton is superintendent of all the Macon Public 
schools. Prof. H. J. King is principal of the high school, and Prof. 
C. W. Summers, principal of the grades. Prof. E. "W. Perkins is 
principal of the colored school. The assessment in the Macon school 
district is $1,282,802. The tax levy for the support of the schools is 
$1.15 on the $100. The schools are operated nine months in the year. 

A central high school building was completed in Bevier in 1908, 
at a cost of $18,000. It is a large brick building, containing 16 rooms. 
Miss Mabel M. Richards is the superintendent; Miss Ethel Carter, 
teacher of the high school. There are 13 teachers. All of them are 
women. 



1 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 151 

La Plata, Atlanta, Callao and Ethel also have large modern school 
buildings. 

Prof. W. E. Moss, the present county superintendent, has done a 
splendid work in developing the district schools of Macon county. He 
makes it a point to visit them regularly and to encourage school boards 
and teachers in keeping up the appearance of the grounds and building 
and in looking closely after sanitary conditions. From Superintendent 
Moss' last official report the following statistics are taken : 

Enrollment of public school students in Macon county, white, male, 
3,662; female, 3,547; total, 7,209. Colored, male, 91; female, 90; total, 
181. Grand total, 7,390. 

Number of pupils (rural) graduating in state courses of study, 
male, 26 ; female, 84 ; total, 110. Number of districts in county having 
libraries, 110 ; volumes in libraries, 7,347 ; value of libraries, $4,125. 

Number of teachers holding life certificates, 5; limited state 
certificates 3; normal dii>lomas, 7; normal certificates, 2; county 
certificates, 188. 

Number of teachers employed, white, male 47; female, 149; total, 
196. Colored, male, 4; female, 5; total, 9. Grand total, 205. 

Number of school houses in county, white, 137 ; colored, 5. Total, 142. 

Amount jjaid for teachers' wages, male $14,963; female, $47,233; 
total, $62,196. 

Average salaries of teachers per month, male, $48.10; female, 
$37.24; general average, $42.67. 

Number of school houses built during year, 3; amount paid out 
for building, $23,085; for repairs, $6,725. 

Estimated value of school property in the county, $202,753 ; assessed 
value of taxable property, $8,936,887. 

Bonds voted this (1909) year, $12,600. Bonds paid, $6,725. Pres- 
ent indebtedness, $79,430. 

At the last meeting of the Macon County Teachers' Association, in 
November, 1909, there were present 155 female teachers and thirty-six 
male. 

The Western College is an institution for the education of the col- 
ored people. It was established in January, 1890, and for a portion 
of two years was conducted at Indejiendence, Mo. In the winter of 1892 
the school was removed from Independence to Macon. The building 
is located picturesquely in the northern part of the city. The original 
cost of the site was $5,000. This including three buildings and other 
improvements put up since the school was removed to this city make 
the present valuation of the property about $20,000. The object of 



152 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Western College is "to prepare young men and women to become 
factors in the elevation of their fellows and themselves for lives of 
high purpose and usefulness." 

Following is the faculty for 1909-10 : James Henry Garnett, presi- 
dent, theology, psychology and ethics ; Charles Bertram Johnson, prin- 
cijaal of English preparatory department; Malinda Francis Lewis, 
mathematics, assistant in science; Eosa Belle Johnson, English and 
head of primary school; James A. Gay, ancient languages and tlie 
sciences; Ida Lee Garnett, secretary and assistant in English; Mary 
L. Sanders, matron; Mamie A. Eichardson, instrumental and vocal 
music; Dora Crow, domestic science. 

There is an intermediate church school, Seventh Day Adventists, 
in Drake township, just north of Goldsberry. T. J. Eoach is the prin- 
cipal. He has one assistant. The building contains two large, well- 
furnished rooms, and during the school sessions is a very busy place. 
The school was established in the fall of 1909. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Chukches ^ Strenuous Eevivals — "Gabbiel" as Peosecuting 
Attorney — Debate Between Dr. Anderson and the Rev. " Jimps" 
Dysart — HotjLis and Dysart — Baptists Chagrined Over Result 
— Primitive Baptists — Yellow Creek Association — McGee Pres- 
bytery — Organization of the Churches — Bishops Talbot and 
Hendrix — "Father" Gay — The Holiness Campmeetings — Insti- 
tution at College Mound — The Tenth Legion— Reorganized 
Church, Latter Day Saints. 

Many a white-haired Missourian will stoutly contend that never 
before nor since has the world heard as pure a brand of melody as that 
flung Heavenward in the days of the old time revival. That "sacri- 
legious" agent of the devil, the organ, had not then "invaded" the sanc- 
tuary to help "Raise My Ebenezer." If it had been trying to mix in on 
the singing nobody would have heard it. 

"Before Jehovah's awful throne 

Ye nations! bow with sacred joy; 
Know that the Lord is God alone, 

He can create, and He destroy!" 

"When the white-bearded patriarch started in on "Old Hundred," 
he didn't have to signify to the congregation that they might join in 
the singing. That's what they were there for, and if any specially 
drilled choir had undertaken to assume the musical privileges there 
would certainly have been a disturbance. 

In the vernacular of the day, "goin' to preachin' " was the event 
of the month. For several days previous the wife and girls of the 
household would be busy fixing things to eat while in camp, and putting 
double rivets on the small boys' pants and shirts. 

The meetings were generally held under the trees. After Elder 
Bill Sears' ferryboat was put out of business by the big bridge across 
the Chariton river, on the Hannibal and St. Joseph pike, that was a pop- 
ular place for camp meetings. Brother J. W. Cook, a Baptist exhorter, 
once preached from the center of the bridge around on both banks of the 
stream. Half the men in the congregation were barefooted and but few 

153 



154 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

wore coats. After the preaching, Brother Cook baptized twenty-five 
converts in the muddy stream. The baptized convert instantly became 
a hero or a heroine, if the operation was stood without undue gurgling 
and going on. Friends gathered around and warmly shook hands. 
Sometimes big meetings were held in winter, and it was necessary to 
break the ice to get the converts thoroughly wet. It was the belief of 
the day that no one ever caught cold as a result of such exposure. 
Indeed, it was regarded as higlily curative for a sufferer from colds 
and pneumonia to be baptized in the dead of winter, and old women tell 
of several miraculous reco^■eries among those who have thus demon- 
strated their faith. 

The early Missouri preacher took the Bible as his sole platform. 
During his two or three hours' discourse he would wander from cover 
to cover, winding up with the cataclysm so vividly described by St. .John. 
The simple children of nature would have seriously questioned the 
orthodoxy of a isreacher who left hell out of a discourse. Of course, 
he dwelt largely on the glories of the better world, the joys of reconcilia- 
tion with loved ones and the streets of gold, but he was particularly 
strong on hell fire and ' ' the burning lake of brimstone. ' ' 

A noted pioneer preacher once gave this suggestion of what 
eternity meant. 

"If you should be lost and condemned eternally, and the devil 
were to give you the job of draining the Chariton river by taking out 
of it one drop of water a year, when you got the river dry you would 
only be at the sunrise of your Aasit in hell!" 

A gentleman who sat under the ministrations of an early day 
Shepherd thus described his discourses: 

"The preacher's talk on the better world never excited very much 
interest in my youthful mind, because his idea of heaven wasn't near so 
fascinating as staying down here hunting coons, robbing birds' nests 
and stealing watermelons. But when he switched off on the other 
place, he had yours truly going some. Never before nor since, in Heaven 
above or on earth below, have I encountered anything that inspired 
me with such abject terror as his delineations of the 'Angel Gabriel' 
and the 'Gi-eat Judgment Day.' They used to sing a terrible old song 
about 'A Great Day Coming' that would have made my sandy hair 
stand on end, had not such already been its normal condition. As to 
the effect of scary songs and sermons on a naturally nervous tempera- 
ment, I can truthfully say that for a number of years I never saw 
a thunder storm without being scared into fits. I always pictured 
Gabriel in the i-ole of prosecuting attorney, and never doubted but 



J 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 155 

what he would be thoroughly 'onto his job' and, like others of that class, 
would rake up every little old thing against me, so I would have no 
possible showing to come clean. But when the preaclier would speak of 
him as blowing his trumpet, 'with one foot planted on the laud and one 
on the sea,' notwithstanding my terror of Gabriel, I would have a secret 
admiration for his immense 'straddling' capacity. Of coui'se, there 
was nothing incongruous in the statement. But I lived many, many 
miles from the sea, and, with a kind of mournful vanity, took it for 
granted that, no matter what sea he selected for his water foot, his land 
foot would be planted in proximity to do prompt and vigorous business 
with me." 

The religious debates were the gilt-edged drawing cards among 
the devout scattered through the forests and back country. "Immer- 
sion," "Infant Baptism" and "Foreordination" were the main sub- 
jects. Moderators were chosen, and time limits placed upon the argu- 
ments. Sometimes these debates grew so fierce they would break up 
in a row. Communities would be divided for months and the most 
intense feeling manifested. The disputants would prepare like lawyers 
presenting an issue for the government. Tables loaded with musty 
tomes would be placed within easy reach of the speakers. The crowds 
attending such events were enormous. 

One of the most noted debates of the last century occurred between 
the Eev. Dr. Bartlett Anderson, a missionary Baptist, and the Rev. 
James Dysart, who had been referred to in this work. "Brother" 
Dysart was a Cumberland Presbyterian. The question was baptism, 
Bartlett arguing for it and Dysart against it. The debate occurred in 
185G, some four or five years before any railroads had crept into North- 
ern Missouri. Anderson was a man of scholarly attainments. He was 
versed in many languages and quoted copiously from Greek, Hebrew 
and Sanskrit. The people who knew that "Uncle Jimps" Dysart had 
never plowed through any ancient literature, and was only a plain 
country preacher, wondered how he was going to answer the erudite 
missionary Baptist. When his time came to speak, "Uncle Jimps" 
enlightened them. He said: 

"Brethren, my opponent, Mr. Anderson, has read to you out of a 
whole lot of fine books that we don't know anything about. They may 
have settled the question of baptism over yonder among the Pagan 
nations, but what's that to us? You and me want it settled in America. 
Now, I am going to use as my only authority a good old book ]n-inted 
in English, the Bible. If Mr. Anderson wants it settled in Hebrew 



156 HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 

or Hindoo or Choctaw lie can move over into them countries and settle 
it for 'em there, but we'll settle it in good old English." 

Dysart was a fellow of good, common sense, and as a strenuous, 
never-get-tired talker, he was superior to his more learned rival. The 
people understood him and knew what he was driving at all the time, 
while they were somewhat at sea during the erudite discourse of Mr. 
Anderson. The moderators decided that "Brother Anderson has made 
a fine argmnent, one of the best we ever heard, but 'Uncle Jimps' Dysart 
seems to have the better of it." 

The Baptists explained the decision by saying that "Uncle Jimps" 
"wore him out." 

Toward the close of the seventies the Macon Baptists arranged 
with another disputant, whom they hoped would be physically and 
mentally able to measure lances with the redoubtable Presbyterian 
logician. This was a Eev. Mr. HoUis, pastor of the Christian church 
at Kirksville. Mr. Hollis was a large, powerful man, had plenty of 
lung eajjacity and was as vigorous a talker as could be found. The 
Baptists knew that "Uncle Jimps" couldn't "wear him out." 

The debate was at Hopewell church. A great many Baptists went 
up from Macon, and these, with the people of the neighborhood, more 
than crowded the building. It was to be an occasion of "evening up" 
for the Baptists, and they watched the early stages of the wordy battle 
with eager interest. The questions were the distinctive doctrines of 
the Christians and the Presbyterians. For a while, the debaters hurled 
withering broadsides into each other's belief, and then "Uncle Jimps" 
made a side drive at the Baptists. ^Tien his time came, Mr. Holhs 
surprised everybody by taking another dig at the Baptists. Finally, 
both debaters were earnestly lamijooning the Baptists, and getting 
closer and closer together on their own views. They called each other 
"my dear brother" and wound up the affair by shaking hands and 
declaring eternal brotherhood. There was no decision because the 
debaters had agreed, settled and dismissed their differences and were 
walking about arm in arm. The Baptists, who had come far to see 
the rout of "Uncle Jimps," left in disgust, and never made any further 
attempts to drive him off the field of logic. 

In 1836. according to one authority, there was a largely attended 
meeting of the Baptists in Macon county. The subject of missions 
Avas injected into the discussions, and it precipitated a vigorous debate. 
James Moody, a prominent man of the church, in a memorable speech 
advocated foreign missionary work among the benighted. This met 
with spirited opposition. Both sides cited much scrijiture and many 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 157 

authoritative writers. The assembly was hopelessly divided on the 
question. Mr. Moody and his following became known as "Mission- 
ary Baptists." Elder ^Villiam Sears, Abraham Dale, Philip Dale, 
John Smoot, Charles Hatfield, William Shain, James Eiley, Thomas 
'\^'illiams, James Cauchhorn and their wives organized "The Little 
Zion Baptist Church," near Elmer. This was the tirst Primitive 
Baptist church in Macon county, and is still in existence. 

Yellow Creek Primitive Baptist Association was organized the 
third Saturday in September, 1849, and has met regularly since that 
time. Its 61st annual meeting will occur in September, 1910. Elder 
William Sears was the first moderator. Following him was Elder J. E. 
Goodson, Sr. Elder W^alter Cash of St. Joseph, Missouri, is the present 
moderator. W. J. Owens of Callao is clerk. 

The association when organized included Macon, Linn, Adair, 
Knox and Eandolph counties. Since then Kandolph has ■ been dis- 
connected. In Macon county the association meets at Chariton church, 
Little Zion, Brush Creek and Goldsberry. There are ten churches and 
from 450 to 500 members in the association. The preachers are Elders 
Walter Cash, St. Joseph ; G. E. Edwards and Frederick Elmore, Macon, 
and J. W. Bradley, Ethel. 

No Primitive minister draws a salary for preaching. Needs are 
supi^lied by voluntary contributions and labor at other vocations. The 
western organ, "The Messenger of Peace," was established in Macon 
in 1874 by Elder J. E. Goodson, Sr., and conducted successfully until 
he and his son. Elder J. E. Goodson, Jr., died, when it passed into the 
control of Elder Walter Cash, and is now being published at St. Joseph. 
From the earliest development of the coimty the Primitive Baptists 
have been an influential element in the religious life of various com- 
munities, and their conduct has been characterized by honesty to their 
fellows and zeal in the cause of their Master. 

It is against the church principles to speak of their ministers as 
"Eeverend," holding that the term occurs but once in the Bible (Psalms 
cxl., 9) and then in reference to Jehovah. The Primitives do not have 
Sunday-schools and do not strive for converts. When the Father wishes 
one to turn from sin he "calls" or "elects" him to the life eternal, 
without the intervention of human aid. 

Following are the articles of faith of the Yellow Creek Association : 

1. We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament (the 
translation made in the reign of King James) are the words of God, 
and the only rule of faith and practice. 



158 HISTOHY OF MACOX COUXTY 

2. We believe in one only true and living God, a trinity of three 
persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. 

3. We believe in the fall of Adam, and that lus posterity all fell 
in him and were made sinners. AVe believe in the corruption of human 
nature, and the impotency of man to recover himself by his own free 
will and ability. 

4. We believe that sinners are justified in the sight of God only 
by the righteousness of Jesus Christ being imputed to them, and that 
good works are the fruits of faith and follow after justification, and 
are evidences of our gracious state. 

5. We believe that saints shall persevere in grace, and not one of 
them be finally lost. 

6. We believe there will be a resurrection of the dead and a gen- 
eral judgment, and that the happiness of the righteous and the punish- 
ment of the wicked will be eternal. 

7. We believe the ^■isible church of Christ is a congregation of 
faithful baptized persons. 

8. We believe that Jesus Christ is the great Head of the church, 
and that the government thereof is with the body. 

9. AVe believe that water baptism and the Lord's supper are ordi- 
nances of the gospel, and are to be continued until his second coming. 

10. AA^e believe that believers are the only fit subjects, and immer- 
sion the only gospel mode of baptism. 

11. AVe believe that none but regularly baptized believers have a 
right to commune at the Lord's table. 

12. AVe believe that the Lord's day (Sunday) ought to be observed 
and set apart for the worship of God, and that no work or worldly 
business should be transacted thereon; works of piety and necessity 
only excepted. 

The Primitives cite the following historical facts in support of their 
views on Sunday-schools and missionary work: 

"The first Simday-school was organized by Eobert Eaikes, in 
Gloucester, England, in 1781, for the purpose of teaching orphan chil- 
dren, and children whose parents were too poor to send them to school, 
to read and write" — Belcher, page 998; and was not a religious 
institution nor connected with any church, as it now is. 

"In 1622 Gregory XA'^., the first jiope who had been a pupil of the 
Jesuits, established the first missionary board in the world, the proto- 
type of all other missionary boards, whether Catholic or Protestant." 
— Hassell, page 516. 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 159 

Article 3 is explained in a work, entitled "The Little Souvenir," 
by Elder J. E. Goodson, Jr., as follows: 

"Others not elected, although they may be called by the ministry 
of the word, and may have some common operations of the Spirit ; yet, 
not being effectually drawn by the Father, they neither will nor can 
truly come to Christ, and therefore cannot be saved. Much less can 
men that receive not the Christian religion be saved, be they ever so 
diligent to frame their lives according to the light of nature, and the 
law of that religion they do profess." 

The McGee Presbytery was organized in Pike county, Missouri, 
in the fall of 1819. The meeting-place for the organization was desig- 
nated as follows: 

"In compliance with an order of the Cumberland synod of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian church, held at Sugg's Creek, in Tennessee, 
the third Tuesday in October, 1819, the members appointed to consti- 
tute the McGee Presbytery met on the headwaters of Salt river. Pike 
count}', jMissouri Territory, near the place the Rev. D. Morrow held a 
camja meeting at the dwelling house of John Scott on the fourth 
Tuesday in May, 1820." 

The original bounds of the Presbytery were as follows : 

"Commencing at the source of the Oskaw river, then northwardly 
to indefinite boundaries ; from said source down the Oskaw river to the 
Mississippi river; thence down the Mississippi river to its confluence; 
all west of which shall be the boundary of a Presbytery to be consti- 
tuted, to be known by the name of McGee Presbytery, to be composed 
of the following members : Green P. Rice, Daniel Brice, Robert Mor- 
row and, John Carnahan, of Elk 'Presbytery." 

McGee Presbytery met on the waters of Salt river. Pike county, 
Missouri Territory, and three of its members were appointed mission- 
aries, to ride all the time, and to do so without salary. 

In the early minutes there is a recommendation that the mission- 
aries abstain from intoxicating liquors. 

When the question of union was precipitated by the Cumberland 
Presbytei'ians and the Presbyterians, McGee Presbytery included the 
following territoiy: Callaway, Boone, Howard, Chariton, Randolph, 
Monroe, and that portion of Macon south of the Burlington railroad. 

The subject of unionism was introduced at the general assembly 
at Nashville, Tennessee, in 1903, by the appointment of a committee to 
meet a similar committee of the other church. These committees made 
and published a report in February, 1904. That brought on the dis- 



160 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

cussion among the people of both churches as to the matter of joining 
forces as outUned in the report. 

The matter was brought before the Presbytery at the election of the 
commissioners to the assembly of 1904, at Dallas, Texas. That assem- 
bly referred the question to the Presbyteries with liberty to act at the 
fall or spring sessions, in 1904-5. 

In the McGee Presbytery the subject of union came up in the fall 
of 1904, at Moimt Carmel, where it was briefly discussed. A resolution 
was adopted to continue the discussion until the meeting of the Pres- 
bytery in the spring of 1905 at Salisbury. At that place there was 
an extended debate on the matter. Captain Ben Eli Guthrie of Macon 
was the leading representative of the union forces. The Eev. Samuel 
D. Logan, former pastor of the Cumberland Presbyterian church at 
Macon, but then living in Tennessee, was a prominent debater for those 
opposing unionism. At the close of the debate, which was carried 
on with great vigor, yet with the kindliest personal feeling among 
the parties, there was a vote and those opposing the union won by a 
small majority. Delegates reflecting that result were appointed to attend 
the general assembly at Fresno, California. 

The boundaries of McGee Presbytery were changed by the General 
Assembly of Presbyterian Churches at Columbus, Ohio, in 1906. The 
counties composing the Presbytery were named as follows: 

Caldwell, Daviess, Carroll, Livingston, Chariton, Linn, Randolph 
and the south half of Macon. Dr. S. C. Palmer of ]\Iacon is the present 
moderator and G. W. Baker of Moberly is clerk. 

Those opposing the union, who continued to call themselves Cum- 
berland Presbyterians, called a special session of the Presbytery in 
July, 1906, at Bethany, Cliariton county. In that meeting they repudi- 
ated the action of the General Assembly at Fresno, California, in 1905, 
and at Decatur, Illinois, in 1906, and organized what they styled the 
McGee Presbytery. W. H. Berry, of College Mound, was chosen moder- 
ator, and J. W. Duvall, of S'^lisbury, clerk. The boundaries fixed were 
the same as those of the former Presbyterj'. Now they include all of 
northern Missouri, except west of Grand river. 

About the time the subject of union had begun to be discussed 
in the church nationally, the First Presbyterian and the Cumberland 
Presbyterian churches of Macon united their congregations. This is 
said to have been the first union of the two churches in the United 
States. 

The union of the First Presbyterian and the Cumberland Presby- 
terian churches has been made a subject of litigation in several of the 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 161 

states. Some Supreme courts have decided one way and some anotlier. 
The Missouri Supreme court, in a case that went up from Warrens- 
burg, found in favor of the Cumberland Presbyterians, and ordered 
restored to them the church property on the ground that the union was 
illegal. Litigation over church property has followed in several Mis- 
souri counties, but the union of the two churches at Macon has proven 
very amicable and no question has been raised concerning it. 

Mt. Tabor Association of the" United Baptists was among the 
earlier religious bodies of Macon county. Its first moderator was 
j\Iicbael Buster. Walker Austin was clerk. In 18-44 James Moody was 
added to the list of ministers as a licentiate. In 1848 the association 
was represented by messengers from Big Spring, Ten Mile and Mt. 
Tabor churches. Mt. Salem church, formerly of Mt. Pleasant Associa- 
tion, was received into the association this year. Early in the life of 
the association the collection of funds for missionary work became an 
important element of its business. The name was changed to "The 
Macon Baptist Association" in 1866. In 1852 the number of churches 
represented in tlie association had grown to ten, with 327 members. 
In 1881 there were twenty-three churches, with an aggregate member- 
ship of 1,401. At the last meeting of the association (in 1909) thirty- 
two churches were represented, with a total membership of 3,194. The 
value of church property in the association was placed at $74,925, and 
there were twenty-two Sunday-schools. M. A. Eomjue was moderator 
and W. James Robinson was clerk. Preceding Mr. Eomjue as modera- 
tor were Lon Haynor, Gr. E. Simmons, W. R. Skinner, M. F. Williams, 
W. A. Sears, L. B. Wooldridge, G. C. Sparrow, A. Kinnam, William 
Van Cleve, A. Judy, William Griffin, and M. Buster, who was the first 
moderator elected in the organization of the association in 1843, at 
Ten Mile. 

The executive board of the association is as follows: 

Lon Haynor, chairman, Macon; C. S. Tuley, treasurer, Macon; 
0. H. L. Cunningham, Bevier; W. James Eobinson, secretary, Macon; 
Albert Skinner, Bevier; W. H. Stone, Kirksville; J. G. Majors, Gifford. 

Among the first churches organized in Macon county were the 
following : 

Big Spring church, four miles north of Macon, in 1831. 

Blanket Grove church, near La Plata, in December, 1840. 

Mt. Salem church, November, 1841. 

Bethlehem church. Sue City, March 3, 1850. 

Chariton Ridge church, January, 1864. 

Second Baptist church, Bevier, April 10, 1870. 



163 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Friendship eliureh, September 28, 1867. 

Mt. Tabor, Baptist church, December 4, 1840. 

First Baptist Church of Atlanta, June, 1876. 

Sue City Baptist church, 1870. 

New Harmony Cumberland Presbyterian church, September, 1860. 

Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian church, 1843. 

Ewing Cumberland Presbyterian church, August 21, 1855. 

Liberty Cumberland Presbyterian church, July 19, 1841. 

Salem Presbyterian church, 1869. 

La Plata Cumberland Presbyterian church, 1876. 

Atlanta Methodist Episcopal church, 1866. 

Fair View Methodist Episcopal church was organized before the 
Civil war; disbanded, and reorganized in 1876. 

Bethlehem Methodist Episcopal church. South, 1843. 

Woodville Methodist Episcopal church. South, 1870. 

Antioch Christian church, May, 1850. 

The Church of Christ at La Plata, fall of 1868. 

Ebenezer, Welsh Congregational church, Bevier, September 9, 1864. 

Methodist Episcopal church, Macon, September, 1858. The Rev. 
W. S. Wentz was first pastor. He was followed by M. F. Clepper. 
The church was rebuilt in 1890 when the Eev. W. T. McDermond was 
pastor. 

Presbyterian Church of Macon. April 24, 1858. Organized by the 
Eev. W. P. Cochran, D. D., by the authority of the Presbyteiy of Pal- 
myra. The Rev. J. R. Winters was the first pastor. The first church 
building was dedicated January 22, 1860, by the Rev. Foreman of Han- 
nibal. The building was occupied by the government during the Civil 
war, at which time it was considerably damaged and the claim for its 
use by the soldiers has been allowed by the government. The old 
building stood on the lots now occupied by the Jefferson hotel. 

The Congregational Church of Macon was organized in 1865, and 
for ten years gave promise of long life and usefulness. The Rev. S. R. 
Roseboro was minister, in charge from 1865 to 1868. He was followed 
by the Rev. Albert Bowers, who served from 1868 to 1873, and was 
succeeded by the Rev. McConnell. During those days the church 
attained its largest membership. The Rev. Mr. Bowers was ordained 
and the church dedicated Sunday, February 28, 1869. The preaching 
on that occasion was by the Revs. Joseph E. Roy and J. M. Sturtevant. 
The Rev. Mr. Bowers, but recently retired at the age of three score and 
a little over, is now living at Ashland, Ohio. 

Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Macon, was organized in the 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 163 

summer of 1866. The building was erected in 1867 and was dedicated 
in September of that year by Bisliop E. M. Marvin. The Rev. John D. 
Vincil was the tirst pastor. He was followed by the Rev. E. R. Hendrix, 
now Bishop Hendrix of Kansas City. A handsome new church was 
erected in 1904, and dedicated by Bishop Hendrix, its former pastor. 
The Rev. C. N. Broadhurst is now the pastor in charge. 

Catholic church, Macon, established just previous to Civil war. 
The Rev. Father P. B. Cahill was one of its first priests. On January 
12, 1908 a handsome new $6,000 building was dedicated by Archbishop 
Glennon of St. Louis. Father Richard Healy is priest in charge, having 
been such for eight years. Father Healy also ministers to congrega- 
tions at Healy settlement, Bevier, La Plata and other points in the 
■county. 

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church of Macon was organized 
in 1865. Among those whose names were first enrolled were the Rev. 
M. C. Patton and wife and Mrs. N. H. Patton, J. B. Malone, R. A. 
Malone and the Rev. J. S. A. Henderson and wife. The first church 
was built in 1867 and was of frame. A new building was put up in 1875 
at the cost of $4,000. The new church, built in 1875, was dedicated by 
the Rev. J. B. Mitchell, D. D., who was also president of McGee College. 
A large, handsome, well-equipped church was built in 1900 and took the 
place of this one. It is the largest and finest church in the county, and 
has now a united membership of something like 350. On December 2, 
1906, the First Presbyterian church and the Cumberland Presbyterian 
church united. Officers were chosen from both denominations. As 
remarked elsewhere, this was the fii'st union of the Presbyterian church 
in the United States. The present building cost $25,000. It was dedi- 
cated by the Rev. Dr. W. H. Black, president of Missouri Valley College, 
Marshall. 

St. James Episcopal Church dates from September 4, 1865. Its 
first members wei-e Dr. and Mrs. A. L. Knight, Mrs. Giles Cooke, Mrs. 
Mary Hubbs, Mrs. G. C. Sauvinet and Mrs. Gage. A frame building 
was erected in 1871, and was dedicated April 23 of that year. Among 
the pastors in whose charge it has been are the Rev. Dr. George Worth- 
ington, L. H. Strycher, F. B. Schultz, William H. Charles and Ethelbert 
Talbot. The latter was also president of St. James Military Academy, 
which he organized and operated for several years. He left here to 
become the Bishop of Wyoming and Idaho, and is now Bishop of Penn- 
sylvania. Before there was any regular preacher for the congregation 
of St. James, Dr. Knight was appointed by Bishop Hawks as lay reader. 
The cornerstone for the handsome new church on Rollins street, just 



164 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

west of the old one, was laid in August, 1904. On tliat occasion the 
Eev. B. S. McKanzie, rector, read letters of congratulation from Bishop 
Talbot, Eev. Robert Talbot of Kansas City, Eev. F. N. Atkins of Leav- 
enworth and Eev. Philip Davidson of Omaha, Neb., all of whom had 
been invited to attend and take part in the services. The new building 
cost about $15,000, and is said to be one of the handsomest and best 
equipped churches in northern Missouri. The Eev. J. B. Van Fleet is 
the present rector. 

First Baptist Church, Macon. During the fall of 1859 a few faith- 
ful Baptists held meetings in a private residence in the then thriving 
village of Macon. When the Civil war came on the little party of 
worshipers was dispersed and no attempt at a permanent organization 
was made imtil in 1865. May 7, of that year, the Eev. G. C. Sparrow 
and Eev. Joseph Oliver organized a permanent body, known as the 
First Baptist Church of Macon. The organization was effected at 
the home of the Eev. John Terrell. The Eevs. E. Bateman and G. L. 
Powers served the little church until May, 1866, when the Eev. Thomas 
L. Caldwell became the first regular pastor. During his administration 
an enthusiastic revival meeting was held in the upstairs room of an 
old wooden structure on Vine street. At this meeting W. C. Belsher, 
Dr. Merrifield, Dr. Stewart, Albert Blair, Miss Sallie Larrabee, Amos 
Field and many other influential citizens became members. A frame 
church was built- and used for many years, the congregation steadily 
growing and the influence of the church increasing. In January, 1900, 
a modern structure erected on the site occupied by the old building was 
dedicated. The dedicatory sermon was delivered by Dr. J. P. Green, 
president of William Jewell College. The frame building had been 
destroyed by fire but a short time previous and a building committee 
was appointed to raise funds and look after the construction of the 
new building. This committee which so successfully did its work 
was composed of the following members of the congregation : 

Lon Hayner, D. B. Moore, C. S. Tuley, G. E. Simmons, J. H. 
Wright, L. D. Lamb, W. P. Walker, Selwin Coulter, Si Patterson, C. L. 
W^allace, Isaac Gross, E. Holtzclaw, Ben Franklin, M. F. Brock and 
John Gadd. 

The Eev. W. James Eobinson is the present pastor of the church. 

The German Lutheran Church of Macon was organized in 1865, 
with a membership of 125. The church divided in 1882, and the mem- 
bers withdrawing erected a new edifice called Zion's Church. Among 
the early members were Heniy Magnus, William ^Magnus, Charles 
Magnus, Sr., and Jr., William Gille, Frank Schweikhaus, Charles Ess- 



I 



4 



: 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 165 

ler, Ferdinand Jurgensen, John Myer, Henry Euhrup, Peter Lesser, 
John Koechel. The first minister was B. Meissler. The new church 
was dedicated April 27, 1884, by the Eev. W. P. Myer. 

The churches of Macon county have multiplied so rapidly within 
recent years that it would be impossible to give a complete list of them 
in this chapter, with the necessary additional data to make the compila- 
tion of value. The purpose has beeu to list a few of the earlier churches 
as a sort of landmark, to be used in gauging the development of religious 
institutions in the county. Nearly every town in the county has a 
number of large and beautiful church buildings, attended by good con- 
gregations. Scattered through the township are numerous comfortable 
buildings used for church worship. There is preaching in nearly all 
of these at regular intervals. In this connection it might be a matter 
of interest to state that there is a chapel room in the Macon county 
infirmary, where for a long time services have been held for the inmates. 
Pi-eaohers of various denominations volunteer to address these poor 
people who seem to take more than ordinary interest in the sermons 
and the music. 

Two men who were former pastors of Macon churches have become 
bishojDS — Bishop Ethelbert Talbot and Bishop E. R. Hendrix, the 
former now located at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the latter at Kan- 
sas City, Missouri. From time to time both of these eminent church- 
men have returned to Maeon and addressed congregations in the 
churches which they formerly had in charge as pastor. 

The last great religious assembly at Macon was the meeting of the 
Missouri Conference, M. E. Church, South, in September, 1895. On 
that occasion Bishop W. W. Duncan presided. Dr. John D. Vincil of 
St. Louis, who was the first pastor of the church here at Macon, was 
chief secretary, a position he held with the Conference more than 
thirty years. 

In addition to the churches above listed are two thriving colored 
churches in the town of Macon. One of these is the A. M. E. Church, 
organized January 20, 1866, by the Eev. W. A. Dove, missionary. 
Among the first members were Euben Barbour, Jordan House, Nancy 
Maxwell, Mary Jackson, Angelina Coleman, Milla Fullington, Jane 
Smith, Carolina Barbour, Lucinda Collier, Rachel Martin, Harriet 
Humphrey, Louis Martin, Richard Goodridge, Margaret Jones and 
Kitty Snell. The building was destroyed in the cyclone of May 13, 
1883. That event occurred while a church meeting was in session 
and many of the members had narrow escapes with their lives. The 
church was rebuilt and has been developing steadily in membershii^ 



166 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

and influence. Its present pastor is the Eev. P. C. Crews. J. C. Brown 
is superintendent of the Sunday-school. 

The Second Baptist church (colored), Macon, was organized Octo- 
ber 27, 1866. The first deacons were Harry Higby and Jacob Bassett. 
Trustees : Isaac Burton, Charles Tolsan and James Smith. The build- 
ing cos-t $6,000. It was dedicated in the spring of 1872 by the Rev. 
Amos Jackson, pastor, and the Rev. W. W. Steward. The present 
church building is the third one which has been constructed for the 
use of this congregation. It is a brick, large and well made. Its pastor 
is the Rev. E. D. Greene. John Adams is superintendent of the Sunday- 
school. 

One of the most interesting churchmen belonging to the history of 
Macon county was the Rev. Father Gay, for some years rector of the 
Episcopal church of Bevier. During his occupancy of that charge 
Father Gay was well advanced in years, being along in the eighties, 
but he was alert, active and took great interest in big things. He was 
an enthusiastic astronomer and through his efforts a telescope was 
brought to Bevier for the study of the heavens. While residing at 
Bevier Father Gay was engaged on a work to prove that Marshal Ney, 
instead of being executed after Napoleon's defeat at "Waterloo, was 
spirited out of France under a disguise and came to America. Father 
Gay said that he felt absolutely certain the great marshal of Napoleon 
was none other than his old school teacher in northern Carolina, of which 
state Father Gay was a native. 

"The teacher was known to his scholars as Peter Stewart Ney," 
said Father Gay. "He was six feet tall, always standing perfectly 
erect, like a soldier, broad-shouldered and of immense physical powers. 
Upon the top of his head over the left temple was a long scar, seemingly 
inflicted by a saber cut. 

"There were many things which confirmed the belief that our 
old school teacher was the famous marshal of France. He was inti- 
mately acquainted with all bf Napoleon's campaigns and could discuss 
them by the hour. I was in his school-room in 1821, when a newspaper 
was brought him by one of the boys. This paper seemed to throw him 
into a great state of depression. I learned that it contained an account 
of the death of Napoleon at St. Helena. School was dismissed for the 
day. The old man never recovered his spirits. 

"Our soldier school teacher, most unfortunately, was a victim of 
liquor. Once he was found by the darkies of the plantation lying in the 
snow near our house. I was with them at the time. We could not 
arouse the school teacher and so we lifted him to a horse, on which 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 167 

a negro mounted and held liim tightly to keep him from falling off. 
The act awakened him and I heard him say : 

" 'What! "Would you dare to place the Duke of Elchingen on a 
horse, like a sack of barley! Release me, sir!' 

"He struck one of the negroes and they helped him to the ground. 
The old school teacher walked a few steps to the fence, leaned his 
elbows on it and looked moodily across the field. One of the negroes, 
very respectfully addressed him, asked him if he could ride. Mr. Ney 
said: 

" 'Eide! I have done some riding behind a little man in my time. 
They called him the "Little Corporal." ' With that the schoolmaster 
mounted the horse and rode steadily away. 

"At one time when he and I were talking he became thoughtful and 
then made these remarks, which I afterwards carefully wi-ote down : 

" 'History says that I was executed for treachery to the govern- 
ment, for welcoming my sovereign after his return from Elba. It is 
true that I was sentenced to be shot. I was marched out on the court- 
yard for that purpose. But facing me were my old soldiers. Do you 
suppose they could have shot me? As I walked by the file of faithful 
men who had followed me through the battle's heat, I said to them, in 
a whisper: "Aim high, comrades." I took my position in front of 
them, refusing to have my eyes bandaged. Eaising my hand I gave 
the word to "fire!" The soldiers fired and I fell. I was examined 
by the surgeons, friends of mine, and pronounced dead. My body was 
delivered for interment, but was secretly conveyed to Bordeaux, at 
which place I embarked and came to America, landing at Charleston, 
January 29, 1816.' " 

Father Gay quotes the last words of his old school teacher as fol- 
lows: "Bessieres is dead; the old guard is defeated, the Little Cor- 
poral has gone down with them. Now, let me die." 

The book written by Father Gay contained a vivid accoimt of 
Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, as delivered to him by the great 
French marshal. Father Gay lived to be ninety-five years of age. His 
mental powers were very vigorous to the last. 

For something like twenty years largely attended Holiness camp 
meetings have been held in Macon county. The greater portion of that 
period one branch of the Holiness meeting has been holding its annual 
camp at College Mound and tlio other branch pitched its tents in 
Stephens' Park, Macon. In 1908, however, the Macon camp was aban- 
doned and Clarence was chosen for the annual gatherings. That is 
the place where one of the educational institutions of the Holiness 



IGS HISTOKY OF MACON COUXTY 

people is located. The other one is located at College Mound in the 
building formerly known as McGee College. These camp meetings 
occur in August and run for ten days. They both are attended by min- 
isters who come here from all parts of the United States. A large 
tabernacle is erected for the services. Another large tent is used for 
dining quarters. From fifty to sixty smaller tents are scattered about 
the grounds for the campers. The annual camp meetings are seasons 
of revival. The greatest enthusiasm is worked up and many are added 
to tJie church. The membership appears to be growing rapidly in 
northern Missouri. 

Following is a sketch of the Holiness movement furnished by a 
gentleman who was closely identified with its inception: 

' ' The Holiness movement from the west was inaugurated by Elder 
W. B. Colt, of Illinois, in the spring of 187.5. The first meetings were 
held in Hannibal. It was not the original intention to establish another 
church, but simply to lift church members and others up to a higher 
plane of worship. ^Hien Mr. Colt left Hannibal his work in Missouri 
was continued by Eev. A. ]\I. Kiergan, then pastor of the Arch Street 
M. E. Church, South, at Hannibal. While yet a member of the con- 
ference Mr. Kiergan conducted Holiness meetings. These were attended 
by members of all denominations as well as the non-elect. Complaints 
were poured into the conference that there was a fanatical preacher 
over at Hannibal who was disintegrating the churches by telling the 
members that they were not good enough, and needed finishing touches 
put on their religion. 

"Mr. Kiergan pursued the even tenor of his way, all the while 
striving to increase the interest in the Holiness move. He was ably 
assisted by his wife, who was almost as good a talker and fully as 
earnest as himself. They conducted the first Holiness camp meeting 
west of the Mississippi river in 1877. The site of the camp was a pic- 
turesque grove west of Hannibal. The daily attendance was tremen- 
dous. Mr. Kiergan estimates there were frequently as many as 5,000 
people on the grounds. No adequate tent could be secured, and the trees 
formed the only canopy. This meeting served to put the Holiness move 
in the west on a firm foundation. The congregations were made up 
of people from various remote parts of the state as well as the neigh- 
boring counties. When they returned home they began talking up the 
new faith, and did an earnest missionary work. 

"It was not a great while before Mr. Kiergan found more Holiness 
people on his hand than he knew what to do with. ISIany of his converts 
had not united with anv church and seemed disinclined to do so. The 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 169 

reason was they felt it would be retrogressiou to uuite with anybody 
holding less advanced religious principles than those taught at the 
pioneer camp meeting. So Holiness churelies, strictly independent, 
were established in those communities where there were sufficient mem- 
bers of the sect. Where there were no churches the meetings were 
held at residences. Any one who had a mind to could do the preach- 
ing. A characteristic of the Holiness people is that nearly every man, 
woman and child among them can get up at a moment's notice and 
deliver a good talk on the faith that is in them. All of them are in 
the habit of relating their experiences before large congregations. And 
they enjoy to the utmost this part of the services. When a man feels 
called upon to enter the ministry they let him go in without objection, 
if he is sound in the doctrine and of good reputation. No examining 
comrhittee worries him with fine points of ecclesiastical law. The peo- 
ple among whom he has lived are supposed to know whether he is a fit 
subject or not, and if they recommend him for the ministry there is no 
red tape between that and his ordination. The question of salary never 
worries a Holiness preacher, because he rarely gets one. If he goes to a 
community where the membership is fairly strong he may get irregular 
donations of money and things to eat. If he doesn't he goes to work 
at something to make a living, and preaches on Sunday just as hard as 
if he were a high-salaried prelate. 

"During the earlier days of the Holiness Crusade in the west its 
members were called cranks and fanatics, because they used the term, 
' sanctified holy. ' Scoffers would point their fingers and say : 'Yonder 
goes a man who thinks he's so all-fired good that he can't sin any more.' 

"About sixteen years back an extremely pious man, who had 
embraced the Holiness faith, thought he would go one better than the 
Creed provided and he established a third state, which he called 'Glorifi- 
cation.' He taught that those who were glorified were literal saints, 
absolutely free from sin, and could not do wrong if they wanted to; 
to all intents and purposes they were already in Heaven. This belief 
grew for a while with astonishing rapidity, and threatened to over- 
throw the work so patiently wrought out by ^h\ Kiergan and his co-la- 
borers. Glorification was a fascinating state to those in the back coun- 
try districts, where religion was the main theme of converse. They 
had experienced the joys of regeneration and sanctification ; to them 
glorification and absolute perfection were the next natural stejis on the 
ladder of Holiness. 

"About onerfourth of the Holiness people in Missouri followed 
this fanaticism, hut it was short-lived. Disaffected ones nearly all 



170 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

returned to the ranks of their former faith. The impracticability of a 
'glorification degree' was clear, after trying to live up to it for a while." 

No account of the membership of the Holiness church is kept. 
The elders say that it is growing rapidly in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and 
the territories. They work as hard as the Salvation Army to get 
recruits. When they are camped near a town at an annual meeting 
they march into the streets every evening and hold revival services 
there, at the conclusion of which they invite the crowd out to the tents 
to get salvation. While the meeting is on emissaries, both men and 
women, circulate through the audience and plead with likely subjects. 
The same system is practiced at their house meetings back home. 

Elder Kiergan withdrew from the Missouri Conference in 1883, 
and devoted his whole time to Holiness work. In response to a question 
Elder Kiergan gave this definition of Holiness as understood by his 
church : 

"When a person is sanctified holy it means that he is cleansed 
from what palls the carnal mind. It means that he has increased power 
over temptations above what he had before, and hence is an easier 
victor when temptations come. For these reasons he is less liable to 
commit sin, but he is not where he cannot commit sin; but we say the 
converted one need not sin, and as long as he remains true to God he 
will not sin." 

The Seventh Day Adventists are quite numerous about Goldsberry 
and other places in Macon county. The church there was established 
in 1885. Elder C. H. Chaffee was the first minister. The membership 
was then about twenty, but has grown considerably. Elder J. C. 
Bradley, the well-known banker of Goldsberry, now has charge of the 
church, as pastor. There are three organized churches in Macon county, 
the other two being at Atlanta and Macon. Elder V. Nutter has 
charge of the church in the latter town. The total membership of 
the three churches is about 150. The Seventh Day Adventists use the 
Bible literally as their creed. Saturday is their day of rest, the seventh 
day of the week. The word, "advent," means coming. The Seventh 
Day Adventists are constantly on the lookout for the coming of the 
Saviour, which they say is nearly due, according to the Bible. 

In addition to the churches mentioned, the Adventists have a 
strong intermediate school in Macon county, which is treated in the 
educational chapter. 

The Unitarians have a nice church at La Plata, where they have 
regular preaching under the leadership of the Rev. G. E. Cunningham. 
The membership is quite strong in tlie northern part of the county. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 171 

The Teuth Legion is the name of an interesting organization at the 
Presbyterian church which flourished most promisingly during the Ufe 
of R. G. Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell was a son of Dr. J. B. Mitchell, presi- 
dent of McGee College. He took the unequivocal position that every 
man should devote one-tenth of his income to the Lord. Mr. Mitchell 
insisted that this was not a gift but an absolute duty. 

"You didn't begin giving until after you had paid your tenth." 

Someone asked him if he would "keep books with the Lord." 

"Why not?" replied Mr. Mitchell. "How else would you know 
you had done your duty?" 

Whenever he received a check for services of any sort Mr. Mitchell 
would promptly place one-tenth of it to the church's account, or else to 
some charity, which he regarded as doing the Master's work. 

An enthusiastic supporter of the movement was the Rev. R. T. 
Caldwell. They induced about sixty-five or seventy of the members 
to enroll with the Tenth Legion. It is said that while this organization 
was kept up there was never any lack of funds to meet all church 
requirements. In discussing the operations of the tithers in his church, 
Mr. Caldwell said: 

"It is harder to get wealthy men to join the legion than men in 
moderate circumstances. The man of means will say, loftily: 'Just 
come to me, brother, whenever you get in a bad place, and tell me what 
you expect from me, and I will draw a check for the amount.' 

"The mistake of that man is that he regards giving to the church 
an act of charity instead of his bounden duty. A church should be 
run on business principles just the same as any commercial establish- 
ment. It is entitled to an adequate revenue from its members and that 
revenue should be faithfully collected to the last cent. The church 
should never pose as a beggar or as being dependent upon the general 
public for assistance. If it does it will find that its influence is greatly 
weakened. 

"The Tenth Legion — as our tithers are denominated — is composed 
of sixty-five members from all ages. Side by side with the patriarchial 
old member walk the little girls of five or six and deposit their mites 
in the Lord's box. They would no more think of missing this act on a 
Sabbath day than they would fail to say their prayers of a night. 
Sometimes, alongside of large bills that a tither drops in a basket ai'e 
small pieces of silver and even pennies. This indicates that he has 
figured the amount due to the Lord to a cent. As a rule, though, the 
tithers estimate their income in loiuid numbers and place even money 
in the receptacle. 



173 HISTORY OF MACOJ^ COUNTY 

"It makes a man better, it makes him happier, and, I believe, hon- 
estly, that it makes him more prosperous to render unto the Lord 
veekly just what belongs to him with the same fidelity that he pays 
his employes ofi Saturday night or settles with his butcher and grocer." 

In the five years when tlie Tenth Legion was most active it raised, 
along with the other contributions of the church $30,271, which went 
into the various channels of church enterprise. Quite a number of 
members are yet following the tithering principle. 

The Eeorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 
of Macon County. (By T. A. Eowland.) History recording the advent 
of this religion says that in the year 1830 Joseph Smith, a young man 
living in the state of New York, made the announcement to the world 
that an angel appeared to him giving divine instructions to establish 
the Kingdom of God upon earth in the last dispensation, or the eleventh 
hour of the dispensation of time, to be patterned after the New Testa- 
ment Church established by Christ with Apostles, Prophets, Evangel- 
ists, Elders, Teachers, Deacons, etc. 

Fi'om this beginning a large body of communicants, numbering 
240,000, was enlisted under Smith's leadership of a few years; the 
evil i^ower was alert and crept into the organizations. This, coupled 
with the heavy cannonading from without against the work, finaUy 
led to the assassination of Joseph Smith, the founder and head of the 
church, and his brother, Hiram Smith, at Carthage, Illinois, jail in the 
year of 1844. 

The loss sustained by the assassination of the head of the church 
left the church organization as a ship without a rudder upon the high 
seas. Several organizations sprang up from this disorder, claiming 
the right to lead the churcli. Pi'obably the most prominent, or the 
one best known to the every-day reader, was the faction led by Brigham 
Young to the Salt Lake Valley, in Utah. However, church history 
records that a few membei's, though scattered by persecution, held 
steadfast to the original tenets of the church, believing that God in His 
own due time and season would cause to be chosen a successor, and this 
band kept the campfires of their faith burning until the year 1860, when 
young Josepli Smith, the son of the martyred president, was chosen 
to be the head of a conference held at Amboy, Illinois, April 6, 1860. 

Before passing to the history of the church in Macon county it may 
be well to note some of the memorable events in the history of the 
church briefly, viz. : On December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Windsor couuty, 
Vermont, Joseph Smith was born. Early in the spring of 1820 Smith 
had Ills first vision, and ou September 21, 1823, had his second vision. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 173 

in which llie existence of the plates of the Book of Mormon was revealed 
to him. The following day he opened the place where the plates were 
deposited and saw them. In September, 1827, Smith obtained the plates 
of the Book of Mormon to Urim and Tlmmmin and breastplate. On Feb- 
ruar}^ 28 Martin Harris showed some of the characters transcribed from 
the plates and the translation of them to Professor Anthon and Dr. 
Mitchell, of New York. On May 15, 1829, Joseph Smith and Oliver 
Cowdery were ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood by John the Baptist, 
and were baptized by each other. On April 6, 1830, the Church of Jesus 
Christ of Latter Day Saints was organized ; elders were ordained, the 
sacrament was administered and for the first time in the history of the 
church hands were laid on for the reception of the Holy Ghost. On June 
1 the church held its first conference at Fayette, Seneca county, New 
York. In October the first missionaries to the Lamanites were 
appointed. In January, 1831, Smith moved to Kirtland, Ohio. On 
April 26, 1832, Joseph Smith was acknowledged president of the High 
Priesthood at a general conference of the church. June, the same 
year, the first periodical, the Evening and Morning Star, was published 
in Independence, ]\rissouri. On February 2, 1833, Smith completed the 
translation of the New Testament. On July 2, the same year, finished 
translation of the Bible. On May 3, 1834, a conference of elders was 
held in Kirtland, Ohio. The church was first named the Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In May, same year, Zion's camp 
left Kirtland for Missouri. In July, 1835, the rolls of Egyptian papy- 
rus, which contained the writings of Abraham and Joseph in Egypt, 
were obtained. On March 14, 1838, Smith and his family arrived in 
Far "West District in Missouri. In July of the same j^ear 500 saints 
left Kirtland for Missouri. On October 27, Governor Bogg's extermi- 
nating order was issued. On October 30, the massacre at Haun's mill 
took place. On November 1, same year, Joseph Smith and others were 
condemned to be shot, and the Far West District in Missouri plundered. 
On April 26, 1839, the saints commenced evacuating the Far West Dis- 
trict in Missouri. On June 27, 1844, Joseph and Hiram Smith were 
assassinated in the Carthage, Illinois, jail. On September 24, 1845, 
the authorities of the church made a treaty with the mob to evacuate 
Nauvoo, Illinois. Early in February, 1846, the exodus of the saints 
from Nauvoo, Illinois, commenced. On May 16 the pioneer camp of 
the saints arrived at Mount Pisgah, Iowa Territory. On November 
18, 1851, a revelation came to J. W. Briggs, that the seed of Joseph 
Smith should yet lead the church. During the same fall one came to 
Z. H. Gurley, Sr., to the same effect. On June 12, 1852, a preparatory 



174 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

council or conference was held near Beloit, Newark township, Wiscon- 
sin. The claims of all leaders were cast off and the right of Jose^jli's 
seed sustained. In the year 1853 the reorganized church had its begin- 
ning. Seven men were chosen as apostles, and one of them to repre- 
sent the legal Heir until He comes. On April 6, 1860, Joseph Smith, son 
of the Prophet, united with the reorganization church and was chosen 
its leader at Amboy, Illinois. 

The Macon county part of the reorganization began in Bevier in 
the year 1867, when a church organization was had of a membership 
of twenty adults. In the years '69 and '70 the organization decided 
to erect a house of worship. Ground was purchased, and a building 
20x30 feet erected thereon. Fifteen years later, on account of the 
growing membership, it was determined to enlarge the building, which 
was done by an addition, 10x20 feet in size. This building was adequate 
for the needs of the church until the year 1904, when it was further 
determined that their church, of necessity to accommodate the growth 
of membership, must build a new church edifice. Another more central 
location in the city was purchased and the erection of a cement block 
building, 54x35 feet, was made, having an octavian ceiling, 14 feet high, 
with Sunday-school room, 19x20 feet, with two class-rooms, 9x10 feet, 
belfry tower, 7x10 feet, 35 feet high. The Bevier church has a mem- 
bership of 270. Elder Edward E. Thomas presides over the church 
and is assisted in his work by Daniel Edmunds, priest ; F. 0. Deljong, 
teacher; W. T. Hicklin, deacon; Miss Ethel Harris, clerk. There are 
two auxiliary organizations. First, the Sunday-school, having an enroll- 
ment of 240; F. 0. DeLong superintendent. Second, Zion's Religilo 
Society, with an enrollment of eighty; Mrs. Helen Davis, president. 
This is an organization for the young people. They use the Book of 
Mormon for a study. 

" In the year 1877 a church organization of the L. D. S. church was 
instituted in Middle Fork township, known as the Salt River branch. 
Death, removal and other causes resulted in a falling away and the 
branch organization was disorganized in the year 1893. Again, in 
June, 1897, a branch was set in order and on February 3, 1906, was 
disorganized at a district conference held at Bevier, Missouri, thus leav- 
ing only one church organization of this body in Macon county at the 
present time. However, the church is steadily gaining ground each 
year in the county. New places are open for the missionary work. 

The Bevier church has sent some able church workers to hold high 
positions in the different quorums of the reorganized church. Elder 
Gomer T. Griffith of Ohio, who spent his early days with the Bevier 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 175 

church, is now holding a position of one of the twelve apostles, having 
been ordained in April, 1887. His travels have been extensive in mis- 
sion work throughout the United States and Europe. He has caused 
to be written and published several books dealing with the great Latter 
Day work. Elder J. A. Tanner, pastor of St. Louis, Missouri, came 
from the ranks of the Bevier church, where he received his early tutor- 
ship. He holds a commission in one of the quorums of the high priest 
council, an important place in church work. Elder Tanner's life work 
is consecrated to preaching the Angel's message of the restored gospel 
to the children of men. 

Many other prominent men who could be mentioned have been 
called hence to sleep the sweet sleep in Macon county soil, awaiting 
the Arch- Angel's trmnpet sound, when those who fell asleep in Christ 
will arise and reign for a thousand years on earth under the dominion- 
ship of Him whose right it is to rule as King of Kings and Lord of all. 



CHAPTEE XI. 

Waes and Soldiees' Eeunions — Macon County's Fighting Men — Tkek 
OF THE Mormons — Call to Aems in '61 — ^Iacon as a Military Post 
— Maetial Law — A Victim's Tombstone — The Harris House 
Prison — Battle of Painter Creek — Ordered to Burn Blooming- 
ton — Raid of the Guerrillas — A Courier's Ride foe Life — Augus- 
TiN Bradshee Deafted — Men of the Black Flag — Veterans of 
1812 — State Encampment at Macon — Daughters of the Revo- 
lution. 

In every war in which this nation has been engaged since Macon 
county was organized, a fair proportion of her sons have gone forth to 
battle. From the county's birth the citizens have been keenly inter- 
ested ill polities. In the early years great statesmen came here fre- 
quently and met the people from a wide scope of country north, east and 
west. The assemblies were at Bloomington. That martial spirit, so 
manifest in the Civil war, germinated at these great gatherings, where 
public questions were discussed. "All roads led to Bloomington, the 
capital of northern Missouri," was the way a writer expressed it, and 
with a fair degree of accuracy. There was a beautiful May day, in 1861, 
when Bloomington was alive with thousands assembled to pledge their 
fealty to the Southern cause. It was on the eve of the gathering of the 
clans, and the assemblage was typical of Macon county's initiative 
in time of war. Her people did not wait to be dragged in on either 
side ; they were impatient to ' ' fall in " at the first command. 

In reviewing a war among brothers there are many things which 
are best left unsaid. In the fierce animosities of such a strife zealots 
overstepped the bounds of fair play, and no man can presume to strike 
the balance. It shall not be the purpose to dwell on those things which 
caused bitter denunciation at the time. Yet there is much in the great 
war of the states which can be told without arousing resentment from 
either side. The old history, a copy of which lies close at hand, gives 
a long and pathetic account of a military execution at Macon. We 
shall touch that but lightly, aud more particularly direct attention to 
those incidents to which the grizzled soldiers refer with a smile. 

The town of Macon was headquarters of a prominent Federal post 

176 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 177 

througliout the Civil war. At times its military population was as 
great as its entire citizenship is now. There was a military i)risou here, 
the Harris house. Troops were quartered in tobacco barns, churches 
and store-rooms. The general operations over a wide territory were 
directed from this point. Each sunrise was greeted with the roll of 
drum, and during the day the streets echoed with the tramp of marching- 
squadrons. Parties arrested in adjoining counties, charged with activ- 
ities against the Federal cause, were brought to Macon for military 
trial. In the midst of the war the county capital was removed from 
Bloomington to Macon, because Bloomington was regarded as the seat 
of disloyalty. It was one of the very few instances in Missouri where 
a covmty seat was removed from one town to another without a fierce 
tight. Very likely, the people of Bloomington strongly opposed the 
move, but their opposition was not eonsidei-ed. 

The Indians had hardly been driven out of Missouri when there 
was talk of war with the Mormons. In 1838 Governor Boggs issued 
an exterminating order against them and they were driven out. of Mis- 
souri. They went to Illinois, locating at Nauvoo. Joe Smith was the 
"prophet." Nauvoo flourished and soon became a town of 2,000, with 
a beautiful temple built, according to plans which Smith claimed he had 
received in a vision. In 1844 a discontented member of Smith's church 
issued a newspaper at Nauvoo assailing the prophet and threatening 
to expose him for various misdeeds. The city council at Nauvoo passed 
an ordinance declaring the printing office a nuisance. It was destroyed 
by the officers of the law. Smith was put under arrest, and taken to 
Carthage. On June 27, 1844, a mob attacked the jail, overpowering the 
guard, killed Smith and his brother Hiram, and wounded others of the 
prophet's party. In 1846 Brigham Young and a party left Nauvoo 
for the west, and was soon followed by another company of Mormons. 
It was while passing through Missouri and other states that war was 
declared against the Mormons, some of whom showed a disposition 
to settle in certain counties of northern Missouri. There was a call 
for troops and two companies were raised in Macon county to suppress 
the Mormon uprising, as it was called, in Jackson, Caldwell and 
Daviess. One of these companies was commanded by Capt. Lewis 
Gilstrap, the other by Capt. John H. Rose. General Joseph Shelby, 
who later became a noted Confederate leader, was one of the first to 
respond to the call for service in this campaign. The Mormons, how- 
ever, decided to evacuate the state and there was no real fighting. 

At the call of President Polk for the Mexican war a number 
responded from Macon county. There was no regular company organ- 



178 HISTORY OF MACO]S^ COUNTY 

ized however; those from Macon couoty who went to the front joined 
Caj^tain Hancock Jackson's company, which was formed in Randolph 
county. Following are the names of some of those who went from 
Macon county to the Mexican war: J. B. Clarkson, Robert Myers, 
T. A. H. Smith, 0. P. Magee, Benjamin F. Heater, Pleasant Richardson, 
Samuel Love, Thomas Barnes, John Peyton, Daniel G. Sweeney, Hardin 
Butler, Wilson Fletcher, Dennis D. Wright and Ellis Wilson. 

In less than a month after the fall of Fort Sumter there was a 
largely attended meeting at the Court House in Bloomington for the 
purpose of endorsing the Governor's course in refusing to furnish 
troops to President Lincoln. The meeting was held May 11, 1861. 
A delegation went out from Macon, headed by a brass band ; waving over 
it was a Southern flag, containing 15 stars. Captain William Griffin 
was Chairman of the meeting and Web M. Rubey, now living in Macon, 
Secretary. Hon. John S. Green and E. C. McCabe of Palmyra 
addressed the assembly. Strong resolutions were passed against the 
"Republican" Abolition administration. Governor C. F. Jackson was 
upheld as "a true patriot, and one who will stand by the rights of 
Missouri and of Southern rights at all hazards. ' ' The ' ' Silver Grays, ' ' 
and the "Macon Rangers," were the names of two companies first 
organized and drilled for service in the Confederate army. 

Two companies of volunteers were raised for the Federal aimy 
hj Captain William Forbes and C. R. Haverly. About the same time 
a company known as the ' ' Home Guard ' ' was enrolled. 

The first Union troops to reach Macon were composed of Iowa 
and Illinois regiments under the command of Brigadier General Stephen 
A. Hurlbut. The first thing the troops did on reaching Macon in June, 
1861, was to cut down a "Rebel" flag pole. When this pole fell Dr. 
F. W. Allen was hearing a Latin class in the Macon College. Stopping 
the lesson, he rushed down into town and denounced the proceedings. 

A company of the Sixteenth Illinois was sent to Bloomington to 
disarm the citizens there. Those disarmed were arrested, but after- 
wards released. Quite a number of Union regiments were organized 
at Macon. At one time 7,000 Federal troops were quartered there. 
Breastworks were thrown up in the east part of the city and occupied 
by the State M. S. M. 

A company of Confederate met at Penny's Bridge in August, 1861, 
and elected Ben Eli Guthrie, late a student of McGee College, as 
captain. The company joined General Price and took part in his 
Missouri operations during the fall and winter, 1861-62. Colonel 
Robert S. Bevier, for whom the town of Bevier was named, commanded 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 179 

a regiment under General Price, in which regiment were a large number 
of men from Macon county. This regiment was actively engaged in 
most all the large battles of the West. Colonel Bevier has written an 
interesting volume of the war, including the part taken by the Macon 
county volunteers. The work is entitled "The First and Second 
Missouri Brigades." Colonel Bevier was an enterprising, public 
spirited citizen, a spendid comrade and an ideal soldier. 

During the occupancy of Macon by the Federal troops, when 
General Lewis Merrill was in command, a court martial was held to 
try ten prisoners charged with capital crimes against the government. 
The defendants were Frank E. Drake, Dr. A. C. Rowe, Elbert Ham- 
ilton, Wiliam Searcy, J. A. Wysong, J. H. Fox, Edward Eiggs, David 
Bell, John H. Oldham and James H. Hall. 

All of the men were found guilty and sentenced to death. The 
execution occured in the presence of a large crowd on September 25, 
1862. In the cemetery at Kirksville, Missouri, is a monument at the 
head of Oldham's grave containing this inscrijjtion : 

"John H. Oldham, son of J. G. and P. A. Oldham; born March 
15, 1839, a citizen prisoner, who was murdered by being shot to death 
September 25, 1862, by order of Merrill, a Federal officer at Macon, at 
the instance of others well known to his father." 

William Searcy who was among the executed ones, was captain 
of an irreg-ular band operating in the northern part of the state. He 
and a part of his force were captured while making an attack on 
Lancaster. Searcy was wounded by parties firing from the court 
house. He was taken by his men and carried out of town, but it was 
soon apparent that he could not be taken far, and he was left at the 
home of William C. Eay, a mile and a half north of Lancaster. Searcy's 
men, fearing pursuit, moved on, leaving their captain to his fate. In 
the evening some Confederate officers were informed by a woman that 
the noted Captain Searcy was lying wounded in a farm house near 
town, and they took a force out, fearing an ambush. Searcy was found 
badly wounded with every indication that he would die. Some men who 
had been attending him were made prisoners. A pallet was provided 
in the court house at Lancaster, for him to die on. But he fooled the 
doctors and got well. Then he was taken to Macon, where he was tried 
and convicted of being a bushwhacker. 

Five of the executed men were claimed by their relatives. The 
others were buried under military direction. 

The Harris House, erected and named after its owner, Ben Harris, 



180 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

was situated a short distance south of the Hannibal and St. Joe tracks. 
It was a two-story frame structure, of ample dimensions. When put 
up it was the leading hotel of the town. The Federal occupancy caused 
Harris to abandon his property, and go South, as he was an ardent 
Confederate. The east part of the building was used by the Federal 
authorities as a military prison. A great many prominent and well-to- 
do citizens, whose loyalty to the Union side was questioned, were con- 
fined here from time to time. General Merrill's headquarters were 
close to the prison. At one time there were 144 military prisoners in 
the Harris House. 

Until very recently no newspaper man had ever developed the story 
of the battle of Painter Creek, in west Macon county. It was, possibly, 
one of the most curious engagments of the Civil war. Not a man was 
killed or injured by liall or bayonet, though the "fight" began before 
noon and continued until dark. One man — a Confederate — was drowned 
while trying to swim his horse across the stream. That was the only 
casualty. 

The encounter between Colonel Joseph Porter's Confederates and 
some Federal regiments under General Wolfolk was part of a wide- 
spread plan to surround and capture Porter with the 2,000 recruits 
he was trying to get southward for service in the Confederate army. 

Porter was only concerned in breaking through the Union lines. 
He knew the greater number of his men couldn't fight ; had no discipline 
and had never been under fire. But he was in the heart of a section 
swarming with Federal militia and government troops, and it was 
impossible to get out without a battle. Some 500 of his men were sea- 
soned, and could be relied on to execute orders under fire. The balance 
were mostly young farmers, good riders, but not used to posing as 
targets. 

There had been a pretty severe encounter between ]\lcNeil and 
Porter at Kirksville on August 6, 1862. Many Confederates were killed 
and captured, but Porter drew off his men and hurried southward 
through the rough wilderness of Macon county. The vigilant McNeil, 
learning his route, ordered a strong force to move westward and inter- 
cept the fleeing Confederates. 

Charley Coleman was then a farmer lad living about the hills 
bordering Painter Creek bottoms. Some one informed the Federal 
authorities that he had piloted Porter and his shattered army through 
the woods, and he was summoned to Macon and put under a hea\y 
bond to refrain from further friendly acts towards the "rebels." 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 181 

Mr. C'Oleman is now a resident of Macon, He thus described the 
only battle that ever occurred on Macon county soil : 

"It was two days after the fight at Kirksville, in which Porter got 
the worst of it," said Mr. Coleman. "I was living with my stei)father 
on the second bottom of Painter Creek, in Valley township. Mart and 
John Souther and myself learned that Porter was coming south and we 
went up toward Goldsberry to meet him. We met old Mr. Bradley and 
he said he had seen 'an awful big army' pass north of him; he supposed 
they were Federals. We rode on in the direction of the army, and 
learned instead of Federals they were Confederates, Porter's men. 
The whole prairie seemed to be covered with soldiers. It apjieared to 
me there were enough men to put the whole government out of business. 
It didn't occur that there might be several times as many of the other 
fellows, but I learned something before the day was over. 

We were very cordially received by the officers, and rode on south- 
ward with the troopers. A great many of the men were wounded, had 
their arms in slings and handkerchiefs tied around their heads. It was 
so close to the Kirksville fight that the raw recruits were still in a state 
of panic, looking about at every sound, as if expecting an enemy. All 
were terribly hungry and weary. When we reached my stepfather's 
the women folk got busy cooking things to eat and passing out food as 
fast as they could. Some of the troops were so hungry that they seized 
the meat before it was done and began devouring it. 

There was no apparent attempt at discipline. The soldiers just 
scattered over the place, eating and resting, their guns lying wherever 
they hajipeued to throw them. While in this unprepared state a courier, 
on a foaming horse, galloped in shouting : 

" 'The Federals are coming!' 

"It was worse than if he had warned them of an approaching 
cyclone. The terrible Federals had licked them at Kirksville, and 
now, many miles back in the wilderness, they were still pursuing. They 
imagined Federals rained from the clouds; they seemed to be every- 
where. In a moment the camp was in the wildest confusion. Some of 
the recruits fled without waiting to see what a Federal soldier might 
look like. One youth in his eagerness to get away jumped his horse 
into the creek and was drowned. 

"But the panic didn't extend to Porter and his seasoned officers. 
They shouted orders across the fields and soon had the force whacked 
into line, and positions were taken where the creek embankment could 
be used as a breastwork. I thought of a couple of horses I had, and in 



182 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

order to save them from the Federals I started down on the bottoms, 
intending to hide them behind a bluff. When I got there, however, 
I found the place taken by Porter's frightened recruits, and women 
and children, all anxious to get out of gunshot range. 

' ' The Federals had taken their position on the bald knobs, and were 
pouring into the Confederates what seemed destructive fire. Porter 
replied, his men fighting stubbornly, not giving an inch. Once or twice 
the Federals started to rush them, but a hot fire sent them skeltering 
back to cover. It was pretty evident that all of Porter's men were not 
panic-stricken. His fire seemed to be the most effective and I believed 
if he had rushed the Federals he would have sent them flying back on 
the jump. But his object was to save his recruits, and he couldn't 
afford to take chances. 

"At one time a rider rushed up to the settlement and announced 
that the Confederates had been 'cut to pieces;' that Porter was a 
prisoner and the survivors were scattering over the prairie. 

"But I noted the firing kept on steadilj', growing hotter from the 
Confederates' side as the sun went down, and slackening over on the 
hills where the Federals were. 

"Nobody did anything that day but watch the battle. From the 
terrific discharges of musketry we imagined the ground must have been 
covered with slain. I didn't see how human flesh and blood could last 
a minute under such a riot of smoke and fire. The woods were canopied 
with smoke and the smell of gampowder filled the air clear out to where 
the terrified spectators were. We supposed the war was being settled 
right then and there ; that history was being made same as at Naseby, 
Waterloo and Yorktown. 

"During all this frightful hubbub, this carnival of death and 
destruction. Miss Lizzie McKittrick, . who taught the district school in 
the neighborhood, was the only quiet and self-controlled person in the 
zone of shot and shell. She kept her students steadily at their books, 
and went about her school room tasks same as if nothing more exciting 
than a Sunday-school picnic was happening over on Painter Creek. 
She could hear the sound of musketry, the cries of the soldiers and the 
roar of the cannon same as we could, but she didn't worry a bit. Her 
duty was to keep her scholars out of gunshot range, and she did that by 
closing the doors and refusing to let anyone go out. 

"It was getting towards dusk when we heard a bugle sound amid the 
bald knobs, and soon the news came that the Yankees were retreating. 
Then we went oi;t to bury the dead, and what do you think? There 
wasn't a man killed on either side except the young Confederate who 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 183 

jumped his horse in the stream! The two armies had shot enough 
lead at each other to sink a battleshijj, and yet there were absolutely no 
injuries. 

"Porter rounded up his men and withdrew to the north, the 
direction from whence he came. 

"Next day the Federals, considerably reinforced, trooped by on 
his trail, determined to bag the fleeing *Eebs' at all hazards. They 
took with them Johnnie Williams and Mart Souther as guides. 

"Porter, learning of the determined pursuit, and knowing he 
couldn't hope to get away without showing his teeth, crossed the Chari- 
ton river at See's' ford, and arranged an ambush on the other side. 
There's always plenty of water in the Chariton, and the only place to- 
cross thereabouts was the ford. 

"The Federals, hot on the trail, and spurred on by peremptory 
commands from headquarters, charged into the stream blindly. Porter 
had concentrated his fighting men at the ford and when the leading 
troops of the enemy were mid- stream they poured a terrific fire upon 
them at short range. Those who could retreated from the water in 
a hurry. Several were killed outright and a great number wounded. 
It stopped the pursuit and next day I hid myself in some brush and saw 
the Federals riding southward, away from Porter. They had all they 
wanted of him. Porter then made his way eastward, got safely through 
the line in Missouri, and I presume managed to deliver his recruits to 
Price." 

The late William H. Sears was one of Miss McKittrick's scholars 
during the Painter Creek fight. He said his teacher had quite a job 
enforcing order that exciting day, but that she was as calm and unruffled 
as a May morning during all the roar of strife, and kept the best of 
discipline. Mr. Sears saw the dead soldier referred to by Mr. Coleman. 
He heard of no others being killed in the singularly noisy but harmles.s 
battle. 

In 1862 Major Thomas Moody, who is yet living in Macon, was the 
commander of an enrolled militia force, and was of course subject to the 
orders of General Lewis Merrill, commander of the post at Macon. 
Most of Major Moody's men were Missourians, and had been reared in 
these parts. Major Moody himself had been a Missourian since 1840. 
General Merrill ordered Major Moody to select from his men a firing 
squad for the execution of the ten men under sentence of death by the 
court martial. Major Moody promptly and earnestly protested, and 



184 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

suggested that it would be in better taste to assign the unpleasant duty 
to troops from other states. 

That was not the only time Major Moody took issue with his chief 
on a matter of military duty. Because of its known sympathy with the 
Southern cause, General Merrill decided that he would wipe Bloom- 
ington off the earth. He gave Major Moody orders to take his men over 
there and burn up the town, leaving not one building. ]\Iajor Moody 
never intended to obej' such a harsh order, but on the moment he had 
no answer ready for the unexpected command. He thought over the 
matter for several hours and next morning went to his chief with this 
idea: 

"General," he said, "I want to speak to you about that Bloom- 
ington matter." 

"Good ! Have you razed the old town yet?" 

"No, sir, I haven't been there, but I have got a plan that will work 
a good deal better than to burn those people out." 

"Let's have it," said General Merrill. 

"There will be an election this year and I will run for the legis- 
lature," said Major Moody. "If 1 am elected I will have a bill put 
through to remove the county seat from Bloomington to Macon ; that 
will do as much good as to burn the town." 

The idea seemed to be pleasing to the grim general. A smile crossed 
his stern features as he said to Moody: 

"That is a great head you got, Major. We'll run you for the 
legislature and see to it that enough of the boys get out to elect you. 
If I find any man scratching you I'll run him in the guard house!" 

Major Moody was elected and in 1863 he secured the passage of 
the bill which resulted in the county seat being removed from Bloom- 
ington to Macon. It was recorded that this was done as "an act of 
military necessity." The land donated to the county for public build- 
ings at Bloomington by Cochran and Hubbard reverted back to the 
heirs. Poor Bloomington could raise no effective protest, because at 
that time it was virtually "outside of the Union." 

It was during the year the act was passed removing the county seat 
that Bloomington was raided by a company of g-uerrillas. At that 
time there was a depository, known as the Blooming-ton branch of the 
Western Bank of Missouri. George Shortridge was cashier and Dr. 
J. B. Winn, one of the directors. During the raid the bank was robbed 
of about $16,000. The commander of the raiders was not known. Dr. 
Winn said that the leader claimed to be Quantrill. but there was no 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 185 

record of Quantrill's ever having been as far as this up the state. It 
may have been Anderson or some others who confined their operations 
to central and northern Missouri. 

Dr. Winn described the visit of the guerrillas to old Bloomington 
as follows : 

''The gang first went to the house of the cashier and made him 
go over to the bank with them. A guard was left at the cashiei-'s house 
to prevent anyone from leaving to give the alarm. With drawn revolv- 
ers, the robbers forced the cashier to open the vault, from which they 
took about $16,000; a large portion of the money was the bank's paper, 
in big, uncut sheets. 

"The day after the robbery Mr. Shortridge came to Macon, enlisted 
the aid of a company of Federal soldiers and pursued the robbers to a 
point between Bloomingion and Bevier. There a place was found where 
they had evidently halted and divided the money, as there was several 
pieces of paper scattered about. The soldiers were unable to get any 
clue of the bandits. 

"Not long after this there was another alarm. The rumor was 
that an outlaw band was headed for Bloomington for the purpose of 
robbery. The directors of the bank hurriedly met and decided to remove 
all the specie that night. Every man took a portion of the money, 
leaving a receipt for it and was responsible for its return. 

"I put my apportionment in my old-fashioned saddle-bags, which 
I used in carrying medicine to my patrons. Arriving home in the 
dead hour of night, I dug a hole in the center of the barn floor, where 
my horses stood, deposited the money and carefully covered it up. I 
think it was all in silver. After the scare had blown over every man 
hunted up the money he had hidden and returned it to the bank." 

Dr. Winn told of his having buried some of his private gold in 
quinine bottles, which he permitted to remain underground all through 
the war. He thought he removed most of this, but in 1901, after his 
farm had been sold to other parties the idea occured that he might 
possibly have overlooked some of his hidden treasure. He went out 
to Bloomington and made a search for it, but never succeeded in finding 
any more. He decided that time had obliterated the landmarks and 
that if any of the gold was ever recovered it would be through chance 
excavation made by plows or shovels. 

One of the most dramatic incidents of the Civil war occured Sep- 
tember 17, 1864. General Lewis Merrill was still commander of the 
North Missouri department, with headquarters at Macon. (Jeorge 
Washburn, Amos Long and Thomas Reeves had been tried on the charge 



186 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

of being spies, and were sentenced to be shot. Long and Eeeves were 
young married men. Waiting the day of execution the three condemned 
men were confined in the college building at Huntsville. They made 
their escape on one occasion, but were re-captured and guarded with 
extra vigilance. 

Twenty-four militiamen were ordered to draw ballots from a hat, 
which was passed to them by an officer. Twelve ballots had upon them 
a capital S. That meant, "shoot." The other ballots were blanks. 

The execution hour was two in the afternoon of the day mentioned. 
The condemned men were lead out to face the firing squad. They 
started to blindfold Washburn, but he protested. 

' ' Gentlemen, ' ' he said, ' ' I have lived like a soldier. I beg of you to 
let me die like one." 

They took off the bandage and ordered him to kneel. Again he 
protested and again they humored him. He was shot standing, looking 
clear-eyed into the rifles. Washburn was thirty years of age, a native 
of Shelby county, Missouri. 

Long and Eeeves were next ordered to face the squad. It seems 
the captain knew something of the earnest efforts being made to secure 
from General Merrill a pardon for Long and Reeves. He looked up and 
down the road, expecting every moment to see a messenger upon a 
foaming horse. Many little strategems were resorted to to delay the 
execution, but at last the captain concluded no reprieve was coming 
and he ordered the men to get their guns ready for firing. The two 
condemned Confederates were blindfolded. The captain walked 
leisurely from them to the the head of the firing line and was just about 
to call out the fatal order when he observed dust down the road and 
knew that somebody was riding hard towards him. It proved to be 
the long expected courier from Merrill carrying the rej^rieve. So 
hard had the horse been ridden that it staggered and fell to its knees 
as the courier dismounted and handed the order from the general to the 
captain of the firing squad. 

Then occurred the drama of the afternoon. The wives of the 
two men, who were among the crowd assembled to witness the execution, 
threw themselves hysterically into their husbands' arms and cried out 
for very joy. The people acted like mad, shouting, jumping and hugging 
one another. They were so happy that these two young men had been 
called back from the grave. But suddenly there was a hush as they 
thought of one man for whom no reprieve had come. Poor George 
Washburn was lying on the ground waiting the services of the under- 
taker. He could respond to no hand-clasps; could open his eyes to his 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 187 

loved ones no more. Many remarked the firm lines of the soldierly 
face as it lay on the green sward, under the slanting rays of the Sep- 
tember sun. And all knew that whatever Ms wrongs George Washburn 
had died like a man. 

William Wisdom, a Randolph county man, has in his possession 
a draft issued from the provost marshal's office at Macon November 
16, 1864. Those were the days when the war had assumed tremendous 
proportions and it was hard to get men into the army. Some people 
made it a business of providing substitutes for those who were drafted. 
It is stated that Mr. Bradsher, the party who was the subject of the 
draft set out below, had to pay $900 for a substitute to go to the war 
in his place. 

Following is a literal copy of the draft served upon Mr. Bradsher : 

"Provost Marshal's Office, Eight District, state of Missouri, Novem- 
ber 16, 186-1, to Augustin Bradsher, Salt Springs township, Randolph 
county, Missouri. Sir: You are hereby notified that you were, on the 
16th day of November, 1864, legally drafted in the service of the United 
States for the period of one year, in accordance with the provision of 
the act of Congress 'for enrolling and calling out the national forces, 
and for other purposes,' approved March 3, 1863, and the act amenda- 
tory thereof, approved February 24, 1864. You will accordingly report, 
on the 30th day of November, 1864, at the place of rendezvous, in Macon, 
Missouri, or be deemed a deserter, and be subject to the penalty pre- 
scribed therefor by the Rules and Articles of War. 

"Henry W. Hollingsworth, Captain and Provost Marshal, Eighth 
District of Missouri." 

Following was the order for the drafted man's transportation to 
the point where he was to be enlisted : 

"Provost Marshal's Office for the Eighth District of Missouri; 
Hannibal, November 16, 1864. To the North Mo. R. R. Co. Please fur- 
nish transportation from Allen to Macon, Missouri, at government 
rates for Augustine Bradsher. Distance, twenty miles. 

"Henry W. Hollingsworth, Captain and Provost Marshal, Eighth 
District of Missouri." 

In the stories of the warfare on the border, the fierce feud between 
Jayhawker and Missourian, it was claimed by those who seemed to 
speak with authority that Quantrill now and then spared, but Anderson 
never. Of all the sombre, merciless men who rode imder the black flag, 
Anderson was counted the most relentless. Some said the man's heart 



188 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

only thawed when he saw the blood running. His apologists — and he 
had some able ones — urge that two of his sisters were slain by the 
Jayhawkers, and say that the day the news reached him he began 
cutting- notches on his revolver. Not only were blue-coats waylaid and 
ridden down, but the man who hid a horse, or failed to furnish feed, or 
reported his movements to the opposing forces was executed without 
compunction. Even Southern sjTupathizers dreaded the name of the 
man, because he drew but faint lines between those of one side or the 
other when the mood to kill was on. 

Anderson was not a large man, and neither was Quantrill. Both 
rode horses like they wei'e a part of their animals and could shoot on 
the gallop as well as when taking a rest. The men who rode behind them 
were equally as expert in riding and shooting, but these two men 
became leaders because their hatred was the deepest. Like Marat they 
were fascinating because of their utter implacability. 

Anderson, when a boy, went to school at Huutsville, a picturesque 
old town of northern Missouri. He is said to have been a good scholar, 
quiet and obedient, but not overly gifted in arithmetic. As was the 
case with "Mark Twain," none of his fellow-students thought he would 
ever start a conflagration on the river by his learning, or anything 
else. Certainly no one saw in the backward country lad a firebrand 
of the future. 

The boy who has been soundly licked before the whole school, or 
who has seen two bright blue eyes he called his own, look love into 
another's face, generally has one great and overpowering ambition 
during those dreadful ])eriods. and that is to come back in later years, 
at the head of a splendid array of pirates, surround the town, and 
force the citizenship to sue to him for mercy. 

If that ambition came to Anderson, as it has to most of us, he 
realized on it to the full. After blazing the border until his name stood 
for all that was terrible and pitiless, he lighted on Huntsville in Sep- 
tember, 1^4, with as fierce a crowd of swashbucklers as this couutry 
ever produced, and the mayor didn't have time to think where to hide 
the key to the city. For one short, eventful day the shy school-boy was 
the whole works of the ])lace. He rode about on a magnificent white 
horse, roaring out orders and telling his men the best places to loot. 
The revolvers of the rough riders pop]ied incessantly, and the citizens 
ran into their cyclone cellars. Anderson wore a big feather in his hat 
and there was a new sash around his waist where he kept his ever-ready 
guns. It was the proudest day of his life. Small boys, hiding behind 



1 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 189 

barns and houses, would risk a peep now and then to get a sight of the 
gory chieftain as an example for emulation in later days. 

Towards the edge of town lived Hade Rutherford, and some one, 
hoping to win favor from some of the guerrillas, told them that ITade 
had hidden away two fine horses to keep them from falling into the 
hands of Anderson's gang. So they swooped down on Hade, who was 
then a very young man, just married, put a rope around his neck and 
asked him about the horses. Mrs. Rutherford, a beautiful young woman, 
rushed out and begged the guerrillas to spare her husband's life. Every 
man there had been in such scenes before and they were not affected. 
The prisoner had spirited away two good horses, according to their 
information, and that meant death according to the law of the border. 

The rope was made taut about Hade's neck, he was put on a horse 
and then — 

"What you got, fellers?" 

Anderson, chief devil of the lot, rode up with revolvers still smoking. 

"Been hidin' lioses. Cap," said a big man who was handling the 
loose end of the rope. 

"Well, what you waiting on?" 

There was no time for prayer, but the condemned man saw a straw, 
for which he grasped. 

"Say, Bill," he said, " 'member the time I helped you work your 
sums so the teacher wouldn't lick you?" 

Old men who were at that strange assembly, out under the cotton- 
woods, say that two long lines stole out from Anderson's cruel mouth, 
which may have meant a grim smile, a most imusual thing for his hard, 
fierce face. He said nothing, but by a movement of the arm indicated 
to the prisoner that he was free. Hade Rutherford, Anderson's school- 
mate, is now the mayor of Huntsville. 

About that time Major Johnson's militia, 300 strong, reached 
Macon, then the northern terminal of the Northern Missouri railroad. 
The troops were going south in cjuest of Anderson, and the citizens of 
Macon assembled to bid the soldiers God-speed on their errand. Two 
days later a long train from the south jnilled into the depot, and the 
crew began taking coffins from tlie baggage cars. They unloaded 
one car, another and another. The long platform was covered from 
end to end with ghastly freight. Major Johnson and his brave men 
had found Anderson. Reports came that the terrible iighters were 
coming hard on the heels of their victims. The town was panic-stricken. 
Valuables were buried; many people left town. The governor was 
implored to rush troops. 



190 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

After leaving- Huntsville Anderson learned through a leak from 
some quarter which should have guarded the secret with its life that 
a train-load of soldiers had left St. Louis en route to Iowa. By hard 
riding across the country the guerrillas reached Centralia ahead of the 
train. When it came the soldiers fired a few shots from the windows. 
Then they offered to surrender on terms of civilized warfare. Anderson 
entered one of the cars, a revolver in each hand. But one voice was 
raised in rebuke, and that was a woman's. She was large and aggres- 
sive. Barring Anderson's way in the aisle she looked him in the face 
and cried : 

"I wash I had a few good soldiers behind me to teach you cut- 
throats a lesson!" 

Anderson took off his hat, and glancing at the doomed men about 
him remarked, with gentle irony : 

"Madame, you certainly deserve better backing." 

The poor soldiers, hoping for honorable treatment, gave up their 
arms and left the cars. They were lined up and shot down to the last 
man. Not a soldier on the train escaped. The revolvers of the exe- 
cutioners were still smoking when Major Johnson arrived at the head 
of his force from Macon. Before engaging the enemy he dismounted 
and lined up his men! Then he challenged the guerrillas: 

"Come on! We are ready for you!" 

Riding with Anderson that day were George Todd, Frank and 
Jesse James, and a score or so of the swiftest jaistol fighters the world 
has ever produced. They came on with the rush of a whirlwind. The 
guerrillas charged with their bridles in their teeth, a revolver in each 
hand. After one round by the militia the balance of the fight was like 
a shamble. Less than fifteen men got out of it alive, and Johnson was 
not among the fifteen. His life paid the penalty of not knowing the sort 
of men he was fighting against. 

But Nemesis was awaiting the guerrilla chief. It came to him in 
Ray county not long afterwards. The Centralia affair had stricken the 
state with horror. The federal authorites instructed the troops to 
capture or kill Anderson at any cost. The state was soon swarming 
with large bands hunting him down. Anderson knew he could make no 
terms, and it is very likely he would not have asked for any. At last 
they hemmed him in. He fought like a bull-dog, discharging revolver 
after revolver, and hurling the empty weapons into the faces of the 
men shooting at him. When he fell his body had been struck a dozen 
times. Twenty of his men were shot down in trying to recover the 



H-ISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 191 

remains of their chieftain, which were finally left in the hands of the 
enemy. 

With Anderson's death came the end of guerrilla warfare in 
Missouri. The people were no longer aroused from their slumbers by 
the sinister tread of death-riders who seemed to be in a dozen places at 
once. The man had passed unscathed through so many desperate 
affrays that superstitious ones had come to believe he had signed a 
compact with the Evil One, and that he could not be killed until the time 
of his bond had expired. 

There are many good people who claim that Anderson's record 
was no worse than that of some of the militia detachments operating 
in Missouri at the time, the only differences being that Anderson rode 
harder, and killed in larger numbers. But this will ever be debatable 
ground. 

One or two attempts were made by ambitious leaders to take the 
dead guerrilla's place, but they lacked his granite nerve, and soon went 
down. There was only one Bill Anderson, and that was enough. 

I The last reunion of the veterans of the War of 1812 occurred at 
Macon in August, 1871. There were present 28 soldiers from Macon, 
Monroe, Marion, Boone, Randolph, Audrain, Shelby, Livingston, and 
Linn counties 

Among the interesting characters present was Robert Gipson, the 
old man who has been referred to in another chapter. The meeting 
was held in a grove north of Macon. Colonel John F. Williams, who 
liad served in the Union army during the Civil war, was the main 
speaker. Short addresses were made by Judge John W. Henry and 
others. There was a drum and fife corps composed of the old vetei-ans. 
Nearly every man present was over seventy years of age. The occasion 
was somewhat pathetic, as it was realized it was the last meeting of the 
sort that would be held in Missouri. The visiting soldiers were the 
guests of the city, which provided them with an excellent dinner and 
other comforts. A picture was taken of the grouij of soldiers. A 
copy of this picture is now held by a family in Montgomery county. 
Others are scattered here and there, possibly many of them are lost. 

It is not definitely known when the last veteran of the second war 
with England died. Hosea Brown, who lived in Worth county, lived to 
be 100 years of age, and it is said that he was among the last to pass 
away. It was said of him that after his hair had been gray for half 
a century, it began to turn black and when he died there was not a gray 
hair on his head. 



193 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

The citizens of Macon and Macon county turned out largely to wel- 
come the soldiers at the last reunion. Following is a list of the veterans 
of the War of 1812 who attended the meeting : 

Thomas Kii'lqaatrick, Macon, born in Virginia, 1790, served in the 
Virginia Volunteers. 

Dr. William H. Snelson, Macon, born in ^'irginia, 1790, served 
in Virginia Volunteers. 

Fielding Combs, Monroe county, born in Kentucky, 1791, served 
in Kentucky Vohmteers. 

L. C. Bronson, Marion county, born in Vermont, 1792, served in 
regular army. 

John Davenport, Boone county, born in Kentucky, 1792 served in 
Kentucky Infantrj". 

B. C. Wright, Macon county, born in Kentucky, 1785, served in 
Kentucky Volunteers. 

AVilliam Eoyaltj^ Macon county, born in Kentucky, 1794, served in 
Kentucky Volimteers. 

J. B. Butler, Macon county, born in Virginia, 1792, served in 
Kentucky Volunteers. 

John Eowe, Macon county, born in New York, 1785, served in 
New York A'olunteers. 

John Burnett, Linn county, born in Kentucky, 1795, served in 
Kentucky Volunteers. 

John Ellis, Macon county, born in Kentucky, 1785, served in Ken- 
tucky Volunteers. 

Abraham Goodding, Randolph coimty, born in Kentucky, 1794, 
served in Kentucky Volunteers. 

^Eobert Boucher, Eaudolph county, born in Kentucky, 1795, served 
in Kentucky Volunteers. 

Eobert Powell, Audrain county, born in Kentucky, 1794, served 
in Kentucky Volunteers. 

William Greathouse, Marion county, born in Kentucky, 1793, served 
in Kentucky Volunteers. 

Elijah Williams, Eandolph county, born in Kentucky, 1795, served 
in Kentucky Infantry. 

John Graves, Livingston county, born in Kentucky, 1785, served 
in Kentucky Volunteers. 

John F. Fowler, Macon county, born in Kentucky, 1791, served 
in Indiana Volunteers. 

W. B. Woodruff, Linn county, born in Kentucky, 1788, Kentucky 
Volunteers. 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 193 

M. M. Jolmsou, Livingston county, born in North Carolina, 1790, 
North Carolina Infantry. 

A. J. Miles, Macon county, born in Virginia, 1796, served in Vir- 
ginia Volunteers. 

William McCann, Randolph county, born in North Carolina, 1795, 
served in North Carolina Volunteers. 

John Buster, Macon county, born in Virginia, 1793, Kentucky 
Volunteers. 

John W. Perrin, Macon county, born in Vii'ginia, 1791, served in 
Kentucky Volunteers. 

Henry Sipple, Linn countj', born in Virginia, 1791, served in 
Virginia Volunteers. 

Frederick Nestor, Linn county, born in Virginia, 1799, Virginia 
Volunteers. 

George Brown, Macon county, born in Kentucky, 1799, Seventeenth 
Regiment. 

The biggest military event at Macon since the Civil war was the 
state encampment of the G. A. R., which occurred in April, 1895. It 
was the 14th Annual Encampment of the Department of Missouri. The 
town was full of visitors. F. A. Jones Post, the home organization, 
under the direction of Commander C. P. Hess, Quartermaster N. S. 
Richardson and Major S. G. Brock, acted as host to the visitors. Among 
the notables who attended the Encampment on this occasion were 
Major William Warner, Colonel Lew Waters, Commander-in-Chief 
Lawler and staff, Past-Commander Charles G. Burton, Nevada; Colonel 
J. P. Tracy, Springfield ; T. B. Rodgers, Blair Post No. 1 ; Louis Benecke, 
Brunswick. Chaplain-in-Chief Haggerty, St. Louis ; W. H. Luck, Jeffer- 
son City, E. D. Cannan, Clinton ; Past-Commander Whitehead, Kansas 
City ; Commander Louis Grund, Post No. 13, St. Louis, and J. L. Briggs 
of Joplin. 

The town was gorgeously decorated in honor of the visiting soldiers. 
There were numerous bands and places of refreslmaent. 

Senator John J. Ingalls of Kansas City was one of the speakers. 
The opei-a house was crowded when he was introduced. Mr. Ingalls 
described his first experience with a hostile cannon. He said the only 
reason he didn't get behind a tree was because every tree in sight was 
taken by several of his comrades. Referring to Missouri he said : 

"I am glad to have this opportunity of appearing today before the 
people of Missouri, a state which has a magnificent history, a state 
which is rich in every element that goes to make prosperity, by far 



194 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

richer in every prophecy of future greatness and renown ; a state which 
I believe has the peculiar felicity of having contributed its full quota 
to both contending armies in the great Civil eontroversey." 

A procession of the veterans was headed by the cadets of the St. 
James Military Academy, with Colonel Blees in full unifonn leading. 
An auxiliary organization which met with the veterans was the Ex- 
Prisoners of War Association. The officers of this were John S. Fer- 
guson, Keokuk, president; Samuel S. Kelso, Mussell Fork, Missouri, 
vice-president; Joseph Meyers, Kidder, Missouri, chaplain; AV. E. 
Montgomery and Cyrus Gurwell, Macon, color-bearers. 

Elijah Harp, of Macon, who carried a musket in Company B, 42d 
Missouri Volunteers, has the distinction of being the youngest soldier 
of the Civil war. Mr. Harp was born October 23, 1849. Some years 
ago the matter was decided by a St. Louis firm which offered a prize 
to the one who would prove his claim to the distinction of having gone 
to the war at the earliest age, and after a careful consideration of the 
reports the prize was awarded to Mr. Harp. His closest competitor 
was C. B. Duncan, of Shelby county, who was born February 6, 1849. 

Daughters of the American Eevolution. Ann Helm Chapter, Macon, 
Missouri. A number of the ladies of Macon, filled with ardor and 
enthusiasm, met at the home of the appointed Regent, Mrs. John T. 
Donegliy, on October 20, 1908, for the purpose of organizing a local 
chapter of the Daughters ,of the American Revolution. The State 
Regent, Mrs. Samuel McKnight Green, of St. Louis, was present to 
assist in this effort, and the formal organization took place November 
20, 1908. The officers appointed for the first year were as follows : 

Regent Mary Craddock Doneghy 

Vice-Regent Jennie Marsh Rubey 

Secretary Susan Mitchell Guthrie 

Treasurer Mary Van Cleve 

Registrar Maud Dysart Brock 

Historian Mary Anderson Matthews 



The name of "Ann Helm Chapter" was chosen by the members of 
the society as an honor to the Regent, Ann Helm, who was the great- 
great-great-grandmother of Mrs. Doneghy and was the mother of three 
boys, all of whom won honors in the Revolutionary war. One had the 
rank of lieutenant, and was commended for bravery by Colonel Mar- 
shall; the other two were captains. Her grandchildren also fought 
in the Revolutionary war, the Indian war, and the Civil war. It can 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 195 

be truthfully said her descendants were devoted to the cause of the 
country, and were indeed patriotic. 

The objects of this chapter are the same as those of the National 
Society, as stated in the constitution of that organization, to-wit: 

"To perpetuate the memory of the spirit of the men and women 
who achieved American independence, by the acquisition and protection 
of historical spots, and the erection of monuments ; l)y the encourage- 
ment of historical research in relation to the Revolution and the publi- 
cation of its results ; by the preservation of documents and relics, and 
of the recoi'ds of the individual services of Eevolutionary soldiers and 
patriots, and by the promotion of celebrations of the patriotic 
anniversaries. 

"To carry out the injunction of Washington in his farewell address 
to the American people, 'to promote, as an object of primary import- 
ance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge,' thus devel- 
oping an enlightened public opinion, and affording to young and old 
such advantages as shall develop in them the largest capacity for 
performing the duties of American citizens. 

"To cherish, maintain, and extend the institutions of American 
freedom, to foster true patriotism and love of country, and to aid in 
securing for mankind all the blessings of liberty." 

Acting under this article the Ann Helm Chapter has accomplished 
effective work in the year and a half since its organization. 

A contribution has been sent to Miss Berry's school in Georgia, 
w^here a great many mountain children are being educated by funds 
from the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Ozark fund, 
which is used for the same work in the Ozark mountains, has also 
received an appropriation from this chapter. 

A reward of $5 for high honors, and $2.50 for second honors, has 
been awarded both years to jjupils of the high school in Macon, for writ- 
ing essays on historical subjects. The title for that of the first year 
was "The Causes of the American Revolution"; the second year, 
^'Why the Americans were Victorious in the Revolution." This has, 
of course, instilled enthusiasm and brought information and knowledge 
to these pupils, who have responded heartily to the offer. 

Letters have been written, and the support obtained of our state 
and national legislators for the passage of the bills to mark the Santa 
Fe trail in Missouri, and the building of the road from Washington, 
T>. C, to Jamestown, Virginia. 

Contributions have also been sent to assist in ^'reserving the old 
Mstoric Hungerford Tavern in Maryland, and to Continental Hall 



19G HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

at ^A'ashiugton, D. C. ; a larger amount being appropriated for furnish- 
ing the Missouri room in Memorial Hall. 

The graves of two Eevolutionary soldiers have been ascertained 
by the Chapter, and steps are being taken to have these marked with 
appropriate marble headstones, which are furnished by the government. 
One of the graves is that of James Howell, who was buried on the old 
homestead, in the family burying ground, near Elmer, in this county. 
He belonged to the well known "Count Pulaski's Legion," Continental 
troops. The other grave is that of Nicholas Tuttle, who was also buried 
on the old homestead, south of Bevier, Macon county, near Antioeh" 
church. 

The Ann Helm Chapter now has fifty-six members. The local 
list contains fifty names, which is the present limit of local members 
permitted under the constitution. There are twenty-four charter 
members. 

The Ann Helm Chapter hopes and expects to be a permanent organ- 
ization of Macon county, and that much good for the cause of patriotism 
will be accomplished, is the assurance of the members. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Law — The Line of Cikcuit Judges — Strange Mubdeb Case, Yet 
Uneaveled — The Teacy Killing — A Gold Beick Game and a Teial 
AT Macon — Boaed's Ceiticism of a School Teachee — "The 
Unweitten Law" — Why Did Geoege Andeeson Kill His WiFEf 
— Judge Ellison's Sentence of Death — The Fibst Legal Execu- 
tion — Incidents on the Day of Hanging — A Noted Tbial fbom 
Shelby County — Whitecotton 's Remarkable Appeal to the 
Jury — Bibth of the Thbee-Foubths Juey Rule — A Hanging 
Without Teial — Two Thousand Wobds Without a Punctuation 
Mark — A Noted Steee Case — La Plata Ciecuit Coubt. 

Thomas Reynolds was the first judge of the circuit of which Macon 
county was a part. He afterwards became governor of Missouri, and 
committed suicide while in the Executive Mansion, at Jefferson City, on 
February 9, 1844. Judge Reynolds was born March 12, 1796, in Bracken 
county, Kentuck}^ But very little is known regarding his early edu- 
cation, but it was no doubt as good as could be obtained in the schools 
where he resided. He certainly was not a classical scholar, though 
he had some knowledge of Latin. He was admitted to the bar in Ken- 
tucky about the time he became of age. In early life he removed to Illi- 
nois, where he filled the several offices of clerk of the House of Rep- 
resentatives, speaker, attorney-general and chief justice of the Supreme 
Court. In 1829 he came to Missouri and located at Fayejtte, Howard 
county. His high reputation as a jurist had preceded him, and he soon 
enjoyed a good legal practice. He was sent from Howard county to 
the Legislature, and became speaker of the House. After sei-ving for 
some time in the Legislature, he was appointed judge of the circuit 
comprising the counties of Howard, Boone, Callaway, Randolph and 
Macon. In 1840 the Democratic party met in state convention at Jeifer- 
son City and Judge Reynolds was nominated for governor. 

Judge Bay, who attended the convention, wrote of Judge Reynolds 
in "The Bench and Bar of Missouri": 

"It was at this convention that we made Judge Reynold's acquaint- 
ance, and formed a very high estimate of him, as not only a man of 
abiUty, but of undoubted integrity and honesty of purpose. As a dele- 

197 



198 . HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

gate in the convention we gave him our support, and had occasion fre- 
quently afterwards to meet and transact business with him, as we were 
in the Legislature during most of the time he was governor. He was 
elected over J. B. Clark by a handsome majority." 

The following appeared in "The Bench and Bar," concerning 
Judge Eeynold's death: 

"Shortly after breakfast, on February 9, 1844, a report of a gun 
was heard from the Executive Mansion in Jefferson City, and some 
persons passing by at the time went into the Governor's office to ascer- 
tain the cause of it, and there found the governor lying in his blood, 
dead. Just previous he had sent out for a rifle. The muzzle of the 
rifle he had placed against his forehead, and by the aid of a strong 
twine he discharged the weapon. On a table near where he fell was a 
letter addressed to Colonel William G. Minor, an intimate friend, which 
read as follows: 

" 'In every situation in which I have been placed I have labored 
to discharge my duty faithfully to the public; but this has not pro- 
tected me for the last twelve months from the slander and abuse of my 
enemies, which have rendered my life a burden to me. I pray God to 
forgive them and teach them more charity. My will is in the hands of 
James L. Minor, Esq. Farewell.— Th. Eeynolds.' 

" 'Col. W. G. Minor.' " 

Following Judge Eeynolds came Judges Burch Clark Leland and 
William A. Hall, the latter of Eandolph county, and then George H. 
Burckhart, of Huntsville, Eandolph county. Many attorneys of the 
Macon bar remember Judge Burckhart distinctly when he presided on 
the bench here and in after years, when Macon was separated from 
the Eandolph county district. 

Judge Burckhart was born on the family homestead, six miles 
southeast of Huntsville, September 11, 1823. In his early manhood he 
taught school. In 1862, ha,ving had considerable experience as a lawyer 
at that time, he was elected judge of the Second Judicial Circuit, which 
included Macon county then, and was re-elected in 1864. Subsequently 
he was appointed judge of the circuit by Governor Fletcher, when 
the convention of 1865 ousted all the judges in the state, and was again 
re-elected in 1868. 

He held the office of Circuit Judge up until the time of his death, 
which occurred April 21, 1890. 

Judge John W. Henry was on the 27th Judicial Bench, as it was 
then called, from 1872 until 1876, when he was elected as one of the 
judges of the Supreme Court. .Judge Henry was born in CjTithiana, 




JOHN JONES 




FACSIMILE OF A MACON COUNTY RAILROAD BOND 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 19S> 

Kentucky, January 29, 1825. He died while occupying the circuit bench 
at Kansas City, Missouri, December 12, 1902. Judge Henry was on the 
bench here in the beginning of the litigation over the Missouri & Missis- 
sippi railwaj" bonds. His decision was favorable to the county. Judge 
Shelton gives this description of the late Judge Henry: 

"He was a remarkable man in many respects. At first the lawyers 
of the circuit did not take to him kindly, but when they got better 
acquainted with him they learned to love him. Judge Henry was not a 
man to be trifled with at any time. He was plain, almost blunt in 
expressing his opinion of things, but at all times guided by a keen 
sense of justice and honesty. He could listen to the stateuients of 
both sides of the case and, while doing so, would form a clear-cut theory 
between the two, which was nearly always right. He was one of the 
most conscientious and fearless men I ever saw on the bench." 

Judge Andrew Ellison, of Kirksville, was appointed to preside 
over this circuit by Governor Hardin in 1876, to fill out the unexpired 
term of two years, occasioned by the resignation of Judge John W. 
Henry. Judge Ellison remained on the bench for twenty-two years, 
when he retired to enter the practice of law. He associated himself with 
M. D. Campbell, a bright young attorney of Kirksville. and the fii'm 
developed an extensive business, which was considerably increased 
until the date of Judge Ellison's death, which occurred June 27, 1902. 
Judge Ellison was a brother of Judge James Ellison, of Kansas City; 
Judge "William C. Ellison, of Maryville, and Judge George Ellison, of 
Canton, Missouri. He was born at Monticello, Missouri, November 6, 
1846. The last official act of Judge Ellison occurred in Macon just 
before Christmas. A young couple was before him, each asking a 
divorce. The judge listened to both parties with great attention, and 
then decided that there was a case of temporary estrangement. He 
delivered a memorable opinion, in which he denied the divorce and 
urged the husband and wife to make up and give their little children 
the benefit of their united love. 

Judge N. M. Shelton, the present incumbent of the Second Judicial 
Bench, was born in Troy, Lincoln county, Missouri, March 17, 1851. 
He was educated in the common schools of Lincoln countj' ; then attended 
the Parker Seminary at Troy ; from there he went to the William Jewell 
College and finished his education in the State University at Columbia. 
He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1875, and in 1884 was elected 
to the Legislature, serving in the o3d General Assembly as chairman 
of the Committee on Education. In 1886 he was re-elected and in the 
succeeding Legislature was chairman of the Committee on Criii»D«l 



200 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Jurisprudence. In 1888 lie was elected Senator from the Ttli District 
and served four years, being chaiiTnan of the Committee on Judiciaiy. 
In 1898 he was elected circuit judge for a tenn of six years. In 1904 
was re-elected. Judge Shelton has frequently been called to other 
circuits to preside as special judge. The business of the circuit is 
large and growing, his courts being open in one or the other of the 
counties nearly all the time. The present Second Circuit is composed 
of Schuyler, Adair, Macon and Shelby counties. (A more complete 
sketch of Judge Shelton will be found in the biographical department 
of this work.) 

B. F. Drinkard, who had leased a large fann in Callao township, 
was tried and convicted of the murder of a man named Nichols, on the 
morning of August 28, 1879. Drinkard was sentenced to ninety-nine 
years iu the penitentiary. Pending his appeal to the Supreme Court 
he escaped from jail and has since remained at large. The circum- 
stances of the killing are given in the former history of Macon county 
as follows : Drinkard had leased a fami from the Widow McVickar. 
Nichols was a farm hand living near Mrs. McVickar and Drinkard. 
From some cause ill-will had developed between Drinkard and Nichols. 
On the morning of the killing Nichols loaded his wagon with sorghmn 
cane and started with it to the mill. He drove through Drinkard 's 
lot. Drinkard objected, but Nichols went on. Returning from the mill 
Nichols again proceeded through Drinkard's lot and, as he checked 
his team for his little son to get in the wagon, Nichols was shot in the 
back with the contents of a rifle. Nichols fell from his seat to the 
bottom of the wagon. He was found by Mrs. McVickar, Mrs. Nichols 
and James Mott, who had heard the boy scream and the shot. After 
the shooting Nichols' boy saw Drinkard rimuing to the house with 
his riSe. Nichols died within a few hours. Drinkard gave himself 
to the officers, was indicted at the September term of the Circuit Court 
and tried in the May term, 1880. 

The state was equijoped with elaborate plats of the ground and a 
figure illustrating how the ball had ranged. This was to prove that the 
deceased had been shot from behind. A pistol was found in Nichols' 
pocket. The defense was that Nichols came driving through the lot 
with his pistol presented, threatening Drinkard, who reached in the 
door for his rifle and stepped out in front ; that he fired at Nichols 
in defense of his own life. 

Ben Eli Guthrie was prosecuting attorney at the time. He was 
assisted by Cpl. John F. Williams. Drinkard was represented by Dysart 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 201 

& ]\Iitclie]l, "\V. H. Sears, Col. R. J. Ebberman and Capt. John M. 
London. 

It has been stated frequently that there were parties in Macon 
county who knew all the time where Drinkard was. While H. N. Graves 
was sheriff, a party reported to him that Drinkard was living at Hobart, 
Oklahoma. In June, 1907, Sheriff Graves went to Hobart and arrested 
a suspected party whose name was W. F. Davidson. Davidson told the 
sheriff he had made a mistake. Sheriff Graves was confident that he 
was right, but, owing to a failure to secure requisition papers, he was 
unable to bring Davidson back to Macon with him. 

In February, 1909, Davidson came to Macon with his lawyer, T. J. 
Madden, for the purpose of conclusively proving that he was not Drink- 
ard. Some parties here, who were well acquainted with Davidson, 
testified to the fact that Davidson and Drinkard wei*e two separate 
]>arties. 

While the matter of Drinkard 's arrest was under consideration in 
1907, some Macon county parties, who wei-e friends of the exile, got up 
petitions requesting the governor to pardon Drinkard, but as Drinkard 
has never been apprehended no ofScial action was taken in the matter. 

There was a peculiar killing in Ten Mile township on August 24, 
1883. The parties to the tragedy were George Stewart and Walter 
Tracy. It seems that Tracy, with several others, was at work on the 
road near a bridge, when Stewart rode up and began shooting at Tracy, 
using a double-barreled shotgim, and afterwai'ds a pistol. Tracy ran, 
Stewart following him, shooting as opportunity presented itself. 
Finally, Tracy fell and Stewart completed the work of death. Then 
he mounted his horse and rode away. His whereabouts have never 
been ascertained. The coroner's jury rendered this verdict: 

"We, the undersigned jury, summoned to inquire of the death 
of Walter W. Tracy, in Ten Mile township, Macon county, Missouri, 
do find that he came to his death by means of three pistol shot wounds, 
inflicted at the hands of one George H. Stewart; and further, that 
said shooting was done without any provocation or just cause." 

Cora Tracy, wife of the man who was killed, testified at the inquest 
that she was forty years of age. She said she had known Tracy a little 
over two years ; that they were married May 4, 1883. The witness was 
a sister of the man who did the killing. 

"Mr. Tracy asked me to marry him in January," said the witness, 
"at my house; no one else was present. My brother was in the lot. I 
never consented to marry him. I told Mr. Tracy I didn't want to 
marry him and that I didn't believe it would be any account. He begged 



203 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

and pleaded with me. "V^Hien I was married there were present my 
mother, brother, the minister and ourselves. Mr. Tracy forced me to 
marry him. George H. Stewart, the man who did the shooting, is my 
brother. He was at home this morning and went to the blacksmith 
shop about eight o'clock. He came back about nine or nine-thirty. 
Then he went to the shop after the wagon tongue. I didn't see him 
leave the house. He said he wanted to fix the wagon to go to Clarence. 
"When he came home the second time he had a weapon or a stick or some- 
thing in his hand. He has a gun, but I don't know what sort of a 
gun it is. My brother did not speak to Mr. Tracy before this. Soon 
after we were married they had some sort of a settlement, since which 
time they have not spoken. I don't know what they fell out about. 
I know of no difficulty except the one between me and Mr. Tracy. I 
never heard my brother make any threats against Mr. Tracy. The 
reason I married Mr. Tracy was he treated me badly about a month 
before we were married. Our family consists of my mother, this one 
brother and myself. I never told what had happened to me until we 
were married, in the presence of Mr. Tracy and my mother and brother 
the morning before they went to Macon after the license. I said : 'Mr. 
Tracy, you have treated me badly.' He said : 'I know I have ; I did it 
to make you marry me.' I told him I would rather be buried alive than 
to many him under these circumstances. He said : 'If you will marry 
me, 1 will make you a lady all your life. ' 

"There was no indication of anger in my brother after I told this. 
Tracy proposed to go after the license to Macon, and they went of 
Mr. Tracy's own free will. No angry words passed. They went from 
Macon to Clarence after a minister. My brother never asked me to 
marry Mr. Tracy. I married him just because he begged me to and 
becausfe he had treated me the way he had. I was not living with 
Mr. Tracy at the time of the killing, and have not lived with him since 
twenty-five days after we were married. 

"The reason 1 did not live with him was, his mother and father 
ti'eated me so badly when he was gone, and I had no protection. 

""When my brother came home this morning, he said to me: 
' "Jack" — that is what he always called me — 'I have killed Tracy.' I 
said: 'Why, brother George!' He just turned and went off and I 
haven't seem him since. We moved from Logan county, Kentucky. 
Middleton, in Simpson county, was our postoffice. My brother never 
had a difficulty before this that I know of. He never gets intoxicated, 
but he is mighty liigh-tempered. Mother heard George say he had 
killed Tracv." 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 203 

Bazle Griffin testified at the inquest as to what occurred at the 
shooting : 

"James P. Powell, David Miller, Clay Hubble, Day Griffin and 
myself were at the bridge across the draw, between my house and David 
Miller's, about 10:30 this morning. I looked up the road and saw 
George Stewart coming. He rode within about thirty steps of the 
bridge, hitched his horse and got oflf. He came right down to the bridge 
and stopped within twelve or fifteen feet of where Tracy was. Stewart 
said: " Every damned one of you, get out of the way ! I have nothing 
against any of you except Tracy. When he married my sister he agreed 
to treat her like a lady and he has not done it." Tracy raised up and 
started across the bridge, bent over, and, just as he did so, Stewart 
fired. When Tracy got across on the south side, about ten feet, Stew- 
art fired the second shot from his gun. Tracy got into a treetop that 
was lying twenty or thirty feet from the bridge. Stewart pulled out a 
pistol and fii-ed again. Tracy crossed on the west side of the bridge 
and Stewart followed across and fired a second shot from the pistol. 
This shot hit him in the back. At this time Tracy was throwing up 
his hands. He stopped, staggered and fell on the left side. Stewart 
followed right up and put the revolver in about one foot of Tracy's neck 
and fired twice, each shot taking effect in Tracy's neck. Then Stewart 
turned, walked back across the bridge, and Miller said to him: 'You 
will be sorry for what you have done. ' To this Stewart replied : ' Boys, 
I am already sorry, but I had to do it and I have done it.' Stewart then 
got on his horse and went slowly out east towards his home. He did not 
seem angry or excited when he killed Tracy. He went away cool 
and quiet." 

A goldbrick game, played in Macon county, became the subject of 
a most sensational trial in the Circuit Court in 1890. W. A. Atkins, 
alias George Morgan, a St. Louis man, was arrested by Sheriff James 
W. "White, in 1889, on a charge of attempting to sell a brick to Hiram 
K. Bargar, a banker of Linn county. It was said that Atkins ran 
with a gang of crooks known to the i)olice as Dave McCord, James 
Murray, Doc Kerns, John Boquet, Bartley Kelly, Thatch Grady and 
Billy Boquet. Atkins told Bargar that he was the discoverer of and 
owner of a fabulously rich mine in the west. He said that his partner, 
a half-breed, was in a wigwam on the banks of the Chariton river in 
Macon county, and that he had threatened to scalp Atkins if he would 
dare to breathe the secret to a living soul. After some parley with the 
banker, Atkins produced some samples, which he told Mr. Bargar that 
he could take away with him and have tested if he would deposit $1,500. 



204 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

It seems that the meeting took place in Macon county. The gold brick, 
which was offered in evidence at the trial, contained several drill holes 
in it. The gold for the test was from drillings made in a $20 gold piece, 
which had been drilled with a dozen or more holes. Sheriff White 
secured the $20 gold piece and for many years wore it as a watch charm. 
Of course, when the samples were shown to a jeweler he pronounced 
them gold, as they really were, having been taken from Uncle Sam's 
money. But the brick itself was only worth its weight in brass. 

Mr. Bargar went home to get his money, and casually told the 
cashier what he was going to do with it. Then the cashier informed 
him that he was in the toils of swindlers and the thing for him to do 
would be to institute prosecution at once. Atkins was arrested before 
he knew that he had been suspected, but the Indian accomplice managed 
to get out of the country. 

Atkins was ably defended. His wife, who lived in St. Louis, was a 
fine-looking, intelligent woman. She retained ex-Governor Charles B. 
Johnson and she was a most interested spectator at the trial. Mrs. 
Atkins created a scene when the jury found her husband guilty and 
assessed his punishment at two years in the penitentiary. She shook 
her white fists into the jurymen's faces, exclaiming: "You wicked, 
wicked men! How could yon send my poor boy to the penitentiary!" 

She became very excited and her screams could be heard for blocks. 
"With great difficulty she was prevented from accompanying her hus- 
band to jail and spending the night in his cell. She constantly wrote 
notes to Judge Ellison, imploring him to pardon her husband. Atkins 
was released on a $.3,000 bond. Pending his appeal to the Supreme 
Court, he jumped his bond and no one heard of him for ten years, when 
he was apprehended at Portland, Oregon, and brought to Missouri by 
Marshal See of the Supreme Court. "While Atkins was a fugitive from 
justice the Supreme Court had affirmed the finding of the lower court. 

A part of the evidence introduced at the trial here was the gold 
brick, the $20 gold piece with the holes in it, a blanket, wig and hat worn 
by the "Indian," and a bottle of gold dust which was used to color 
the brick. The brick weighed forty-two pounds. To make the thing 
appear perfectly fair, the Linn county speculator was permitted to 
select the place for the drilling. The dust was tlien carefully wrapped 
in a small piece of paper and the prospective purchaser thought he had 
in his pocket from that time until they reached the jeweler the identical 
particles which he had seen drilled from the brick, but, in the meantime, 
Atkins had changed the samples and substituted therefor the real gold, 
which he had ol)taiued by drilling the $20 gold piece. 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 205 

Atkins denied that he was the party who conducted the transaction, 
but his identity was clearly established by the jeweler, Mr. Bargar and 
others. 

This was the most daring swindle game ever pulled off in Macon 
county. In speaking of Atkins and his fellow-crooks. Detective Her- 
rington, of St. Louis, said: 

"They were the slickest and most daring confidence men in the 
country. They stayed in bands and worked together so well they often 
fleeced the shrewdest men. The game was a good one in the old days, 
but they couldn't fool anyone with it now. 

"ilcCord, who is one of the most prominent members of the crowd, 
originally came fi'om the West, and was tlioroughly conversant with all 
the customs of the Indians. He talked their language fluently. It was 
their game to select one man — sometimes Atkins and sometimes 
McCord — to act the part of the Indian. He would dress in a wild cus- 
tom and paint his face like a savage. When they came to a town where 
they were going to operate they established a tepee on the outskirts. 
The Indian was installed therein, and everything about him, campfires, 
etc., were made to look as realistic as possible. The other members of 
the gang would then go out and hunt up a victim, who would be brought 
to the Indian and a bargain would be struck through an interpreter. 
It was explained to the 'come-on' that the Indian came from the far 
west, where he had mined the yellow stuff in chunks and did not know 
its real value. They only asked a slight rake-off on the deal for steer- 
ing a man against it. The victim would ask to examine the brick, where- 
upon some genuine specimens of gold would be presented to him, which 
stood the test at the jeweler's. As a usual thing, each operation netted 
the gang from $2,000 to $5,000. 

A number of interesting trials over school matters have occurred 
in the Circuit Court of Macon County. Several of these were the result 
of complaints against teachers for overzeal in chastizing pupils. In 
nearly every case of this sort the verdict has been for the teacher. Per- 
haps the most significant trial took place at La Plata, in May, 1896. 
Judge Andrew Ellison was on the bench then. Miss Lizzie Spencer, 
who taught the school in District 1, Township 60, Range 13, sued 
some of the patrons of the district for $7,000 for libel. Her petition 
alleged that the defendants, William H. Billings, George W. Billings, 
Thomas J. Billings, James Huffman, Mathias McHenry and John 
Trout, Jr., sent to the school board on June 15, 1895, the following 
note: 

"We, the imdersigned patrons of this district, would respectfully 



206 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

ask the said school board to withdraw Miss Lizzie Spencer as teacliet 
of said district, as we consider her wholly unable to teach our school." 

The petition was freely circulated in the district, but only the 
names above given were secured as sig-ners. The school teacher com- 
plained that the circulation of this petition was an act of malice. The 
defendants denied this. Considerable oral testimony was taken. The 
case was tried in the opera house and attracted a lai'ge number of 
spectators, many of them being women and girls. All the parties 
to the litigation were well-known in La Plata, and were people of 
good character. At the conclusion of the plaintiff's evidence, the 
defendants offered a demurrer. Then came the argmnents by the 
attorneys, which were veiy interesting. These lasted for a greater 
part of the day and then Judge Ellison delivered this memorable 
opinion : 

"After hearing you gentlemen, with a great deal of interest and 
pleasure, I will state that it is, in my opinion, a matter of regret that 
the defendants should have circulated this petition about the young 
lady. I think it is a matter equally to be regretted that this suit shoidd 
have been brought. It is a thing naturally trifling in itself. But, pass- 
ing that circumstance as not one of concern to the Court, the charge 
in this case that the defendants said of Miss Lizzie Spencer, as a 
teacher of said district, that 'we consider her wholly' — not incompetent, 
as quoted here by counsel a while ago — but 'we consider her wholly 
unable to teach our school.' 

"Now, the question is, is it a libel for patrons of the district to say 
about a man or woman that we consider him or her 'wholly unable 
to teach our school?' Is it a libel for patrons to publish of and con- 
cerning a man or woman that 'we consider him' — or her — 'wholly 
unable to teach our school?' 

"It is not, in my opinion, any more than for any lot of electors or 
voters to say of a man running for the Legislature that we believe him 
wholly unable to discharge the duties of a legislator — or as to a con- 
gressman or as to a sheriff or a public school teacher. The teacher 
of a public school is 'an officer drawing public funds, concerning which 
every tax-payer and resident of the district has some interest, the same 
as in the office of sheriff or other official position. 

"I do not wish to be understood as saying that persons ought to 
always speak their minds on this subject, but if they choose to avail 
themselves of the privilege of the law they may do so if their com- 
Tnunications are couched in decent and proper language. This language 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 207 

is as follows: 'As we considei- lier unable' — not unfitted — but 'wholly 
unable to teach our school.' I think it is not actionable foer se. 

"Again I think, under the imcontradicted law in the case, that it is 
a privileged communication; that, while it is to be regretted, people 
always avail themselves of their privilege, yet the law confers it upon 
parties interested to say verbally, or put in writing, if couched in decent 
language, that they oppose such and such person because they believe 
he is incompetent to discharge the duties of the office in question. If 
they had said of this girl, 'we thinlv her no lady,' it might have been 
different; or if they had said, 'we think that she is a professional fail- 
ure'; it might have been different, though some courts would have 
justified even that. But they simply say: 'We consider her wholly' — 
not incompetent — but 'unable to teach our school.' 

"If they thought that they had a right to say it, although it may 
have been in poor taste ; the demurrer to the evidence will be sustained." 

An "unwritten law" case, which became somewhat noted in Mis- 
souri, was that of the State vs. Sealous Grugin. Grugin was a farmer 
living four miles southwest of Atlanta. Walter Hadley was a son-in- 
law, having. married one of Grugin's eldest daughters. Hadley ran a 
small farm not far from where his father-in-law lived. Grugin's young- 
est daughter, Alma, was sixteen years of age at the time of the trouble. 
The Hadleys lived in a small frame house of two rooms. On one occa- 
sion, Alma went to visit her sister and brother-in-law and spent the 
night there. It is said that she was engaged at that time to a young 
man named George Stephens, whom she afterwards married. A few 
days after Alma returned to her home she told her father that her 
brother-in-law, W'alter Hadley, had abused her. Grugin, it is said, 
had bitterly opposed the marriage of his other daughter to Hadley and 
had never been on very good terms with his son-in-law. On May 
6, 1896, Grug-in took a double-barreled shotgun and went to the field 
where Hadley and his wife were working. Mrs. Luella Hadley, wife 
of Walter Hadley, testified that her father "had shot twice at her hus- 
band, the second shot killing him instantly. Grugin promptly came 
to Macon and surrendered himself. On the way to town he met the 
sheriff coming after him but, as neither knew the other, they merely 
passed the salutation of the day and each went on to his respective 
destination. Grugin was defended by Dysart & Mitchell and Guthrie & 
Franklin. R. W. Barrow prosecuted. Grugin told his story frankly. 
He described the journey he had made to the Hadley home and the 
shooting. 

The issue involved the principle of what has been called the "un- 



208 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

written law," a man's right to protect his home to the death. Judge 
Ellison was on the bench during the first trial of Grugin. When it 
came time to argue the case the court room contained many who were 
not in the habit of attending murder trials. Ethelbert Talbot, Episco- 
pal Bishop of Wyoming and Idaho at that time, was in the audience. 

In summing up on behalf of the state, Mr. Barrow made a remark- 
able address, portions of which were printed in some of the leading 
newspapers of the west. Mr. Barrow said : 

"Gentlemen, my talented friends at the other table have spent a 
most profitable half -day in instructing you and in endeavoring to lift 
your minds to holier thoughts. You cannot but feel improved by what 
you have listened to — I know that I feel so. I shall not attack a quo- 
tation they have made from the Bible; they are all true. They might 
have added one, which, possibly, in the rush of incidents before them 
they necessarily omitted — ' Thou shalt not kill ! ' I give it to you now, 
so as to complete their argument. 

"The history they have cited is also authentic; I do not ques- 
tion a line of it. In my humble judgment there never was a much 
better poem written than 'The Cotter's Saturday Night.' It emanated 
from the heart of a Samaritan — not a murderer. All these things are 
beautiful and we are under obligations to our friends for bringing 
them, before us. But in their remarks they have neglected one little 
thing — the case at bar. 

"There will not be found a scintilla of the ancient history in the 
stenographic notes lying on the reporter's table. The quotations so 
graphically referred to by the attorneys for the defendant were not 
sworn to by a single witness on the stand. The tears which Captain 
Guthrie caused us to shed were over a piece of poetry not admitted 
or even oiTered in evidence. The weeping wife of the prisoner is no 
greater object of commiseration than is the young widow of the dead 
man. The alleged ruined home of Mr. Grugin is not as desolate as is 
that of Mrs. Hadley. 

"Ton are here to right a wrong; for, as I see it, a great one has 
been done. Let us read the Bible, history and poetry — they are all 
good — but let us try this case simply on the cold facts introduced in 
evidence ; there our only duty lies. ' ' 

At that trial the jury found the defendant guilty of murder in 
the second degree and tLxed his punishment at fifteen years in the peni- 
tentiary. At this. Alma Gurgin, the daughter over whom the killing 
occurred, rushed into her father's arms and cried: 

"Oh, Father! Who will take care of me now!" 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 20!> 

An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court and the case sent hack 
for re-trial. On the second trial Judge Shelton, the successor of Judge 
Ellison, was on the bench. The evidence was pretty much the same 
as it was on the first trial. The jury this time acquitted the defendant 
and he returned to his family. 

On the 26th day of May, 1896, George Anderson, a farmer living 
south of Atlanta, stabbed his wife to death and then attempted to kill 
himself. Parties who entered the room directly after the tragedy say 
that it was splattered with blood and the furniture knocked about 
everywhere. This indicated that there had been a fierce fight before 
the man succeeded in overpowering his wife, who was a large, strong 
woman. Anderson was a small man. It was never known just why he 
committed the crime, though it was said there had been occasional 
disagreements, at one time a separation. Anderson was a man of good 
habits. He and his wife attended Sunday-school and church regularly 
and they stood well in the community. The murderer was brought to 
Macon on a stretcher. He refused to employ counsel or to make any 
defense. Judge Ellison requested Judge R. S. Matthews to defend 
him. When Anderson was arraigned in court Judge Ellison asked 
him : 

"Are you guilty or not guilty?" 

"Guilty." 

"Guilty? Do you imderstand, Mr. Anderson, the consequences of 
a plea of this character!" asked the court. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Do you know that the result would be punishment by death?" 

•"Yes, sir," promjitly. 

"Have you a lawyer?" 

"No, sir." 

"Do you want one!" 

"No,W." 

"How long have you lived in this county, Mr. Anderson!" 

"Ever since 1867, except five years. I was in Kansas in 1866." 

Anderson refused to go upon the stand. His lawyer made a splen- 
did fight in his behalf, trying to show that the defendant was crazy. 
One man on the jury refused to bring in a sentence of guilty. The 
other eleven were unanimous for conviction. Judge Ellison immedi- 
ately ordered another venire and next week Anderson was re-tried. 
The same evidence was gone through with, and the same hard fight 
made by the defendant's lawyer and the same instructions given. Ander- 
son still preserved his stolid indifference, sometimes lying with his 



210 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

head upon a table and never speaking to his lawj'er or assisting hmi in 
any way. In this second trial the jury was unanimous for conviction. 
When the day came to sentence Anderson, Judge Ellison called on the 
prisoner to come forward and listen to what he had to say. 

"George Anderson," said the judge, "you have been tried and 
found guilty of murder in the first degree, the result of which, without 
further intervention, will be a sentence of death pronounced upon you. 
Have you anything further to say why the sentence of the law should 
not be pronounced?" 

"No, sir." 

"You have not?" 

"No, sir." 

"Mr. Anderson," said Judge Ellison, in a voice vibrating with 
emotion, "I am but a humble instrument of the law in this painful 
ordeal. It has been my hope that my long service upon the bench, soon 
to expire, would close without facing an hour like this. But it has 
been decreed otherwise. Your plea of guilty was rejected by the court, 
thinking that probably a fair trial would elicit some fact showing your 
mental irresponsibility for your awful deed, proven and confessed. No 
such proof was adduced. One of the most intelligent juries I ever saw 
has found you g"uilty. I approve of that verdict. That you committed 
the deed is confessed; that you were at the time conscious of the act 
as well as of its wickedness is clear beyond a doubt. 

"I shall not, as is too commonly the case, avail myself of the oppor- 
tunity of reading you a long and painful lecture. Your remorse is 
evident and natural. Into other hands I commit you for spiritual aid 
and comfort, and, obeying the mandate of the law, I pronounce sentence 
of death; that the sheiiff of Macon county, Missouri, take you hence 
to some place of safety until the 21st day of August, 1896, when, 
between the hours of 8 a. m. and 4 p. m., at or near the county jail of 
Macon county, you be hanged by the neck until dead, and may the God 
of mercy and justice have compassion upon your soul." 

Anderson received his sentence with the same indifference that he 
had shown to all the other proceedings. A few days before his death 
he sent for a newspaper man and requested him to write up something. 
The reporter tried at that time to get Anderson to confess his jjurpose 
in killing his wife, but he refused to discuss the subject. All he wanted 
was a sort of card of thanks to those who had been kind to him while he 
was in jail. 

A. J. Asbury was the sheriff of Macon county. He had charge of 
the execution of Anderson, assisted by Sheriff Pratt of Marion county, 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 211 

Missouri. The condemned man seemed to be in excellent spirits on the 
morning of his last day on earth and he ascended the gallows with an 
almost buoj-aut step. Elder G. W. Buckner delivered an earnest invoca- 
tion, but Anderson made no statement whatever. The execution was in 
the courtyard north of the old jail. A small crowd was admitted by 
tickets secured from the sheriff. It is estimated that something like 
2,000 people were in Macon that day, but none of them witnessed 
the hanging. The body of Anderson was taken to an undertaking 
establishment, and then the crowd was allowed to file by to take a last 
look at him. While the crowd was in town a dramatic incident occurred 
on the streets. Hon. L. A. Thompson, the lawyer, stood on the rear 
step of a band wagon, which was being driven around through the 
principal streets of the city. In the wagon was Henry Marshall, a 
negro, who, it is said, had been run out of Macon a few days previous 
because of his "preaching" Democratic doctrine. Mr. Thom])son had 
sent word to Marshall that if he would come back to Macon he would 
guarantee liis protection. The streets were full of people, all wonder- 
ing what the curious sight meant, until the wagon completed its tour 
of the town and then was stopped on the square at the head of Vine 
street. Mr. Thomi^son, in his shirt-sleeves and cooling himself with a 
palm-leaf fan, stood on the lower step of the band wagon and explained 
the meaning of his procession. He told the crowd that Marshall had 
been run out of town for talking on the side of the Democrats and that 
he had guaranteed him protection if he would come back and make a 
speech. Mr. Thompson said that he had never heard of Marshall before, 
but as soon as the incident was brought to his attention he had become 
interested. The Democrats in the big crowd applauded Mr. Thompson, 
who then introduced Marshall. Marshall made a little talk without 
any interruption whatever and went on his way rejoicing. He was not 
molested in any manner on the occasion of his second visit. 

A case involving two prominent families of Shelby county was 
tried in Macon, on change of venue, in December, 1897. The defendant 
was A. Tolbert Smock, a druggist. He was accused of having shot 
and killed M. L. Cheuvront, on the streets of Shelbina, the night of 
July 22, 1897. According to the testimony, Mrs. Smock, who was 
young and very good-looking, had been attending an ice-cream social 
in the park, and was returning home with her friend. Miss Nellie Hop- 
per. Mrs. Smock testified that Cheuvront had been looking at her at the 
park and that as she and Miss Hopper walked homeward Cheuvront 
had followed them. On reaching home Mrs. Smock said that she called 
to her husband, who came out, and, noticing her agitation, went out on 



212 HISTORY OF :\rACOX COUXTY 

the street where Cheuvront was. Smock, the defendant, stated that as he 
went out he had his revolver in his hand anc],that as he stumbled Cheuv- 
ront put his hand in his pocket and raised it in an attempt to strike. 
Smock says he then fired two shots to protect himself. 

Cheuvront was a man of about forty-six. He had a wife and two 
children. He is said to have enjoyed a good reputation in Shelby 
county. 

J. H. Whitecotton, of Paris, Missouri, was the leading attorney 
for the defense. He was assisted by J. D. Dale, of Shelbj"\'ille. George 
Humphrey and Sam EUiston, of Shelbina and W. H. Sears and R. W. 
Barrow, of Macon. 

Eobert A. Cleek, prosecuting attorney of Shelby county, Y. L. 
Drain, of ShelliyA'ille. H. Clay Heather, prosecuting attorney of Marion 
county, and Ben Franklin, of Macon, rejDresented the state. 

A good many witnesses were sworn on both sides. The state sought 
to prove that Cheuvront was a man of good standing and that he had no 
thought of accosting or of following Mrs. Smock. The memorable event 
of the trial was the closing speech by Mr. "Whitecotton. It was made 
just before Christmas. Among other striking illustrations used by the 
eloquent attorney was the following: 

"^\li! Gentlemen! I may be wrong in my figaires and in my deduc- 
tion from this evidence. I may have made mistakes, for which I trust 
you will pardon me. But there is one jjerson who testified and who 
must be believed if anything on earth is true. You saw her carried 
into this court room in the arms of her husband. Today, gentlemen, 
she lies upon her deathbed. The angels of heaven fluttering across the 
great blue vault above us are preparing to receive her. Her mother 
— long since gone — with yours and mine, is there with anns out- 
stretched to receive poor Mrs. Swift! You wonder how she was able 
to reach this court room from her home far off in the country. M'hy 
didn't she die? What great unseen power fanned the ebbing life in her 
bosom until this session came on? Ah! I will tell you what kept the 
dying spark alive. It was because the Great Father of the Universe, 
who always stands by poor, unfortunate humanity, decreed otherwise, 
and issued the fiat that she should live to save her boy — to save her 
boy ! Thanks to the great merciful God of heaven for it ! Take her now 
from her misery; take her away to her heavenly home, for she has said 
before a jury of her counti'ymen, 'My boy was assaulted there, and what 
he did was done in defense of liis life.' And she told you exactly how 
and where this tragedy occun-ed." 

As he presented the striking figure Mr. Whitecotton 's strong voice 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUXTY 213 

choked with emotion and many of the spectators cried. Especially was 
this noticeable among the women, whose handkerchiefs were bobbing 
against their eyes all over the court room. 

In spite of the very effective speech the jury hung, four standing 
solidly and determinedh' for conviction. The defendant was released 
on a bond of $3,000. Smock was tried again at the Macon Circuit Court 
and all of the witnesses, except Mrs. D. B. Swift, who had appeared at 
the first trial, were re-examined. At the second trial the defendant 
was found guilty of manslaughter and punishment iixed at six months 
in jail and a fine of $100. Some indignation was manifested over the 
verdict, and the Macon Times-Democrat expressed itself as follows: 

"The verdict is an outrage upon this community and it is just such 
mockery as this that disgaists people with juries and courts and causes 
them to take the law into their own hands and mete out justice." 

At the April term, 1897, of the Macon Circuit Court, the juries 
disagreed in three of the largest cases tried. At the June term there 
was a similar result on two important cases. The big actions, all for 
re-trial, loaded up the already heavy September docket. Lawyers began 
discussing a method for insuring a result in big cases. Some advocated 
one thing and some another. It was pretty generally admitted that one 
of the great causes of the delay and expense was the inability to secure 
twelve men who would think alike on an issue which had been elabo- 
rately i)resented by the contending lawyers. Letters were sent out 
to the prominent attorneys of the state, asking for their views regarding 
better methods than the one in use. The matter was discussed exten- 
sively throughout the state and in 1900 a constitutional amendment 
was adopted providing for a verdict from three-fourths of the jury in 
civil cases. This feature alone has been a long step towards relieving 
the lower courts of accumulated business. There has been no change, 
however, in the rule requiring a unanimous verdict in criminal cases. 

The questions submitted to the lawyers and some of the answers are 
as follows: 

1. AVould it not be to the great advantage of the legal fraternity, 
as well as litigants, if a plan were adopted that would insure a result on 
every case that went to trial? 2. What suggestion could you offer to 
improve the jury system or plan of substitution! 

Major A. W. Mullins, Linneus: (1) T think so; but the judgment 
of man is so imperfect that final judgment or even a verdict cannot he 
obtained in the first trial in all cases. (2) I believe in the jury system, 
and would not abolish it, but it may become advisable in civil cases to 



214 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

accept a verdict from three-fourths or a less number than the entire 
panel. 

J. E. McKeighan, with Lee & McKeighan, St. Louis : (1) Certainly. 
(2) In every case where the jury of twelve do not agree let a majority 
verdict be returned, which, however, shall require the express approval 
of the court on motion of the successful party before such party shall 
be entitled to a judgment thereon. 

J. D. Dale, Shelbyville: (1) Yes. (2) I have long entertained the 
opinion that nine jurors selected should make a verdict, except for 
crime punishable by death. I have in my mind another change that 
would facilitate litigation, and from which the public would derive 
very great benefit; to-wit: The abolition of the Circuit Judge's office 
and the selection of a Judge for each county, to be clothed with the same 
powers and jurisdiction that Circuit Judges are now clothed with, and 
to require said Judge to hold terms of court as Probate Judges are now 
required to hold them. 

Judge R. S. Matthews, Macon : (1) Yes. (2) Three-fourths of the 
jury to make the verdict and that County Courts and sheriffs be 
required to select intelligent men for jurors. 

W. 0. L. Jewett, Shelbina: (1) Yes, but how is this to be accom- 
plished? It can only be achieved by having the jury composed of an 
odd nmnber and a bare majority allowed to make a verdict. I do not 
believe the time has come for so radical a change in the jury system. 
An experiment may be advisable to allow in civil cases a two-thirds 
verdict. After the experiment has been tried we could better judge of 
its advisability. (2)1 have no suggestion other than the above, except 
to throw every safeguard around the summoning and impanelment of 
juries. Our officers and County Courts are not always careful enough 
in the selection of jurors. All hmnan systems are imperfect, and will 
always be so. We can only approximate perfection. The jury system 
has its faults, but it is the best system yet devised for adjusting human 
disputes. 

Captain Ben Eli Guthrie, Macon: (1) It would certainly be a 
good thing if it could be accomplished. But the great question is, can 
it be accomplished with a reasonable show of justice? The experience 
of mankind has furnished a negative answer. The jury system in some 
form or other has been on trial from the earliest dawn of history. It 
has been improved and modified as the intelligence and experience of 
the race indicated. But a satisfactory substitute has nowhere appeared. 
It may be bold to say it will not appear, because all things seem pos- 
sible to the human race. But it is reasonably safe, however, to say that 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 215 

a substitute will not be found. (2) The only apparently practically 
efficient improvement of the jury system is to improve the intelligence 
and integrity of the jurjanen. All optimists think this is going on from 
day to day, as the general average of intelligence and integrity of cit- 
izenship advances. This is the remedy. General increase of the intelli- 
gence of the body of citizens raises the standard of the sense of justice 
and increases the demand for honest and intelligent verdicts by an 
enlightened public opinion, and renders more efficient the jury system. 
Advance the standard of general intelligence and the moral sense of the 
people, intelligent and honest jurors follow as a necessity, and they 
insure an intelligent and honest verdict and enhance the chances of a 
result in every trial. 

Nat M. Shelton, Lancaster: (1) Unquestionably, yes. (2) I have 
thought for some time that it might be safe to so modify our jury law 
that the conciirrence of nine out of twelve should constitute a finding. 
This would be a conservative move in the direction suggested, and if 
the trial gave better results the reform could be enlarged upon. Under 
our constitution, however, I am of the opinion that any reform of the 
system having for its object anything other than the unanimous con- 
currence among the twelve could only be made to apply to civil pro- 
ceedings, the jorovision as to the inviolability of the right of trial by 
jury being evidentlj^ an adoption of the system as a common law, and 
having special reference to criminal procedure. 

B. R. Dysart, Macon: (1) I would oppose a majority verdict, 
except by agreement of the parties. (2) Many unjust verdicts have 
been prevented by less than a majority and even by one juryman. 

W. H. Sears, Macon: (1) As I understand the matter, our jury 
system can be changed only by a constitutional amendment to that 
effect. I am in favor of the present system. Jurymen, like other 
people, do not always see things alike, and, imfortunately, it results in 
many hung juries in important cases. But, in my opinion, it is better 
to have it this way than for a majority or two-thirds to have the priv- 
ilege of deciding the matter. Juries are frequently discharged from the 
consideration of cases when, if held longer, they might reach a decision. 

George A. Mahan, Hannibal: (1) Yes; whenever a suit is brought 
it should speedily come to trial, and it is best for all parties concerned 
that a decision should be had. The failure of a jury to agree brings 
courts of justice into disrepute, and prevents the citizens from leaving 
disputes to such arbitration with any assurance that justice will be done. 
Under the jury system as now ap])lied it is very seldom that any deci- 
sion is had under the law and evidence. The courts fail to afford jus- 



21G HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

tice to litigauls. (2) I am inclined to the opinion tliat the jury system 
in all civil cases should be abrogated, and all such cases tried before 
a court composed of three judges. While the expense would probably 
be no greater than now, such a court would try cases much more rapidly 
and always certainly, and hence, in the end, with more satisfaction to 
litigants and lawyers. When you come to consider the delay in obtain- 
ing and selecting a jury and the time consumed by the jury in agreeing 
or failing to agree, it may be safely said that the business of the court 
would be disposed of in half of the time by three judges. As it now 
stands, any civil case may be tried before the court by agreement, and 
many cases are so disposed of at each term of court, leaving the jury 
without work and under full pay. I see no good reason why all civil 
cases should not be tried and disjjosed of by a court composed of three 
judges, and the jury system abolished. 

Gardiner Lathrop, Kansas City: (1) I should say that it would 
unquestionably be of great advantage to the legal fraternity, as well 
as to litigants, if a plan were adopted that would insure a result on 
every case that went to trial. With frequent mistrials, the costs amount 
to more, in many cases, than tlie whole sum at stake. (2)1 have been 
for several years very much in favor of a two-thirds or three-fourths 
verdict, if not a majority verdict, in civil cases. All other questions 
in life affecting important interests are decided by a majority, and 
I see no reason why the same rule should not obtain in courts of justice. 
I think extensions of the referee system would also ))e an improvement 
on the present juiy system, making the finding of the referee equivalent 
in legal effect to a verdict. 

George W. Martin, Brookfield : (1) Yes. (2) As time passes along 
and jury after jury fails to agree, as criminals go unpunished on that 
account, as bills of costs are piled up for taxpayers to settle, as charges 
and rumors of bribery are from time to time circulated and believed, 
as the absurdity of allowing one or two cranky or corrupt jurjTuen to 
stand in the way of the punishment of crime force themselves upon the 
minds of the people the conviction becomes more general that the system 
should be changed, and people are rapidly coming to the conclusion that 
a substantial majority of a jury, say, two-thirds, or even something 
Jess, ought to be i)ermitted by law to decide in civil cases. 

R. W. Barrow, Macon: (1) Yes. (2) One of the primary causes 
of hung juries is, of course, that all jurors most unanimously concur 
in the verdict. A system that permits one juror to thwart the judg- 
ment of eleven other jurors, equally as good, is illogical. If our jury 
system were changed so that in all civil cases nine out of the twelve 



HISTOEY OF ]\[ACOX COUXTY 217 

could return a verdict, I lielieve that justice would be done in a greater 
number of cases than under the i)resent plan. Under clear instructions 
from the court defining tlie law, it seems to nie that the judgment of 
three jurors against one, as to the facts, would furnish a safe and 
conservative basis for a judgment, and that the great majority of hung 
juries would be prevented. When we consider that courts have the 
right to refuse security for costs, that the burden of proof is on the 
])laintiff and that i)resent possession is regarded as prima facie right 
to property and that courts have the power to set aside verdicts when 
unsupported by evidence, with the right of appeal to higher tribunals, 
it seems that civil rights and status quo are sufficientlj" jirotected with- 
out giving to one juror, against the wishes of eleven others, the power 
to tie the hands of the court. 

N. A. Franklin, Unionville : ( 1 ) I can scarcely say yes to the first 
question. We should be careful how we make inroads on established 
forms and ancient customs. I think that such a change as your ques- 
tion implies would result in a serious strike at the whole jury system. 
Our jury system could be vastly improved without impairing its use- 
fulness as a safeguard to life and liberty. I would amend the law 
so as to disqualify any citizen from acting as a juryman who could not 
readih' read and write and who did not understand the English lan- 
guage. I would disqualify any citizen from serving on a jury more 
than twice in one year, and thus abolish the professional juror. It is 
a familiar sight to see a dozen or twenty men standing around in the 
sheriff's way when the court calls for a jury, and who frequent our 
courts from time to time to get their names on the jury list. I would 
go after the business man. Of course, he doesn't want to act and 
will refer the sheriff to half a dozen men who do. The verj^ reason I 
would make the business man serve is because he doesn't want to, anfl 
the reason I would disqualify the other fellow is because he does. I 
would hkewise disqualify all ministers and justices of the peace; also 
all liquor men. Most of these reforms could be made by our county courts 
and trial court officers, Imt a statute as a reminder would not be a bad 
thing. I do not believe a man should be disqualified because he had 
read of the case at liar in the newspapers; all intelligent men read 
newspapers and intelligent men make the best jurymen. 

In May, 1898, there were a number of mysterious occurrences in 
Macon homes and in those near the city. Houses were entered and 
women frightened. In most of the i)laces invaded there were no men 
in the house. Sometimes small articles of food and other things were 
stolen. The intruder seemed to have no particular purpose, but he was 



218 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

most active. Nearly every niglit some residence was the subject of his 
attentions. Finally, the night i^rowler committed a ferocious deed. He 
went to the home of Mrs. Ann Browitt, about a mile west of Macon, 
and attacked Mrs. Browitt 's two daughters, who were sleeping in the 
same bed. In talking of the occurrence one of the girls said that the 
man entered the room, making a noise like some wild animal. He 
struck her several times in the face with a sharp-edged, short-handled 
hoe. The girls jmnped out of bed and fled. The assailant followed 
Ethel, the older girl, and chased her out into the yard. He caught her 
and brutally beat her in the face with his curious weapon. The girls 
stated that the man seemed to be actuated by some crazy ferocity. 
There seemed to be no particular reason in what he did, except to hurt 
them as much as jjossible. There were no men in the house. 

This atfair created wild excitement. Detective Ed Turner took 
hold of the case, but for a long while could not get a start on it. The 
Browitt girls were imable to identify the man who had attacked them. 

During the latter part of June there was a report that a man had 
entered the home of John Keochel, the blind broom-maker. Two of Mr. 
Keochel's daughters were aroused, and the man, grasping the arm of 
one of them, said : "If you holler, I'll do to you as I did the girls at the 
water-works" (the Browitt girls). 

The man, it seems, didn't harm either one of the Koechel girls, 
but in leaving the house he picked up a sack of flour, which he found 
downstairs. Detective Turner noticed tiny white specks leading from 
the kitchen pantry out into the yard and on southward. He followed it 
to the home of Henry Williams, a negro, who had quite a while before 
been arrested for annoying some white girls, but who had been 
acquitted. In spite of the damning evidence by the trail of flour, Wil- 
liams protested that he had not been out of his house that night. They 
took him to jail and during the day he was interviewed by a reporter. 
Williams said: 

"I used to be a member of the Methodist church at Marceliue, 
but I never joined out here. My present wife, though, belongs to the 
church. I am going to tell the truth about this matter if it kills me. 
My wife and I went down to the doctor's street concert Tuesday night. 
After that we came home and went to bed. I never got up until morning. 
When I woke I went over to the Rev. McDonald's house to attend to his 
horse. Then I came back home and the policeman arrested me. I 
didn't know a thing about this water-works business and the little girls 
down there. I never told the little Koechel girl anything about 
treating her like I did the water-works girls. I was not in the Koechel 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 219 

house that night. I am not that sort of a man. I never killed anybody 
in a tight in Alabama. You see Mr. McDonald and he will tell you what 
sort of a man I am. I positively deny that I have been in this house. 
They wanted me to say, 'yes,' but they can kill me before I will do it." 

There was considerable talk during the day, and as night came 
on it became very well settled that the negro was to be hung. A. 
J. Glenn, was sheriff, at the time, and he stationed one of his deputies 
out in front of the jail. The citizens quietly formed about the jail and 
in the court house yard, talking in groups but making no violent demon- 
strations. The Rev. G. A. Eobbins, pastor of the Methodist church, 
appeared on the scene and urged the crowd not to hang the negro. 
He referred to an incident where a man had been hung by vigilantes, 
and afterwards found to have been innocent. Mr. Bobbins was making 
quite a talk but the crowd became impatient and refused to listen. They 
went to the jail and made a formal demand of Sheriff Glenn for the 
prisoner. The sheriff said he would defend the prisoner with his life. 
Someone brought a long rope and the crowd cheered. "When the mob's 
determination became apparent a Mr. McVicker got up on a box or 
something and tried to speak in favor of letting the law take its course. 
Someone threw a brick at him and he was knocked senseless. He was 
standing right along-side the sheriff at the time. Sheriff Glenn argued 
with the crowd and promised that a full investigation should be made 
next day, but the people knew what they wanted and they rushed over 
the fence. The officers were disarmed and the front door smashed in. 
The key-box was foimd and someone unlocked the iron door to the cor- 
ridor. Williams was trembling in his cell. His appearance in front 
of the jail was greeted with a wild shout by the mob. The first plan 
was to hang him to an electric light pole in front of a residence, but 
someone suggested that this would be an unwelcome sight for the women 
folks in the morning, and so they hustled the victim south on Rollins 
street and then up Weed to the Wabash viaduct. As the crowd went 
along with its prisoner in its midst a policeman was encountered going 
in an opposite direction. Someone called his attention to the fact that 
tbey were about to hang a man, but the policeman was not interested. 
A tall fellow, whose name is pretty well known in Macon and who is now 
living here, acted as master of ceremonies. He stood holding to 
Williams under the bridge. He threw a rope aloft and some boys stand- 
ing on the bridge caught it and fastened it to the balustrade. Then 
a well-dressed little fellow, standing close to Williams, and who evi- 
dently wanted to attract attention to himself, addressed the prisoner: 

"Henry, you have showed yourself a man; you are a brave man 



220 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

and we are going to treat you right ; if yoi; want to say anything now's 
your chance." 

Williams replied that he had nothing to do with the ceremony ; that 
hfe had not been consulted in regard to it and was not in favor of it; 
he said they could go ahead aud arrange things to suit themselves, 
and that they needn't think they could throw any responsibility on 
him by making him answer questions. 

Then the tall man said: 

"Now, "Williams, you are at the end of the journey and I want 
to do this thing to suit you. AVould you rather that the boys would 
take you u]) on the bi'idge and let you jump off so it will crack your neck 
in a hurry or shall I give 'em the order to hoist awjiy where thej' are?" 

Williams absolutey declined to say yea or nay on the proposition 
and the tall man signaled to the boys on the bridge to pull the rope. 
The victim died without a struggle. Next day the body was cut down, 
the coroner imi)aneled a jury aud evidence was taken, after wliich the 
jury returned this verdict: 

"An inquisition taken at Macon, in the county of Macon, state of 
Missouri, on the 30th day of June, 1898, before me. Dr. Guthrie E. 
Scrutchfield, Coroner, upon the view of the body of Henry Williams, 
colored, then and there lying dead, H. W. Doneghy, J. D. Smith, S. A. 
Patterson, H. M. Rubey, J. P. English and C. D. Sharp, good and law- 
ful men, householders of Hudson township, county aforesaid, who being 
sworn and charged diligently to inquire and true presentment make, 
how aud in what manner Henry Williams came to his death, upon 
their honor do say that he came to his death at Macon, Missouri, at 
the hands of two or three hundred men, whose names, identity and 
residence are to these jurors unknown; that said Henry Williams was 
hanged by the neck until dead, between the hours of 12 and 1 o'clock 
a. m., June 30, 1898, with a rope attached to the bridge of the AVabash 
Railroad Company, in the city of jMacou." 

When E. Smith Gipson of College Mouud, died on April 2, 1901, 
he left a will which was one of the most unique documents ever filed in 
a Missouri court. Mr. Gipson was a son of Robert (xipson, a farmer 
whose sketch is ]irinted elsewhere in this work. Smith Gipson was 
a plain, hardworking farmer, who was noted as a good judge of horse- 
flesh and had amassed quite a fortune through shrewd trading. His 
education was not derived from books and contact with scholars, but 
from ])ractical toil. About ten years before his death Mv. Gipson 
was kicked l)y a horse, and for a while it was thought he would die. 
He recovered, and before long made a will, whicji he verily believed 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 221 

•would thwart the lawj'ers. He said there should not be a "whereas," 
an "aforesaid," or an "on or about" in it. He knew how he wanted 
his property to go and he intended to put it down in plain black and 
white so everybody could tell just what he was driving at. But soon 
after his death his will was made au issue in court by some of the heirs 
who did not get what they regarded as a fair divide. 

Soon after the litigation began the will was published in some of 
the neAvspapers. It instantly became a subject for wide discussion. 
Some contended that it meant one thing and some another and others 
held that the will was void because of its lack of clearness. A man in 
Iowa wrote to Probate Judge Buster that he knew eleven different 
languages, and that for a consideration he would come down to ^Nlacon 
and construe the will in such a way as to satisfy everybody. Following 
is a literal copy of the Smith Gipson's last will : 

State of missouri 
conity of macon, 
Coledg mound. 
In the name of God 
amen I C B in the year Lord. 

Know all men that Preasauts Grieting that Beeing sond in mind 
& Good Bodly Helthe in the year of our Lord, A. B. 1890 and Beeing 
in Good Bodly Helthe and of sond minde and memory knowing the 
insertinty of Life and the certainty of Death Having my prefference in 
what way my effects should Be setlecl among my heirs and my wife first 
this is my last Will and testament, that I appont my Wife Catherine 
gipson to have the hom Residents where we now and have for the 
greatest part of our livs in macon county mo on section 22 town-ship 
5 Rang fifteen or as much their of as will suport Her comfortably 
Deuring. Her natural Life & a Decan Burrul at Deathe the form to Be 
Rented to the Hiest and Best Bider for cash at the end of each year 
or the first Day of march of each year Binding the Rentor to give Bond 
and aproved seurty for the Rent of said Lands the guerrduan Here 
after beeing named to Have 10 per cent of all moneys for Rents and the 
momiey that Remains over the Decen support is to Be loaned out on 
cecurity after each years Rents after the first year so that if there is 
enny Remaning from need & wants all so the Rentor pay all tatcs on 
the farm & the 2 track of Lands on each sid of the conty Road and all 
moneyes arising or in anny wis Being or Be Longing to my est tat to be 
Loande at S per cent on good security on Real estat that is not incum- 
bered in enny way till all off my Lands is Soalde it Being Soalde on 
twelve monthes tim. Dock Gijtson and torn Gipson is not to Pay moar 



2>-3 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

then ten dollars per acbar for the forty a doiudeug them on the east & 
James Boker on the South in section 6 six in Eange 17 named Laying- 
East of toms forty and cornoring withe Docks south east cornor in 
section 6 all so grant Gipson is to Have Have thirty five achars a 
joindeng His track in 22 at ten per acliar out of tlie estate when setled 
all so nauey Saurdinny green my Beloved Daughter is to Have the 
Sum of two Hundred Dollars over & above Her Eaquil Part of my 
Estate and Jo Lee Shellon Barger is to Have one Dollar he Beeing 
the son of I Binda Gipson By Berthe, deceased, and when my effects 
is all soald and the Estate all settled I want my cur Eator to sea that 
mary summers my Beloved Daughter Has a full Part of my estat after 
Her Husbat, s, g, summers is Dead in Less she Be comes Penant or in 
Bodly need then she shall such amont as will pervent Bodly Suffering 
and in case of Her Deathe Her part is to Be equaly Devided Between 
Gertrude Summers and mary Genit summerses second son and com- 
manly call Litty and Simon and Lery are in the event of the Deathe of 
their mother are to Hav one Dollar apeac out of my estat and Mary 
Greens part of my estate shall Be Loaned Her Haveng the yearly 
intrest or Be Laid out in Land in Her own nam for Her own self or the 
Heirs of Her Body and if she Dyes in testant then the sam shall Revert 
to Her Brothers and sisters if they stay on Living if not to their chil- 
dren with the exception of Sherman and Lery Summers & Lee Shellon 
Barger & Galus Green they and Lery are to Have one Dollar of said 
estate each of them this amont set is for Her nany staying at Home 
after sh was of Lawfullage & other conciderations it Beng just and 
Right Galus Green is not to Hav ondly one Dollar out of my estate in 
my opinion of Best way is to let my children chos 2 of the Brothers to 
act as credtors an excutors and admr an that they are to Have $150cts 
per day for all the time that they consum predently in settling the 
estat for printing hand Bills & for Probating and other expenses not 
namd. Have full Ray na monney to Be Divided unti all is settled nothing 
to be Soal unDer 12 months credet the paper giveng 2 good solvent 
men as security Bfour the property is moved or the same sho Be Retaken 
and Resoald agane in case that Sarah Green Dyes Before my estate is 
settles the Rest of the Heirs is to shear Her Part of my estate Divided 
Between Grant and Susie tube my Beloved Dan and there children the 
girls are to Have Good Second Rat Horse or mare out of my estate to 
make to make them Eaquel witlio the Buoyes. that has had Horses when 
they were free this Being my Last AVill and testimen signed in Presence 
of former Wills ar void and un Sound. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 223 

Signed Sealed and Witnessed By ot Stringer and I C eon Eow 
atest J. F. Conrow, E. S. Gipson (Seal) Ar Hillerman 

Signed on this the 12 Day of October 1897. 

Judge Shelton's construction of the will is given in his opinion, 
rendered Tuesday, April 21, 1903, as follows : 

"I am asked in this proceeding to construe the will of the late 
Smith Gipson. The petition, as I read it, asks that but two questions 
be passed ujoon. E'irst, does the will dispose all residue of the real 
estate after the life estate to the widow is exhausted? Second, if it 
does not, is the plaintiff, Joseph Lee Shellenbarger, entitled to par- 
ticipate therein with the other heirs? 

"I am of the opinion the remainder in that land is not disposed of 
by the will and if I am correct in this view it shows that plaintiff is 
entitled to his distributive share in the lands. 

"I am of the further opinion that the will does not attempt to dis- 
inherit the plaintiff, Shellenbarger. On tlie contrary it especially 
provides that he shall have one dollar out of the estate in excess of his 
equal share. 

"In view of the answer in this case and at the suggestion of the 
counsel for defendant I have thought to go somewhat beyond the allega- 
tion of the petition in my tindings, hoping therebj" to avoid compli- 
cations. The language of the will here referred to is made to certain 
portions of land, by Dock, Tom and Grant Gipson confers no title on 
them, but accords them an option which they may excerice or not. Dock 
and Tom at any time after the testator's death, provided the rights of 
creditors are not interfered with, Grant's to be exercised only at the 
final settlement of the estate, and then only as acting for any indebted- 
ness to the estate." 

The long and costly litigation between John Massengale of Macon 
county and Elijah E. Kice of Chariton county, over a thirty dollar 
steer, attracted great interest. Both Massengale and Eice were born 
in Wayne county, Kentucky, not very far from each other. The two 
men were typical farmers and cattle men. They were alike in spirit 
and determination. Rice was born July 20, 1849. Massengale was 
a few years the elder. Eice had been a Missourian about thirty years at 
the time the lawsuit developed. Massengale ranched in Wyoming for 
many years. Out there they called him "Missouri John." He is a 
great big, good-natured fellow, and the cattlemen thought a great deal 
of him. Massengale came to Missouri and settled near Keota. In 
September, 1899, he missed a steer out of his bunch and later on was 
informed that the animal was in Rice's herd. Massengale went to 



22J: HISTORY OF :\IACOX COUNTY 

see Rice about it, and the two went out together and looked at the 
steers. Massengale picked out one which he claimed was his missing 
animal. Rice said he was mistaken ; that it was his property. Massen- 
gale filed a replevin suit before Squire M. J. Lane at Bynumville. At 
the first trial before the justice Massengale was represented by D. R. 
Hughes at Macon. Albert D. Nortoni, now one of the judges of the 
St. Louis Court of Appeals, was the attorney for Rice. The first trial 
occurred on December 2, 1899. The village was full of witnesses and 
spectators. It was long after midnight when the attorneys concluded 
their argimients. The jury failed to agree. The second trial was had 
January 6, 1900. This time the verdict went for the plaintiff, Massen- 
gale. Rice appealed the case to the Circuit Court and there was a trial 
before Judge John P. Butler at Salisbury in February, 1900. The jury 
failed to agree and the case was re-tried in the same court in September, 
1900. In all this time the number of witnesses had steadily increased, 
and the costs were piling up high. 

Neither of the litigants would have suffered nuich over the loss of 
the steer, but having put their hands to the plough they could not turn 
back. The lawyers had several conferences with a view to settlement, 
but no progress was made in that direction. 

At the trial in September, 1900, the jury returned a verdict for 
the defendant Rice. The case was appealed by Massengale. One of the 
main grounds of objection urged by his attorney was that defendant's 
counsel, J. A. Collett, had used this language to the jury in his closing 
argument : 

"Massengale obtained his start and made his money by rounding 
up unbranded cattle in the West, and stealing them and branding them 
as his own." 

In order to show that there was no justilication for this language 
the plaintiff printed the entire record of the trial, which made a brief 
of 241 pages. The Ap]iellate Court remanded the case for re-trial. A 
change of venue was taken to Fayette, Howard county. At the first 
trial at Fayette the jury disagreed, but in the second trial a verdict 
was rendered for the defendant Rice. This made seven trials alto- 
gether. It is estimated that the entire proceedings cost in the neigh- 
borhood of $5,000. The attorneys for Mr. ^lassengale decided, aftgr 
the final trial in Fayette, that the record didn't justify an appeal. Mr. 
Massengale said to them : 

"It is with you gentlemen to say whether it shall be appealed or 
not. If you want to try them another whirl in the higher court I am with 
you." 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 225 

The steer, ■vrliicli was described in the evidence by Mr. Massengale 
as "a dark red steer, a round body, rather a small dark two-year-old, 
a little under average size — what I would call a dark red steer, with a 
white spot in its forehead, worth about thirty dollars," grew up tall and' 
large until it became the biggest animal in Mr. Rice's herd. Several 
parties offered him $200 for the steer for the purpose of showing it 
at country fairs and agricultural meetings, and arrangements had been 
made for such exhibitions when the animal took sick one day and died. 
Rice said had it lived until that fall he intended giving a barbecue on 
his place and inviting all the attorneys and witnesses, as well as Mr. 
John Massengale, to come over and he his guests. The old steer would 
have been one of the features of interest on that occasion. 

The La Plata division of the Macon Circuit Court was established 
to meet a growing demand for a civil tribunal in the northern part of 
the count}'. In the petition presented to the Twenty-Ninth General 
Assembl}^ I^raying for the authorization of the Court the following 
names appear: J. C. Doneghy, John T. Doneghy, E. A. Griffin, James 
I. Sears, S. K. Sears, T. J. Kellam, G. M. Phipps, J. M. Shaip, Joseph 
Park, Cyrus C. Wood, M. Owsley, Wm. Easley, T. M. Easley, Henry 
Van Berg, J. D. Miller, W. D. Powell. 

Colonel John F. Williams of Macon was Member of the Legis- 
lature when the bill was introduced. 

Following is the text of the act creating the La Plata Division, 
Macon County Circuit Court : 

"It is hereby provided that the Judge of the Twenty-Seventh 
(now the Second) Judicial Circuit Court shall hold three terms of the 
Circuit Court each year in the town of La Plata, in the county of Macon, 
at the following times : On the second Mondays in Ajiril, August and 
December. 

■ ' ' Said Court shall be held in the town of La Plata in a room to be 
selected by the Board of Trustees of said town, and they are hereby 
given all power to appropriate money necessary to pay all the rents 
and other incidental expenses necessary thereto. 

"Said Court shall have concurrent original and appellate civil 
jurisdiction in all that part of Macon coimty lying north of the township 
line running east and west between townships 58 and 59. 

"The Circuit Clerk of Macon county shall attend such Court in 
person or by deputy, and perform such duties as may be required of 
him by law, for which he shall receive the same fees as are now pro- 
vided by law for similar service in like Courts of record. 

"The sheriff of Macon county shall attend said Court in person or 



226 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

by deputy, and perform such duties as may be required of Mm by the 
law. 

"No judgment, nor levy of the execution issued thereon shall be a 
lien upon any real estate of said Macon county until a duly certified 
abstract of such judgment shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the 
Circuit Court of Macon county, at Macon City; but thereafter shall 
have the same force and effect as though judgment had been rendered 
in the Macon Circuit Court at Macon City, and the execution issued 
thereon. 

"All general laws now in force, or which may hereafter be passed, 
regulating and governing Courts of record in civil cases, and all laws 
defining the practice and proceedings in such Court, not repugnant to 
this Act, are declared to be in force and effect in the Court hereby 
established. 

"Approved April 28, 1877." 

Amended in 1879. See Session Acts 1879, page 84. 

Sometime afterward the terms at La Plata were reduced to two, 
one being held in March and the other in November. At the General 
Assembly in 1909, however, Mr. John T. Barker, representative from 
Macon county, introduced a bill creating another term at La Plata, 
to be begun the first Monday in September. This bill was made a law, 
and La Plata now has three terms of Court, the same as provided for 
by the original Act. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The Bond Indebtness — First Subscription to Missouri and Missis- 
sippi Railroad — Mandamus by Supreme Court Compelling Issue 
OF Bonds — Mass Meeting Approves Court's Order — The Second 
Subscription — General Protests — Determined Efforts to Find 
Money to Build Ro.u) — Litigation Scares Financiers Off — The 
Growing Debt — Efforts to Compromise — County- Court Against 
it in 1894 — Proposition Overwhelmingly Defeated — Mr. Gary's 
Plan for a Settlement in 1904 — Strong Campaign For and 
Against — Views of Both Sides — Advocates of Settlement 
Defeated by' Small Majority — Present Status of the Debt — 
The Legal Phase of the Case. 

Directly following the Civil war the West was characterized by 
unparalleled business activity. Railroads, factories, mills and all sorts 
of enterprises were projected and the work hurried feverishly. It 
seemed money was plentiful and everybody was anxious to get his 
share while it lasted. The country had dropped the musket and eagerly 
grasped the jilow. Every train and steamboat brought immigrants 
to Missouri. 

It was in this period that the Missouri and Mississippi railroad 
was born. Out of it grew the bonded indebtedness which yet hangs 
over Macon county. 

The subject of the M. and M. bonds will be treated historically 
and then legally. Under the first division will be presented the early 
stages, the struggle for life and the death of the road, and the latter 
results of an attempt to compromise the indebtedness. The second 
division will discuss the record made by the ease in the courts during 
nearly forty years of litigation. 

The writer has clearly in mind that there are two sharply defined 
views concerning this case. One is that the bondholders can never 
realize materially on their holdings, and that the people of Macon 
county can never be made to pay, as they express it, for "something 
they did not get." The other element contends that the decisions 
of the courts have been uniformly against the county, and that event- 
ually the debt and interest will have to be paid. 

237 



228 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

Of eighty-five Missouri counties and towns that have labored under 
the burdens of railroad bonds all have settled but three. 

Colonel A. L. Gilstrap was the leading promoter of the Missouri 
and Mississippi railroad enterprise. He was one of the pioneer resi- 
dents of Macon county, and noted for his energj' and public spirit. He 
made known his intention to build the road, which was to run, eventually, 
from Keokuk, Iowa, to Kansas City by way of Macon. Several parties 
of means were associated with Colonel Gilstrap. A. B. Hyde was resi- 
dent engineer. Some time after the organization Major H. S. Glaze 
became the treasurer. General F. A. Jones of Macon was secretary 
and general attorney. He was also a large stockholder. 

On February 20, 1865, the General Assembly of the State passed 
an act to incorporate the Missouri and Mississippi Railroad Company, 
to build a railroad from Macon City through Edina, Knox county, to 
or near the northeast corner of the State, in the direction of Keokuk, 
Iowa, or Alexandria, Mis.souri. Afterwards the company was author- 
ized to extend its road southwest from Macon to some point on the 
Missouri river. By the act referred to it was made "lawful for the 
County Court of any county desiring so to do, to subscribe to the capital 
stock of the company and issue bonds therefor, and levy a tax to pay 
the same, not exceeding one-twentieth of one per cent upon the assessed 
value of the taxable property for each j^ear. ' ' 

The Macon County Court subscribed $175,000 to the stock of the 
road on April 2, 1867, without submitting the matter to a vote of the 
people. In the fall of that year the Supreme Court of the State, by 
peremptory writ of mandamus, compelled the County Court to issue 
bonds in payment of the subscription. 

At that time the County Judges were A. C. Atterberry, James R. 
AldeiTQan and W. D. Roberts. 

From articles in the local papers of that date the first subscription 
seems to have been popular. The people were anxious for railroads, 
and it was thought the new project would jirove an important auxiliary 
in building up the county. At a largely attended mass-meeting at 
Macon, presided over by General F. A. Jones, these resolutions were 
adopted : 

"Resolved, That we have heard with feelings of great pleasure 
of the decision of the Supreme Court of Missouri ordering a peremp- 
tory mandamus to the County Court of Macon county to issue the 
amount of stock subscribed to the Missouri and Mississippi Railroad 
in the bonds of said county. 

"Resolved, That laying aside all points of difference, we heartily 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 239 

co-operate and unite in all legitimate measures for the earl}' com- 
pletion of said road and urge U2)ou the citizens of the counties North, 
East and South of Macon, interested in the Missouri and Mississippi 
Eailroad, to earnestlj' press the subject upon the attention of the officers 
of their respective counties and the community generally." (From the 
Macon Argus, reporting a meeting held October 25, 1867.) 

Editorially the Argus said : 

"The railroad meeting at the Court House last Friday night was 
a spontaneous outpouring of the people to testify their gratification at 
the successful culmination of the suit establishing the legality of the 
subscription to the Missouri and Mississippi Railroad. No sooner had 
the telegraph announced the decision than the news spread over town 
like fire upon a prairie, and a meeting was called at once to give expres- 
sion to the feelings of the people. All seemed to partake in the general 
rejoicing, believing that the success of the road would add universally 
to the wealth and prosperity of both city and county. John W. Henry's 
speech was full of telling points and reached chords that vibrated the 
audience like an electric shock." 

It is stated by a party who seems to have been in touch with the 
early operations of the road that the first appropriation was only 
expected to be used in bridging, the purchase of ties and grading. It 
was hoped by then some capitalists would be found to take hold of the 
enterprise, lay the" steel, equi]i the I'oad with rolling stock, erect stations, 
etc. The right-of-way and the work done upon it would be offered as 
security for the future investment. But wages and material were high, 
and the first subscription by the counties proved inadequate to build 
the roadbed. Some work had been done northeast of Macon, and the 
roadbed constructed from Salisbury to Glasgow. 

A call was made on the Macon County Court for a second appropri- 
ation of $175,000. This came in the shape of a motion filed with the 
court in February, 1870, by Judge James A. Clark, then attorney for 
the road. Judges Alderman and Eoberts were still on the county 
bench. Judge C. P. Hess was the new member, who succeeded Judge 
Atterberry. 

In a statement published in The Macon Republican of October 28, 
1892, when he was the Republican nominee for Judge of the Second 
Judicial Circuit, Judge Hess stated that he strongly opposed this 
second issue of bonds from the first, Imt when he saw they were going 
to be issued over his objection, he named important conditions contin- 
gent upon his favoring the issue, the conditions being a pledge for the 
faithful use of the money and that the shops be located at Macon, and 



230 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

that the line should pass through Macon within 400 yards of the depots 
of the Hannibal and St. Joe, and the North Missouri roads. 

The second subscription was not popular. Meetings in protest 
were held all over the county. Suits were instituted to stop the issue 
of bonds. At the same time there were those insisting on the County 
Court that the second subscription was absolutely necessary, else the 
amount contributed in the other subscription would be lost in the col- 
lapse of the road. The second subscription was made May 2, 1870, 
amid considerable excitement. 

The opponents of the issue declared the first money had not been 
honestly used in construction work, and that the second subscription 
would likewise fail of its purpose. 

It was not long before the road landed in hard lines again. The 
bonds were scattered, being bought up by investors in many of the 
large cities. Still the supply of money was inadequate. Contractors 
filed liens and attached everything they could find. At one time a 
consigTiment of steel was shipped to Macon, in care of Major Glaze, the 
treasurer, with instructions not to let it leave his possession without 
the money. During his temporary absence from the city some of the 
track builders seized the steel and laid it on the ties north of town. For 
a very short time the Missouri and Mississipi^i railroad actually pos- 
sessed a piece of track. But when Major Glaze returned, he made them 
tear up the track and place it back in his possession until paid for. 
Part of the steel was eventually used in laying the Wabash track from 
Salisbury to Glasgow. 

Some agents of the railroad company, in a determined effort to 
raise funds, went to London and opened negotiations with some finan- 
cial men there, with fair prospects of success, it is said, when a notice 
appeared in the London Times to the effect that investors in M. and 
M. securities would buy a law-suit. This closed the money boxes of 
London. Aftenvards a man by the name of Vandewater, a contractor 
of Pana, Illinois, and some St. Louis men came up to look over the 
situation. These parties made an attempt to handle the property, and, 
it is said, had arranged with Brayton Ives, a railroad builder of New 
York, to raise the funds for the steel and rolling stock. One of the 
syndicate was connected with a r(5lling mill where rails were made. The 
banlvers of New York were about to close a deal for advancing the 
necessary money when a telegram came to Ives from Missouri stating 
there was imminent danger of suits all along the line. So Ives stood 
from under and passed from the stage as a figure in M. and M. history. 

Major Lewis, president of the road. Judge Clark, Mr. Tisdale of 



HISTORY OP MACON COUNTY 231 

Clark county, and a stockholder from Knox county, made a final effoi't, 
and attempted to lay some steel, but the rolling mill people demanded 
the cash, and the work stopped. That seems to have been the last 
attempt at construction. It is said that many of the men who had 
taken active hold of the enterprise at the start lost nearly all their 
fortune. The road was dead, but the bonds still lived. 

From the beginning of the suits to recover on these bonds the 
county's sentiment was strongly against a settlement. The people had 
received nothing; in equity they should be required to give nothing. 
That was the argiunent here. 

The bondholders kept their judgment alive and added up their 
interest. There were those who said quietly that the debt was col- 
lectible, but it was not popular to make such a statement in public. 

That was the situation when Gen. John B. Henderson of Wash- 
ing-ton, T. K. Skinker, Gen. James M. Lewis, St. Louis, S. A. Saunders, 
Springfield, Illinois, and Daniel B. Kinder, Litchfield, Illinois, all attor- 
neys representing M. and M. bondholders, visited Macon in November, 
1894, and began to take soundings regarding a compromise of the 
debt, at that time amounting to $1,100,000. They petitioned the County 
Court (Judges W. H. Terrell, Gran Goodson and Hammond Ward) to 
order an election on a proposition to settle at fifty-nine and three 
quarters, jjayable in new five per cent bonds of Macon county. 

The names of 215 resident tax-jsayers were signed to the petition. 
In a statement isued by the County Court it stated that in accordance 
with the law it would be required to order an election, but "we do most 
emphatically oppose the adojition of said proposition, for the reason 
we believe the rate named in said proposition to be entirely too high 
and unjustifiable imder the circumstances." 

The election was ordered for December 15, 1894. The County 
Court advised the peoj^le to "vote an emphatic 'No,' on the 
proposition." 

There was not much of a campaign. It was clearly apparent, even 
to the bondholders' attorneys, that the proposition would be defeated. 
The vote against the proposition was 5,020; in favor of it, 67. Most of 
those signing the petition for an election did not vote, or voted against 
the compromise. 

In 1904 Mr. Theodore Gary, after the expenditure of considerable 
time and means, presented a plan by which it was hoped, and claimed, 
that all of the indebtedness on the M. and M. bonds could be settled for 
eighteen cents on the dollar. At that time the total debt was a little 
over $1,600,000. It was figured that at eighteen cents on the dollar it 



232 HISTORY OF JIACON COUNTY 

could be settled for $300,000, or $50,000 less than the original subscrip- 
tion by the Macon County Court to the M. & M. bonds. Mr. Gary, 
in his usual careful manner, began a systematic campaig-n. He suc- 
ceeded in interesting a large number of men of affairs in all the to^vn- 
ships, and a committee of fifty was appointed to work up interest in the 
project of compromising and settling the -debt. In May there was a 
meeting of the committee and citizens in the rooms of the Macon Com- 
mercial Club. This meeting was attended by General John B. Hen- 
derson of Washington and Arthur C. Huidekoper of Meadville, Pennsyl- 
vania, two large holders of the M. & M. indebtedness. Both General 
Henderson and Mr. Huidekoper stated at that meeting that they would 
accept eighteen cents on the dollar in settlement of their holdings. 
There was a vote of the committee, all of whom went on record as 
unanimously favoring the proposition. 

Mr. E. G. Mitchell, attorney for the county, stated at the meeting 
that the amount in judgment at that time was $1,109,131.53. Interest 
due on the judgment up to the first of Augiist, 1904, $-101,099.51. Small 
warrants, $86,686.86. Court costs, $4,283.42. Total indebtedness up 
to August 1, 1904, $1,601,201.32. 

Both General Henderson and Mr. Huidekoper addressed the 
meeting. 

Mr. Gary stated that in 1901 he ])ersonally saw nearly all of the 
bondholders, and that he only met two who would not acept the com- 
promise. Since then he understood one of these men who held about 
$22,000 was willing to come in. Mr. Gary stated that no very consider- 
able amount would stay out of the compromise. 

Mr. A. W. Gilstrap said that Mr. Gary had been acting as the 
official agent of Macon county in this matter and had doubtless been 
put to a great deal of trouble and expense. He wanted to know whether 
Mr. Gary would have a claim on Macon county for the trouble he had 
been to and whether he would be paid by the other side of the house. 

To this Mr. Gary rejilied that he never expected to ask Macon 
county to pay him a cent commission. He sujiposed that the creditors 
would pay him something, not in any case more than five per cent 
would he ask for. 

Mr. Gary went on to state that he was willing for the committee 
to know everything that he had done, and said all the correspondence 
he had was subject to investigation at any time; that he had no claim 
whatever against Macon county. 

Mr. Gilstrap said that "Certainly, we have no fault to find with 
that." 



HISTORY OF ifACOX COUNTY 233 

In its issue reporting the meeting- the Macon Republican presented 
the following as the complete list of the committee of fifty: John 
Scovern, J. H. Wright, A. W. Gilstrap, D. B. Moore, Lon Hayner, J. J. 
Davis, J. G. VanCleve, J. P. Kem, W. G. Walker, E. L. Englisii, Edward 
B. Clements, Macon; Robert H. Kern, New Cambria; B. E. Moody, 
Excello; John A. Niekell, Nickleton; F. W. Allen, Callao; John F. 
Coulter, Excello; Jefferson Morrow, Callao; W. S. Watson, H. W. 
Doneghy, Macon; J. T. Doneghy, La Plata; E. D. Allen, Callao; James 
1). Miles, Atlanta; Frederick Sandner, C. D. Sharp, Capt. Ben Eli 
Guthrie, Harry M. Rubey, Ben Franklin, John T. Gellhaus, Thomas 
Bibby, Aleck Leathers, C. S. Tuley, Macon; A. J. Brown, Anabel; 
Judge John Williams, Excello; W. E. Floyd, Axtell; H. W. Graves, 
New Cambria ; W. E. ^lurlin, Bevier ; E. J. Jones, New Cambria ; W. O. 
Clarkson, Callao; F. W. Blees, Macon; A. S. Ray, La Plata; J. B. 
Goodding, La Plata ; Aucil Milam, Macon ; Gran Goodson. New Cambria ; 
John Jones, New Camliria ; George Wisdom, Macon. 

In a letter to the Macon Republican the following week Harry M. 
Rubey stated that his name had been erroneously placed upon the com- 
mittee list, and that he was not a member of it. He said, however, tliat 
he was in favor of compromising the debt at eighteen cents on the 
dollar, "if it can be effected in tlie right way, and I will do all I can to 
accomplish it as a private citizen who is interested, because I am 
a ]iroeprty owner and taxpayer, and liecause I think it's to the best 
interest of the county." 

There was a meeting of the committee of fifty and citizens of 
Macon county in the Circuit Court room on November 21, 1904. This 
was the opening gun of the campaigTi on the compromise issue. The 
meeting was called to order by J. J. Davis, chairman. R. G. Mitchell 
acted as secretary. 

Mr. Gary presented his plan of compromise as follows: 

"In the event the compromise is voted by the citizens of Macon 
county, a committee who will be owners of $100,000 par of the registered 
warrants now registered against the county, being the first of such 
warrants registered, will not cancel these warrents, but will give an 
option to the county to purchase them at eighteen cents on the dollar 
whenever the remaining outstanding debt comes in at the same price, 
dejiositing said warrants with a copy of the option and agreement with 
a trustee to be named by the court, with an understanding with the 
county that the ^L & M. fund of one-twentieth of 1 per cent shall con- 
tinue to be levied until the outstanding indebtedness is settled to the 
satisfaction of the countv, and that all of the M. & M. fund shall be 



234 IIISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

applied to the pa}Taent of interest at par on the warrants deposited 
with the trustee. The trustee to be instructed to pay the owners of 
the $100,000 Avarrants 6 per cent on the $18,000 until principal of 
$18,000 and six per cent interest is paid ; the county agreeing not to issue 
any more small warrants or to lend assistance to taxes being paid in 
M. & M. warrants. Trustees to be authorized to collect the intei'est, first 
pay the interest on the $18,000 and to deposit balance in the coimty 
treasury, all sums collected as interest on the par value of the warrants 
over and above the amount necessary to pay the interest on uncan- 
celled warrants under this agreement at 18 cents on the dollar. Then 
continue to run the county's finances as it has been done heretofore 
in all matters except in the matter of the M. & M. fund, which will be 
collected and paid into the treasury in cash and drawn out on the reg- 
istered warrants. This plan permits the county to continue to le\^' the 
one-twentieth of 1 per cent and provides its absorption as interest on 
the warrants. The interest on warrants being more than the income 
from the M. «& M. fund makes an eft'ectual bar to anyone except the 
holders of these registered warrants from drawing anything from this 
fimd. 

"The advantages of proceeding with a compromise seem to me 
to be, without a single exception, all in favor of the county. In the 
first place, if we are able to prevent the creditors from receiving any- 
thing at all on a million and a half dollar debt, we can continue to do 
so on $150,000, proAnded we absorb the M. & M. fund, and this plan 
fully provides for that. In the event new litigation is brought and is 
successful, the county would not be liable for any amount except the 
$150,000, while now, if the creditors are successful in any new action, 
they would have a claim against us in excess of $1,500,000. 

"It is thought as soon as those standing out for a higher rate learn 
they are successfully barred, they would come in and accept the com- 
promise. I am told by a man who has probably had more to do with 
compromises than any other man living, in some eighty-odd compro- 
mises, in no instance but one was all the debt brought in when compi'o- 
mise was first voted, and in that instance they paid 85 cents, and in no 
instance have any of the creditors who stood out been able to get more 
than the compromise price. 

"In adopting this plan, there would be no new |)oint to litigate. 
The ground has been threshed over. We would not change our plan of 
handling the business; we would continue to ]e\y one-twentieth of 1 
per cent and the general fund is all taken up 1)y general expenses. This 
should be continued until such a time as we could settle the outstanding 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 235 

debt at the compromise price of 18 cents on the dollar, with interest to 
December 31, 1904. By taking up $1,450,000 of the debt, the remainder 
would not be worth one cent more than it is now, provided the one-twen- 
tieth of 1 per cent is absorbed, because a debt against Macon county 
for $1,500,000 with power to enforce collection is just as good as one for 
$150,000. The count}' is perfectly good for either amount. The impres- 
sion has gotten out that to cancel a part of the debt enhances the value 
of the balance. This would be true if the $5,000 derived from the spe- 
cial M. & M. tax is available; if not, then it is not true. It would not be 
true because all the special tax would be absorbed. 

"In view of all the facts, I recommend that we submit the proposi- 
tion to a vote, because I fear that this very favorable settlement can 
never be obtained again for a majority of these judgments standing 
against Macon county. The facts seem not to be realized, as straight 
jiadgment of hundreds of thousands of dollars lying against a perfectly 
solvent count}', one that is amply able to pay dollar for dollar if a plan 
should be discovered by the creditors to enforce settlement. Suppose 
this was an individual matter, what would you do? Let us treat this at 
close range. At least, let us use our influence for rational conservative 
action. I am so well acquainted with the facts and the private opinion 
of some of our local attorneys, some of them are now present, that I 
want to eai-nestly urge careful consideration. I am now talking to you 
as a citizen interested only, as you are, in the best interests of the 
county, because, so far, not a creditor has agreed to pay me one cent and 
I pledge you my word and honor I don't know that they will ever agree 
to do so. It's all I could do to get them to agree to the 18 cents. 

"I leave the whole matter in the hands of the committee. What- 
ever they do, I shall cheerfully abide b}', but my last word is to be 
careful. Don't turn this chance to cancel oyer 90 per cent of this judg- 
ment debt at 18 cents on the dollar down without submitting it to a 
vote, unless you feel like you will be in a position to defend your action. 
For my part I want to go on record here and now in favor of submitting 
and working for a compromise for as much of the debt as we can get in 
at the price, and fight the balance until we can get it at the comjiromise 
price. ' ' 

The paper read by Mr. Gary was discussed freely. 

Mr. Gary was asked : ' ' Suppose the judgments were held by fellows 
who don't come inf" 

To this Mr. Gary replied: "It is judgments we are buying. We 
have contracted with these men to come in." 

Mr. Gary stated that 90 per cent of the debt was in the contract. 



236 HISTOEY OF MACON COUXTY 

Major B. E. Dysart, R. G. Mitchell, Ben Franklin and others spoke 
in favor of Mr. Gary's plan. A motion was made and unanimously 
adopted to present the petition to the County Court asking for an order 
of election on the compromise proposition as set out. 

There were 502 signers to this petition. 

The petition was presented to the County Court the following 
Monday. As representatives of the petitioners were Web M. Rubey, 
B. E. Dysart, E. G. Mitchell, Ben Franklin, W. S. Watson, Dr. E. B. 
Clements, A. W. Gilstrap, John Scovern, J. B. Goodding, W. E. Floyd, 
Theodore Gary, E. McKee, Major S. G. Brock, Dr. F. W. Allen, A. S. 
Eay, Judge J. J. Davis, J. H. AVright and others. 

Opposing the proposed submission to a vote of the people were 
James Sparrow, Ben F. Stone and N. M. Moody. 

An election was oi-dered for Friday, December 30, 1904. 

A campaign in the interest of the compromise was swiftly begun. 
Meetings were held in Macon nearly every week and sjDeakers were sent 
out over the county. The Macon papers and most of those in the towns 
of the county favored the compromise. The Macon papers reported all 
the meetings at the county seat in full, hiring a special stenogi'apher for 
the purpose. 

Circuit Judge Shelton spoke at Macon, La Plata and other places, 
urging the citizens to vote for the compromise in the interest of their 
property. There was a counter-campaign by those opposing the com- 
promise on the Gary plan. They held meetings here and all over the 
county in the same manner as did those favoring the compromise. 
Among the leaders who opposed the compromise were Fred L. Thomp- 
son, county school superintendent ; James W. A^Hiite, E. S. Matthews, 
N. M. Moody, Joseph Park, Dr. T. J. Norris, P. M. Gross, Paul Burton, 
county clerk, and Dr. C. W. Eeagan. These gentlemen insisted that 
they were not opposed to a settlement of the debt, but that they did not 
think Mr. Gary's plan was in all respects what it should be. 

In a letter to the Macon pa]iers Mr. ]\Ioody voiced "his sentiment of 
the opposition in this language : 

"One \'ery important point for the voter to take into consideration 
is whether or not he is in favor of settling a ])art of this debt and leav- 
ing unsettled as much as $160,000 to $170,000 of said debt. I honestly 
believe that to settle a part of this debt, as proposed, will have the elTect 
of making that part of the debt unsettled more valuable." 

The following, prepared by one of the leaders opposing a com- 
promise. eml)odies the main jwints of his side of the controversy : 

"Those wlio opposed the compromise of the M. & M. railroad debt 



mSTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 237 

at 18 cents confideiitly believed that, iuasinucli as the bondholders had 
litigated the county for more than thirty years and had failed, they 
had in that time certainly exhausted every legal means to which they 
could resort, and that therefore they could not force the payment of 
their claims. 

"They had been taught that the county could legally pay all its 
necessary current expenses before it could be required to apply any of 
the county revenue on the payment of the M. & M. debt. 

"They believed that the county could never be compelled to levy 
and collect more than 55 cents on the hundred dollars for all pur- 
poses, including county expenses and the pajTiient of the bonded debt, 
whether that debt was in the shape of bonds, judgments or warrants, 
that being provided for by the statutes. 

"They also believed that the county revenue would not increase 
more rapidly than the growth of county expenditures and, consequently, 
there would be nothing left to apply on the debt. 

"A great many believed that a considerable x^ortion of the debt 
would not come into tlie compromise and that to compromise a portion 
of the debt would be bad policy, for the part of the debt that remained 
unsettled would be greatly enhanced in value and would force the county 
to make the same levies and continue the same tactics that had been 
resorted to for years. 

' ' Quite a few, doubtless, thought that, inasmuch as the bond-holder 
was offering to settle at 18 cents, it was good proof that he had aban- 
doned all hope of ever being able to force the payment of his claim. 

"It is a fact that cannot be disputed that the legal procedure being 
pursued by the bondholders at the time of this publication could have 
been resorted to at any time since the bond litigation begun, with the 
same effect as now. It therefore follows that all have been deceived 
as to our legal status in the matter of the M. & M. bonded debt." 

The balance remaining out was one of the main points in the con- 
troversy. It was answered again and again by the advocates of the 
comiiromise by stating that practically all of the debt would come in, 
and that the balance could be so handled that the holders would not 
realize any more than those who came in. Other contentions of those 
urging a settlement will be treated under the legal subdivision. Among 
the more prominent advocates and workers in the interest of the com- 
promise were E. McKee, Ben Eli Guthrie, Major B. R. Dysart, R. G. 
Mitchell, Ben Franklin, R. A. Guthrie and all the member of the com- 
mittee of fifty. The vote was cast Friday, December 30, 1904, with the 
following result: 



238 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

To fund bonded indebtedness — yes, 2,397. 

To fund indebtedness — no, 2,729. 

Following the defeat of the compromise proposition, the Macon 
Eepublican printed this editorial : 

"The men who favored the defeated proposition have had their 
inning. It is now the turn at the bat of the men who opposed the com- 
promise. If they do not wish to be set down as irresponsible leaders 
and as men unsafe to follow, they will proceed at once to secure for the 
i:)eople a better proposition under which we can get rid of the debt. 
They told the people of this county if they would vote down the 18 
cents compromise they could get rid of the debt much cheaper. We 
assume they were sincere. We therefore urge that they now go to 
work and secure this better proposition. They owe it to themselves— 
they owe it to the people. ' ' 

Immediately upon the failure to settle, the bondholders put their 
attorneys to work and suits of various characters were instituted against 
the county and pressed with vigor. These suits are now pending in 
the Federal Courts. 

The following table of the M. & M. indebtedness was prepared 
by Tatlow & Mitchell, Springfield, Missouri, attorneys for the judg- 
ment creditors : 

STATEMENT SHOWING TOTAL AMOUNT OF THE INDEBTED- 
NESS OF MACON COUNTY, MISSOURI, EXCLUSIVE OF 
COSTS, JANUARY 1, 1910 ; THE AMOUNT DRAWING INTER- 
EST AND THE RATES OF SAME; THE AMOUNT NOT 
DRAWING INTEREST AND THE AMOUNT OF INTEREST 
THE SAME AVOULD DRAW IF IT WERE COMPOUNDED. 

Total debt, January 1, 1910 $2,034,484.36 

Total amount drawing interest 1,489,692.27 

Total amount not drawing interest $544,792.19 





Debt Bears Interest as 


Follows : 




Principal. 


Rate. 


Int. 1 Dav. 


Int. 1 Mo. 


Int. 1 Yr. 


$1,143,826.68 


6 


$191.01 


$5,719.14 


$68,692.62 


56,337.95 


7 


10.94 


328.62 


3,943.66 


123,354.99 


8 


27.39 


822.41 


9,868.40 


166,172.65 


10 


46.20 


1,384.72 


16,617.30 


$1,489,692.27 


$275.54 


$8,254.89 


$99,058.98 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 239 

Interest bearing debt $1,489,692.27 

Interest rate per day 275.54 

Interest rate per month 8,254.89 

Interest rate per year 99,058.98 

Debt not drawing- interest $544,792.09 

Average rate of interest .0665 

Principal. Int. 1 Day. Int. 1 Mo. Int. 1 Yr. 

$544,792.09 $100.64' $3,019.05 $36,228.65 



If Interest on Total Debt Were Compounded on January 1, 1910, the 
Interest From That Time Would Be : 

Principal. Int. 1 Day. Int. 1 Mo. Int. 1 Yr. 

$1,489,692.27 $275.54 $8,254.89 $99,058.98 

544,792.09 100.64 3,019.05 36,228.65 



$2,034,484.36 $376.18 $11,273.94 $135,287.63 



Legal Phases. (By Ben Eli Guthrie.) The Legislature of Mis- 
souri, in February, 1865, passed an act incorporating the Missouri 
and Mississippi Railroad Company and authorizing the counties by 
their county courts to subscribe to the capital stock thereof, and to 
levy a tax of one-twentieth of 1 per cent to pay the same. At that tima 
the County Court levied for its ordinary running expenses 50 cents. 
It was generally understood that this included road purposes. But, 
oddly enough, in 1868 the Legislature passed a road law, which, it is 
claimed, authorized the County Court to levy an additional tax of 40 
cents as a special road fund. The fact is, however, that after the pas- 
sage of that act Macon County did levy 40 cents for road purposes up 
to and including the year 1871, or at least under this act or some other 
act it levied a special road tax in addition to the common fund of the 
county. 

In April, 1867, the County Court of Macon County, under the act 
above named, did subscribe for $175,000 of the capital stock of said rail- 
road company and thereafter refused to issue its bonds to pay for the 
same under the terms of the act. The railroad company ap])lied to the 
Supreme Court of Missouri for a mandamus compelling the court to 
issue the bonds in accordance with its order. This case appears in the 



240 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

41 ]\Io., 453, and resulted in an order from the Supreme Court that the 
bonds should be issued. 

It is well to remark that at the time these bonds were issued, in 
1867, the assessed value of the taxable property of the county was 
$5,145,810 and that in 1872 the assessed value was only $5,466,434. In 
1870 it was only $4,874,467. 

Another curious thing connected with the legal history of these 
bonds is that, early in 1870, the Legislature passed an act to amend this 
act, incorporating the Missouri & Mississippi Eailroad Company and 
increased the rate of taxation from one-twentieth of 1 per cent to 
one-half of 1 per cent. This act was enrolled and properly certified 
to the governor. The governor has a recollection of the bill being before 
him and of an intention to sign it, but he could never recollect signing 
it, and the signed bill never got to the Secretary of State's office, and 
consequently never became a law. It has, therefore, cut no figure in the 
litigation. It does show that the Legislature interpreted the act of 1865 
as contining the bondholder to the fund arising from the levy of one- 
twentieth of 1 per cent, and finding later that that was not enough, 
they undertook to amend the act and increase the rate 50 cents to the 
one hundred dollars. 

"On the I2d of May, 1870, the County Court of Macon county took 
an additional $175,000 of the cajDital stock of the railroad and, without 
mandamus, issued its bonds to pay for the same. This is the subscrip- 
tion over which the popular indignation was aroused. In 1872 a new 
County Court was elected, which, for the year 1873, levied only 50 
cents on the hundred dollars for the common fund, and 5 cents for the 
M. & 'M. fund. And so the coupons on the bonds went to protest because 
of want of funds to pay them. 

In 1873 action was brought by mandamus against the County Court 
to compel them to levy a special tax to pay the coupons on liond No. 1 
of the first issue. The trial court held that they could only levy a 
special tax of one-twentieth of 1 per cent and no more. This opinion 
was affirmed by the Supreme Court and is reported in the 56 Mo., 126. 
This is one of the leading cases connected with the litigation. 

Other counties besides Macon subscribed to this stock, among them 
being Clark and Knox. Default was made in these counties about the 
same time, and one Johnson obtained judgment against Clark county 
and went to the County Court of that county with his judgment and 
demanded a warrant on the common fund to |iay the same. This was 
refused. He then sued out his mandamus in the Federal Circuit Court, 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 241 

■n-hich followed the Supreme Court of Missouri in the 56 Mo. and held 
that he was confined to the proceeds of one-tw^entieth of 1 per cent. The 
bond holder then appealed the case to the Supreme Court of the United 
States and the case is reported in the 96 U. S., 211, in which the court 
holds that the bonds were a general debt on the county, and that the 
judgment creditor was entitled to a warrant on the common fund to pay 
his judgTQent. 

In the meantime Alfred Huidekoper had obtained a judgment in 
the Federal Circuit Court against Macon county and he brought two 
separate mandamus proceedings against the county to secure the pay- 
ment of his judgment, to-wit : one to levy a special tax and the other to 
issue him a warrant on the common fund. The first of these cases 
was decided in favor of the county. Mr. Huidekoper appealed. The 
second was decided in favor of Mr. Huidekoper and the county 
appealed. The first case is reported in the 99 U. S., 582, and the opinion 
therein follows the Shortridge ease, and the levy of the special tax 
was denied. The second case, however, followed the Clark county case 
in the 96 U. S. and held that Mr. Huidekoper was entitled to a common 
fund warrant. Upon the return of this case the County Court refused 
to obey the summons and made a further and additional return as a 
reason why it should not issue its warrant. This return the trial court 
overruled and the county appealed again to the Supreme Court. The 
case was heard in that court in connection with four cases from Knox 
county and the opinion affirms the Clark county case in the 96 U. S., 
and says that the warrant must be issued. Judge Waits uses this 
significant lang-uage : 

"This, we all agree, means that the payment of this balance is 
demandable out of funds raised by taxation for ordinary county 
purposes. ' ' 

The mandate in this case got back to the court in April, 1884, and 
quite a number of other mandates of like character were also brought 
to bear at that time, and on the 29th of that month the court issued thir- 
teen warrants under such mandates and they were presented to the 
treasurer at the same time and registered as the law requires. 

In 1885 Mr. Huidekoper, by supplemental information in said 
cause, had a further writ issued against the court showing that they 
had not levied the full 50 cents on the hundred dollars, and demanding 
an additional levy of 20 cents, and also certain other motions, bringing 
up all the proceedings of the county court, the collector and the treas- 
urer during the years 1884 and 1885. The result of this was that the 



243 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Federal Circuit Court ordered a levy of the extra 20 cents aud also that 
the surplus money in the treasury on the 29th day of March, 1884, be 
pro-rated to the thirteen warrants. This case was appealed by the 
county, and is reported in 134 U. S. 332, in which the judgment was 
affirmed and in obedience to that in 1890 the $14,000 remaining in the 
treasury was disbursed and the extra levy was made and pro-rated 
among the several warrants. 

The opinion of Judge Brewer in the trial court in this case is found 
in the 75 Fed. Eep., 259, which is very pertinent in showing the views 
of the Federal Court on the question. 

During the time the proceedings reported in the 134 U. S. were in 
progress Mr. Hudson, a citizen of Macon county had a $10 warrant 
against the contingent fund of the county and he undertook to mandamus 
the treasurer, Mr. Trammel, and the trial court decided in Mr. Hudson's 
favor and Trammel appealed the case. This judgment was afiSnned in 
the Supreme Court of Missouri and Trammel filed motion for rehearing, 
which was granted, and the original opinion was withdrawn and the 
opinion reported in the 106 Mo., 510, substituted, by which the action of 
the lower court was reversed. This case is one of the strongest cases 
against the county and is much relied upon by Mr. Huidekoper's counsel. 

It is necessaiy to state here that, in addition to the thirteen war- 
rants on the common fund, there were special warrants issued on the 
M. & M. special fund, among which were warrants in favor of Alfred 
Huidekoper, Fred Huidekoper and Charles Stratton. These parties, 
in 1891, sued out additional mandamuses on their judgments, complain- 
ing that the warrants were not paid and that the M. & M. fund was col- 
lected in small warrants drawn against said fund and that no money 
came into it and that the County Court had no right to issue small war- 
rants. These matters were heard in the Circuit Court before Judge 
Thayer, who rendered an opinion holding that the collector had a right 
tor receive these special warrants in pajTnent of special taxes and that 
the County Court had a right to issue small warrants under the Act of 
1873, and that that act was not unconstitutional as against the relators, 
although it was passed after their bonds were issued. He held, further, 
that a warrant could be assigned to more than one person and that, 
though the assignments not be in the form, yet it was sufficient after it 
had been received by the collector and treasurer and settlement had 
been made with the County Court. This opinion was not appealed from 
and is the law today as between the parties to that proceeding and the 
property covered by said proceeding. 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 243 

The county officers have been acting more or lews under that iuter ■ 
pretation of the revenue law and the interpretation given in the case 
of Winterbottom, 123 U. S. 215, which went up from Knox county and 
was an action on the collector's bond for having received warrants with- 
out their being properly assig-ned. The practices arising under the 
interpretation of these two cases have given rise to the present 
litigation. 

From March, 1891, when the Thayer opinion was rendered, up to 
April, 1909, litigation ceased and the county practiced the methods 
indicated in the Thayer and AVinterbottom cases, but no money went 
into the treasury. 

In 1909 two proceedings were started. The one was a mandamus 
against the state and countj^ boards to raise the assessments and to 
compel those Boards to assess the property of the state and county of 
Macon at its full cash value. In the Federal Circuit Court, Judge Dyer 
held that the courts had no jurisdiction in such matters; that the 
revenue system in Missouri granting appeals to persons who thought 
they were injured by the assessor to the Boards of Equalization and 
from the Boards of Equalization to the Court of Appeals was a complete 
system in itself and did not brook the interference of the courts. Mr. 
Huidekoper appealed his case, and in March, 1910, the Federal Circuit 
Court of Appeals reversed the judgment and sent the case back for 
answer and trial on its merits. 

What may be the outcome of this litigation is for the prophets 
of the present and the chroniclers of the future. 

The second proceeding was a Bill in Equity, filed in April, against 
the County Court, County of Macon, collector, treasurer and the clerk, 
charging conspiracy and fraud and raising all the questions covered 
by the various preceding litigation and some new ones. The bill was 
answered and reference had to the Hon. Walter M. Boulware, who 
filed a long and able report in ]\Iarch, in which he gave the county 
certain running expenses, such as for the jjoor, the indigent, salaries 
of officers, judicial expenses, but forbade the use of any money for 
roads and bridges and other improvements of a permanent character, 
and enjoined the county from doing many things and ordered them 
to do many other things. 

This matter is now pending in the Federal Circuit Court at Han- 
nibal, Missouri, on exceptions filed by both Mr. Huidekoper and the 
defendants, and the sons of the prophets will have to have a meeting 
to divine the future of this litigation. 



2U HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

These are the facts in regard to the litigation. It is put in the 
most general way, because any particular account of them ■would cover 
many pages. It is idle now to speculate about what will be the result, 
save it is always safe to say that the hazai"d of carrying this debt 
increases with the years. The Legislature of Missouri has done us 
more harm than anybody else, because every member of the Legislature 
must have something to do with the fiscal system of the state, and 
every time tliat is touched Macon county is injured, so far as this 
debt is concerned. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

The Geology op Macon County — Tobacco — Ageicultuee — The Daiey 
— Stock Eaising — A Town Lot Auction at Hudson — "The City 
OF Maples" — Modeen Municipal Impeovements — Ladies' Civic 
League — Macon Chaeity Society — Dbainage Woek in the Char- 
iton Valley — Wealth of the County — Some Noted Chaeactees 
— Pioneer Coal Operatoe — John Jones and His Cave House — • 
Why Me. Beach Wouldn't Weae a Hat — Patriot Who Wouldn't 
Cut His Hair Until a Democratic President was Elected — John 
Heney Geiffin — "Depot" Smith — Two Lively Rival Towns — 
The Postal SEE\acE — "\'ote foe Peesident. 

During its early years, farming and stock-raising were the main 
pursuits of Macon county. Then occurred the coal strike and it imme- 
diately became ]:)rominent as the center of the coal-producing region 
of the state. Year after year Macon county has headed the list for 
this valuable deposit of the underworld. Until within the past few 
years, however, but little attempt has been made at underground exploi- 
tation, save for coal. Now there is a large liody of land under lease 
in the coal district and adjacent by an oil concern, which promises 
to beg-in development work at an early date. Another interesting proj- 
ect of the underground is a gold and silver mine at New Cambria. 
These various enterprises are treated under the chapter on mining. 
Those who have studied the character of the country west of the Wabash 
railroad have predicted that within a few years it will be the center 
of a great oil and mining district, perhaps excelling that of any other 
state in the Mississippi valley. 

In a discussion of these important industrial features, so close to 
active development, a paper read by Colonel A. L. Gil strap before the 
Macon Geological Society, in May, 1875, becomes almost prophetic. 

Colonel Gilstrap's paper was as follows: 

Mr. President: By request of this society, I proceed to deliver a 
dissertation upon the geology of Macon county. 

The word "geology" is derived from the Greek words, geo. earth, 
and logos, a discourse, and means a discourse about the earth. 

This term is more comprehensive than mineralogy. It may include 

245 



246 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

not only all minerals, earths and soils, but the several uses to which 
these are applied in the evolutions of the laws of nature in the forma- 
tion of the mineral and vegetable kingdoms. That in the formation of 
the mineral kingdom, vegetable and animal life perform a conspicuous 
part in the incipient process, are facts so well established that they 
are no longer seriously disputed. But it is not my purpose now to 
enter upon the mode and manner of geological evolutions. Macon 
county contains an area of thirty miles square, less seventy-two square 
miles, of which eighteen are taken from the east side of the northeast- 
ern congressional township, and fifty-four from the two townsliips in 
the southwest, and lies upon the Chariton and Salt rivers, including 
the dividing ridge between the waters of the Mississippi and Missouri 
rivers, upon which divide the city of Macon stands. Thus it will be 
seen that the county of Macon contains an area of 828 square miles. 
Within this area vast mineral wealth is known to exist. And, while 
it is true that the drift period succeeded close upon the carboniferous, 
and in some cases appears to be intermingled, yet we find an extensive 
marl bed lying upon the upper carboniferous fonnation, forty feet 
thick, upon the general average, and in some places, especially the 
liills, coming up very near to the surface. 

This vast marl formation, i-icli in lifiie and clay, is far more produc- 
tive in vegetable matter than the common soil, and can be added thereto, 
by comparatively little labor, which will double the products of the 
farm, esj^ecially in that great staple, wheat. On the west side of the 
Chariton river there is a chain of hills running nearly north and south 
called the Elk Knobs. This formation, in some respects, differs from 
all other parts of the country. The drift seems to be less in depth, 
so, also, is the marl bed — besides coal veins running up four feet in 
thickness in some places, especially from the H. & St. Joe E. E. south, 
until you strike the loess fonnation, there is kidney iron ore, which 
will yield 60 per cent of iron, and some indications of anthracite coal. 
It is stated upon pretty good authority that there are hills so com- 
pletely filled with iron ore as to constitute fully one-half of them. 

Information has existed for many years that lead existed in these 
hills, near the county line between Macon and Adair, and continues 
northward into Putnam county. In one case this ore has been melted 
out, and found to contain about 30 per cent of silver. But explorations 
have not been made in such a manner as to determine whether these 
ores exist in sufficient quantities to justify working them. 

East of the Chariton river, along the East Fork, and between that 
stream and the Middle Fork of the Chariton, three workable coal veins 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 247 

are known to exist. The first one runs from four to five and one-half 
feet, and is being worked at tlie Summit and Bevier mines ; and near the 
Summit, and on Brushy Creek, in the Elk Knobs, by Thomas Jobson, 
Esq. Below this vein about thirty-five feet is another vein thirty-two 
inches thick, superior coal. About forty feet further down is another 
vein, which measures eight feet, in the valley of the East Pork, on the 
H. & St. Joe R. R. This vein is superior to any yet found for gas 
and the forge, making coke, and generating steam, because of its free- 
dom from sulphur, and the immense amount of gas which it contains. 

These existences of this lower vein has been demonstrated by 
boring into it in the East Fork valley, two miles west of Macon, 
on the.H. & St. Joe R. R. and by sinking a shaft into it by Col. A. R. 
Poi^e, on the same railroad, one mile nearer ]\Iacon, where several 
tons of this coal have been taken out, from which the tests were obtained. 
In the valley of the East Fork, near the railroad, where the boring has 
been done, the fact was demonsti-ated that, at a distance of about 100 
feet below the railroad track, lying immediately under a Plazoic rock, 
there exists a spongy compact bed of black material nine feet thick, 
very heavy, of a glistening metallic luster, apparently greasy and 
incapable of reduction by heat. 

Further investigation has shown that it only exists under and 
near the valley, and that it must be graphite, or the black oxide of 
manganese, the latter of which its character, as so far determined, 
does not support. There is reason to believe that this supposed 
graphite bed extends some distance up and down the valley. 

Continuing southward, between the East and Middle Forks, the coal 
lands increase in thickness, and the country, falling off as it does, while 
the coal veins run on a level with a small dip to the southwest, exposes 
these beds, and they crop out above the valleys so as to be worked by 
drift openings, self-draining. Such is the case in township 56 of range 
15, where these veins run from five to seven feet in thickness ; and on 
the west side of townships 56 and 57 these beds run from three to four 
feet. Such veins are to be found throughout the whole extent of the 
southern part of the county, and contain vast deposits of mineral 
wealth, to utilize. which railroads are indispensable. 

In the drift formation of this county some few pieces of native 
copper have been found; but no deposit of any value is believed to 
exist. 

The great mass of the rocks of this county is a bituminous lime- 
stone, with occasional beds of argillicious sandstone intervening. A 
number of conglomerate deposits of the sulphate of lime-pure lime- 



248 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

stone exist in the county, which, by trial, burns into a fine, white lime 
of the best quality. This white limestone belongs to the drift period. 

Of valuable earths, this county possesses two varieties in abun- 
dance, and all found below the several coal veins — fireclay and pipe 
or potters' clay, of the best varieties. The beds of fireclay are from 
four to fifteen feet thick, and the potters' clay formations are about 
the same thickness, while the pipe-clay beds are not over thirteen inches, 
as a general rule. It is believed that one bed of Koaline has been 
discovered under the graphite formation, supposed to be three feet 
thick. A bed of pure white clay is found there, but that it is Koaline 
remains to be deteraiined. The inexhaustible marl beds everywhere in 
reach of the farmer, the inamense deposits of valuable coal beds and 
clay formations, if properly utilized, will make ^lacon one of the rich- 
est counties in the state. But it remains to be seen whether this genera- 
tion is capable of casting off old prepossessions and customs, and of 
coming up to the work necessary to develop) her resources. 

Mr. President, this discourse is quite short of all that can be truth- 
fully said upon this subject, but I hope that I have given satisfaction 
so far as I have gone. A. L. Gilsteap. 

Prior to 1860 the growing of tobacco was the important pursuit 
of the Missouri agriculturist. Every man owning an acre of land 
]mt it lu tobacco, and thereby established credit with his storekeeper. 
Tobacco was a staple crop, conmianding a steady market, and the pos- 
session of it was as good as money in the bank. 

Callao was an important center of the tobacco-growing region of 
Macon county. Seven hundred thousand pounds were shipped from 
there one season. The factories there were operated by John Henry 
Matthis, Kerry Perrin, Judge George Turner and Lovern &; Wright, 
George and Minor Towner had a big factory at Bloomingtou. At 
Macon R. M. J. Sharp, P. M. Wright, George B. Turner, George Towner 
and Shortridge & Benedict were the leading tobacco men. 

In all the factories slaves worked in preparing the leaves for 
shipment. 

J. II. Wright, one of the tobacco men mentioned above, thus 
described the industry as it existed before the freedom of the slaves : 

"The tobacco industry of Missouri grew to enormous proportions 
up to and during the Civil war. It was the only profitable crop for 
the farmers in the interior of the state before the railroads came, for 
there was ])ractica]ly no market for country produce and grain. But 
the tobacco shipper stood with his cash in hand, ready to jmy the 



HISTORY OF :\rAr0X COUXTY 249 

producer. If a man could get hold of a few acres of ground his credit 
would be good with the storekeeper as soon as he told him he liad 
sown tobacco, and the storekeejier would be content to wait for his 
money until the crop was harvested and sold. 

"The tobacco was received in huge barns, the most notable of wliich 
were at HuntsviUe, Brunswick and GlasgoM-. There were, also, large 
factories at Macon, Bloomington and Callao. The product was squeezed 
into great hogsheads, from 1,400 to 2,000 pounds in each, and sent by 
boat to St. Louis. I have seen steamers cut loose from tlie wharf at 
Brunswick so heavily loaded with hogsheads of tobacco that the water 
would splash up on the lower deck. 

"Nearly all of the Missouri tobacco went to European countries. 
It seemed that in certain sections there our weed was a prime favorite 
for plug and smoking because of its great strength. England was 
specially fond of a long leaf we raised, which was known to the trade 
as 'Shoestring.' At that time — prior to 1866 — it was against the law 
to cultivate tobacco in England. The other varieties raised here were 
'Iron Oker,' 'Yellow Oker' and 'One Sucker.' 'White Burley' was 
grown towards the close of the industry in Missouri. It is said that 
this variety absorbed enough moisture on the ocean voyage to pay its 
freightage across. The .smart dealer on the other side was the gainer 
by this, which he long kept to himself as a trade secret. The vessels 
collected their freightage at the port of embarkation and, of course, 
could not charge again on the other side. 

"I am glad experiments with the object of again raising tobacco 
in Missouri are under way. At the present price, which, I understand, 
is from $10 to $12 per 100 pounds, it ought to be profitably raised. 
You can raise easily 750 pounds to an acre, if the crop is well 'tended. 
But it requires incessant activity. About three acres is enough for 
one man to look after, but if he has several children to help, he might 
]nit out more. In the tobacco days ten acres was regarded as a large 
tract. You see, a man has to virtually sleep with his crop, with the 
weeding and the succoring and the worming. But it's a hardy crop and 
thrives well. There was money in it in the old daj^s, and there would 
be money in it now for the small farmers who could devote the time to it. 

"Why they quit raising- it? Well, there were several reasons. One 
was the bottom dropped out of the Liverpool market because of the 
India tobacco which had just reached there. That knocked out the 
American exj^ort trade. Quite a number of Missouri shippers had large 
consignments on the way over when the drop occurred, and all lost 
heavily, as the tobacco they sent wouldn't pay the big transportation 



250 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

charges. I know of one man whom they drew on to pay a large freight 
bill to cover the difference between the freight charges and what his 
tobacco sold for at Liverpool. These things disgusted the ]\lissouri 
farmer with the business and he tried to forget all about tobacco in 
the raising of corn, wheat and fine cattle. Tobacco continued very low 
for a long time, and at last it became a forgotten product of Missouri. 
But with present prices the weed could certainly be raised profitably 
and the industry come into its own again. The old state certainly raised 
a fine article while it was at it, a brand that was famous the world 
over, just as our corn-cob pipe is today. An immense amount of 
tobacco could be raised without subtracting materially from the produc- 
tion of grain and other things, as tobacco doesn't require very much 
space. 

"There is one draw-back about the crop, and that is it drains the 
fertility of the land quicker than any other product. After land has 
been planted in tobacco three seasons it is 'all in,' and you have to treat 
it heavy to fertilizers to make it produce anything else for some time. 
But by that time you've got a good pile of money in your pocket, and 
can stand the loss of the small acreage for a season while it recovers. 
The resumption of the tobacco industry would add miglitily to the 
state's wealth and furnish employment to a great many laborers, both 
in the fields and factories. There is no question about the successful 
raising of the plant ; it is as sure a crop as anything a farmer could put 
in, and because of certain qualities the Missouri article has always 
proven a high favorite with the manufacturers." 

E. E. Samuel, a Chicago capitalist, is now doing a great deal to 
revive the tobacco industiy in Missouri. His house is distributing 
White BurJey seed to the farmers and agrees to take all the tobacco 
produced at the highest market price. Last year Macon county raised 
quite a lot of weed which was sold to the firm. The demand for Mis- 
souri White Burley comes largely from China, where by official edict 
the celestials have been using tobacco manufactured from that and other 
brands in large quantities in place of the seductive opium pipe. It is 
stated by those who are close to the situation that the Oriental demand 
for tobacco is increasing as the years go by, and that in time the price 
will rise to such figures that Missouri farmers will go into the tobacco 
business extensively. 

Many old citizens clearly remember the time when Macon, Callao 
and Bloomington were lively in those seasons when the farmers were 
bringing their tobacco to market. Immense sums of money were put in 
ijiirculation and business thrived wonderfully. Of course, tobacco will 




BOYHOOD HOME OF DR. A. T. STILL 



HISTOEY OF MACON" COUNTY 2.51 

not take the place of grain and stock-raising, which are the leading 
industries of the county, but it may prove to be one of the imjiortant 
side industries, one wliicli will add many dollars to the farmers' annual 
revenue. 

Twenty-two years ago a writer on Macon county farming lands 
appraised them at from $10 to $20 per acre. Today $50 is a fair 
average, but many improved farms have been sold largely in excess of 
that sum. The immense influx of land buyers from Iowa, Illinois and 
other states in 1902-3 sent values up rapidly. Missourians awoke to 
a realization that they had aj^praised their farms below their value. 
Quite a number paid a bonus to purchase back before the deeds were 
executed. Many thousands of acres in Macon county changed hands 
during the period of the land boom. The men who came here from other 
states knew exactly what they were getting. They seemed to have 
a better idea of the land's value than many of those who had lived on it 
all their lives. In most instances, the newcomers paid spot-cash. They 
have proven good citizens, bringing with them the thrift and enterprise 
of their former states. The county has been the gainer by these new 
residents, nearly all of whom belong to the well-to-do class. 

Blue grass is named as the most valuable of the soil's products. 
The broad acres of the county are covered with it, and it has made 
stock-raising profitable. It comes out in mid-spring and stays till the 
winter snows blight it. Corn, timothy and clover are the staple crops. 
Some progress has been made in the production of alfalfa. Wheat 
thrives as well on the Chariton lowlands as on the Missouri river bot- 
toms. Corn runs from sixty to seventy bushels to the acre there. The 
land there also produces the finest vegetables known. Until the drain- 
age enterprise was under way these lowlands had not been successfully 
developed. With the large canal now constructed from north Valley 
township down into Chariton county the farmers regard these lands as 
safe from damaging overflows, and cultivate them extensively. 

The Missouri apple is said to command the top notch price in the 
markets, because of its superior flavor. There are a number of large 
orchards in Macon county, many of them being operated strictly as a 
financial enterprise. One orchard firm near Macon — Wardell & Mc- 
Cully — cleared $12,000 on its product in 1909. The varieties are Ben 
Davis, Jonathan, Willow Twig, Grim's (xolden and Winesap. Peaches, 
pears and small fruit of all kinds are grown with fair success. 

The drainage of Macon county is excellent. The state divide runs 
through the heart of it, north and south. The larger streams are the 
Chariton, East and Middle; Mussel, North and South Forks; Salt river, 



252 HISTOEY OF MACOX COFXTY 

Long Branch, Big Brush, Bear, Turkey, Narrows, Winn, Little Turkey, 
Hoosier, Walnut, WTiite Oak, Painter, Richland, Pearl, Silver, Clear 
Spring and Eock Creeks. 

Within recent years the dairj' business has become quite an impor- 
tant adjunct to farming. There is a first-class creamery at Macon 
operated by Rudolph Miller, a native of Denmark, who has worked inde- 
fatigably to interest the people in the production of milk and the 
development of their dairies. 

AYhen he first came to Macon county Mr. Miller traveled from dawn 
to dark explaining to the farmers what the dairy business had done 
for Denmark and what it would do for Missouri if the people here would 
go at the business as the Danes did.* The soil of Holland and Den- 
mark had been practically worked to the bone, and the people were 
emigrating in large numbers because of their inability to produce 
crops, when some good Samaritan suggested the idea of dairying for 
the restoration of the land. It proved to be the financial salvation of 
the kingdoms. 

Mr. Miller came to ^Macon county in the spring of 1900. He was 
told that Macon was not a dairy county, and that he would simply add 
his to the list of failures of those who had tried to conduct a creamery 
at Macon. But the man from Denmark knew what he was about. He 
reasoned that a Missourian was just as anxious to make money as a 
Dane, and that it was his business to show him how. For the first year 
or two it was a discouraging proposition. He was told that Macon was 
a splendid county for corn and coal and fruit and stock-raising and 
all of that, but that it never could be made a prize-winner on dairy 
l^roducts. So from the small patronage he had on the start| Mr. Miller 
managed to i)roduce some samjiles of Macon county products, which he 
sent to the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo in 1901. There were 
exhibits from all parts of the United States, the highest of which scored 
97 V^, and Mr. Miller's "scrub" butter from Macon county scored 97. 

"The troulile with the dairy business in this state," said Mr. Mil- 
ler, "is that, with most farmers, it is merely a side issue, to earn a little 
extra money. The production of cream ought to be an industry by 
itself. There should be organization and discussion. The producer of 
milk and the manufacturer of butter need greater confidence in each 
other. Attention should be given to scientific feeding and to keeping 
the cows and their barns as clean as possible. The barns should be 
heated in winter and the cows fed on succulent feed, such as roots, 
etc. AVith proper care they will give as much milk in winter as in 
summer. Great care should be exercised to keep the ponds and all 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 253 

sources of water absolutely pure. That is the way they do it iu 
Denmark." 

Oue man sold $82 worth of cream to the Macon creamery in Novem- 
ber, 1909, the product of ten cows. Several patrons of the creamery 
clear annually from $500 to $700 on live cows. 

The live stock industry has grown to large proportions in Macon 
county. Blue grass pasturage exists all over the county, and grazing 
land is abundant. All the towns on the railroads ship large consign- 
ments of cattle, sheep and hogs to the markets, and the high prices exist- 
ing have made the industry most profitable. The Missouri mule is 
developed in Macon county to his highest perfection, and is seen on all 
the blue grass farms. In most of the towns regular stock day sales 
are held, which are largely attended and good prices realized. Some 
noted auctioneers reside in Macon county and they have made these 
sales attractives features of the week ends. 

The following list of inirchasers and prices paid is from the report 
of an auction sale, held at Macon in March, 1910, largely attended by 
stock men and farmers from Northern Missouri : 

Span 2-year-old mules, $290, Eobert Bell, purchaser; mare, $125, 
Allen Adams ; span mules, $392.50, C. L. Vandyke ; span mules, $325, 
Billy McGee ; horse, $127.50, Tom Gupton ; horse, $197.50, P. M. Gross ; 
horse, $115, Tom Sneed ; horse, $155, A. P. Strode ; horse, $292.50, A. D. 
McAfee ; pair mules, $305, R. W. Ayersman ; horse, $50, N. A. Hayworth, 
Moberly; horse, $85, Mitchell, Palmyra, horse, $95, P. L. Miller; span 
of mules, $300, C. AV. Hall ; horse, $235, Garnett of Madison, Missouri ; 
horse, $150, Joe Parrish, Moberly; team of horses, $455, P. M. Gross; 
buggy horse, $200, Mitchell of Palmyra; horse, $155, Garnett of Madi- 
son; span mules, $-400, AVilliam Eose; horse, $150, A. Eoberts; pair 
mules, $365, Vaught of Shelbina. 

At about the same time these prices were being paid on the Chi- 
cago markets for other classes of stock: Cattle, $8 to $8.60; hogs, 
$10.75 to $10.95; sheep, $8.50 to $9.30. The local market was a few 
cents lower. 

There was a sale of lots in Hudson (now Macon) by public outcry 
on July 4, 1857. At that time Hudson was farming land sliced up into 
town lots. The town of Macon was to the east of it. Macon had pro- 
gressed rapidly and it was the desire of the promoters of Hudson to 
start a rival town and outclass it. The eventual result was that the two 
towns went together and became one big city. 

Thomas P. Eubey, H. L. Eutherford and G. B. Dameron, comprised 
the Hudson Town Company. They succeeded in interesting quite a 



'^bi HISTOKY OF MAC'OX COUNTY 

number of well-to-do St. Louisans in the enterprise. The syndicate 
had influence with the management of the North Missouri Railroad, 
then building upstate. The road, as originally projected, would have 
gone through Macon, but the Hudson Town Company induced the 
managers to change its locating survey to the town it was going to build 
to the west. That is why the road swings on a long cui-ve to the west. 
Several of the prominent streets and avenues of Macon are named 
after St. Louis men who were stockholders in the town company, notably 
Samuel Treat, D. A. January, Gerard Allen and others. The new town 
was named after Thomas Hudson, at that time president of the North 
Missouri railroad. 

The Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad was very close to completion; 
North Missouri was full of active railroad men and investors. It was 
said that the machine shops, road-houses, and other railroad buildings 
of the North Missouri road would be located at Hudson. Other roads 
were talked of as knocking at the door to get in. It was a rosy picture 
for a town lot sale crowd. There were several brass bands, refresh- 
ments galore and everybody was out there for a good time and a town 
lot. Lots, 46x20 feet, were bought up like hot cakes at from $50 to $300. 
There was no limit to the supply, however. The Town Company could 
have sold lots clear up to the Iowa line if there had been enough 
purchasers. 

The $300 lots wei'e supposed to be on the main thoroughfare, the 
Broadway of Hudson. Now it is in the extreme southwest part of 
Macon, almost out of sight of the business district. Colonel Robert 
Bevier, who later organized a regiment and went into the Southern 
army, was one of the orators of that interesting day. Quite a number 
of other distinguished personages from the cities were present. 

Web M. Rubey, now a resident of Macon, is the only person who 
could be found in the county who has a keen recollection of the town lot 
sale. He was then deputy county clei'k, and lived at Bloomington, the 
county seat. Hudson, January, Judge Treat, Allen and all the members 
of the Hudson Town Company are now dead. 

The men who bought lots erected buildings, and for a while it 
seemed that all the rainbows drawn by the auctioneer would be realized. 
The streets of Hudson hummed with activity, just as they do now 
in the boom towns of Oklahoma. A large portion of old Macon was 
rolled over and united with the new town. The railroads were com- 
pleted and up until the Civil war there was constant business activity 
in these parts. It is very rare now that you hear the name Hudson 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 255 

mentioned in connection with Macon, as soon after the union the latter 
name became generally adopted. 

Visitors to Macon have expressed great admiration for the beauty 
and extent of the maple trees in the residence districts of the town. 
A picture taken of the town from the waterworks tower looks as though 
the city were in the heart of a forest. From these beautiful trees came 
the name, ' ' The City of Maples, ' ' so frequently applied to Macon. The 
circumstances in which the town acquired these trees are interesting. 
In 1872 John W. Beaumont, an energetic real estate man and pro- 
moter, became involved and could not pay his taxes. The city's bill 
against him was only $116. Beaumont was an honest man and the 
debt worried him. He went to the City Council, frankly explained his 
financial embarrassment, and said that he had on hand 10,000 young 
maple trees, from one to two inches in diameter, which he had secured 
for the purjjose of setting out around the real estate he had for sale ; if 
the city would accept these young trees, which were worth far more 
than his debt, he would be glad to make the payment that way. After 
some discussion, in which the majority favored the proposition, the 
Council agreed to the compromise, and Mr. Beaumont delivered the 
trees. Then the mayor, S. G. Brock, proclaimed an "Arbor Day." It 
was announced that every property owner who would agree to set out 
and care for from six to ten trees could receive them free of charge 
by applying to the City Council. At that time the country in these 
parts was mostly prairie land and there were but few trees in Macon. 
The Council's proj)osition was eagerly accepted and acted upon by the 
citizens. Almost in a day Mr. Beaumont's legal tender for taxes 
was in the hands of the inhabitants, who faithfully carried out their 
part of the agreement. These trees were sturdy and grew to large 
proportions, furnishing welcome shade to all the avenues of the town, 
and adding greatly to its beauty and homelike appearance. 

To Col. F. W. Blees largely belongs the credit of the extensive 
municipal improvements inaugurated and carried out in Macon. When 
he returned from Germany, after having settled up his ancestral estate, 
he went before the City Council and insisted that an adequate sewer- 
age system be constructed. To this enterprise he generously donated 
$5,000. He was also one of the first to urge the extension of street 
paving and good sidewalks. Year by year the paved streets have been 
extended in all directions and there are miles and miles of granitoid 
walks around the town. All the main streets of the city are paved with 
vitrified brick, and at the southern limits of the paving is the govern- 
ment road, a smooth boulevard constructed as a specimen of rock high- 



256 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Avay by engineers from the Federal Eoad Department. This boulevard 
extends on to the Academy and south. 

In 1909 the electric light and waterworks system was remodeled 
at an expenditure of about $24,000. The improvements were in the 
hands of a Board of Public AVorks, composed of the following gentle- 
men: F. W. Gieselman, president; Jolm Thompson, Thomas Still and 
Henry Himckler. Allen Guthrie was a member of the board the first 
year, but resigned when his time was up and Mr. Hunckler was 
appointed in his place. The board was chosen by the citizens. New 
electric pumps were installed at the source of water supply, East Fork, 
and the power house was strengthened by the addition of a Vertical 
Cross Compound engine, 450 H. P., directly connecting with a 300 
kilowatt generator. This is the emergency engine of the plant. It is 
of the class used in the large cities for trolley lines and electric lights. 
The capacity of the plant vrith this powerful engine is 7,000 16-candle 
power lights. The Macon plaiit has the capacity to supply power not 
only for Macon but for all the adjoining towns within twelve miles or 
more. It is said to be the best concern of the kind in the west. It is 
hoped by the new installation that the electric light and waterworks 
system will not only be self-sustaining, but will create a revenue for 
the city. 

To the Ladies Civic League is largely due the credit for the cleanly 
and attractive appeai-ance of Macon. The League was organized in 
1903, and the following officers were chosen. Mrs. Philip Gansz, presi- 
dent; Mrs. Theodore Gary, first vice-president; Mrs. Otho Matthews, 
second vice-president; Miss Jennie Dessert, secretary and treasurer. 

The League at once began an active campaign. It enlisted the 
support of the City Council and the business men. A man was employed 
to sweep and remove the litter from the downtown streets daily. An 
ordinance was passed prohibiting tobacco users from disfiguring the 
sidewalks. Householders were urged to clean up their yards and alleys, 
and to have carted off their ashes, old cans and debris'. Prizes were 
offered for those who cultivated the most attractive lawns. Many other 
improvements were encouraged by the industrious and public spirited 
women, and Macon soon became known far and wide as one of the 
prettiest towns in the state. The secretary has received numerous 
letters from other organizations of women, requesting that a copy of 
the by-laws of the Macon League, and something about its method 
of operation. 

Since its organization the League has expended, on an average, 
about $650 a year for the improvement of Macon. It is now creating 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 257 

a siiikiug fiiud to be devoted to some special feature of interest and 
benefit. A suite of entertainment rooms for farmers' wives and 
children, and visiting women from the towns of the county, has been 
suggested. The fund now contains $300. The ladies raised $85 of this 
by the sale of a carload of old magazines which had been donated to 
them by the people. 

The present officers of the Civic League are: Mrs. E. Holtzclaw, 
president; Mrs. Ed. S. Smith, first vice-president; Mrs. W. H. Miller, 
second vice-president; Mrs. Maude D. Brock, secretary-treasurer. 

The Macon Charity Society is another women's enterprise which 
has and is aecomplisliing splendid work. It was organized in 1904. 
Mrs. E. J. Demeter, who was the first president, still retains that posi- 
tion, because her work has proven so successful, and she seems so well 
adapted to it, that the ladies will not permit her to resign. The purpose 
of the Charity Society is twofold — to help the deserving poor and to 
prevent the citizens from being imposed upon by unknown and irrespon- 
sible charity solictors. The society saves the County Court a large 
sum of money every year, by taking care of the town's really poor. The 
merchants and business men generally are requested not to hand over 
money to traveling strangers soliciting for this and that enterprise, 
but to refer them to the president of the Charity Society, who will 
investigate, and if the applicants are found worthy, will assist them. 

Within recent years Missouri has been the happy hunting ground 
for the traveling charity grafter. 

Not long ago a sweet-faced young woman, dressed in deep mourn- 
ing, came to Macon and said she represented an institution where poor 
children were cared for. She wept bitterly over the sufferings of the 
little ones who were disowned by their parents, and in less than half 
a day had raked in forty dollars to relieve motherless little chajas, who, 
it was afterwards ascertained, existed only in the imagination of the 
sweet-faced young solicitor. The money she carried away in her hand- 
bag, however, was very real. 

It is her knowledge and experience with cases of this sort which 
makes Mrs. Demeter an invaluable head to the society. If those who 
contributed to the young lady referred to had first sent her to Mrs. 
Demeter for investigation an unconscionable young grafter would have 
left Macon with an empty hand-bag. 

The cases of real destitution, however, receive the earnest and 
constant attention of the society. No worthy applicant is refused, 
and so useful has the society proven that not a case of real suffering 
occurred in Macon during its organization. The officers of the Macon 



258 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

Charity Society are: Mrs. E. J. Demeter, president; Mrs. Charles 
VanCleve, Mrs. J. E. McKee, vice-presidents ; Mrs. Frank Smith, secre- 
tary ; Mrs. H. A. Abel, treasurer. Two women from each church of the 
city constitute the Charity board. 

Perhaps the most important county enterprise that has been put 
on foot within recent years is the system for draining the Chariton 
lowlands. The need of this had been apparent for a long while before 
the work was commenced. The bottom lands are the most productive 
in northern Missouri. The periodical floods bring down a large quantity 
of valuable fertilizing material, which lays on the ground until it become 
a part of the soil. The springs would open smiling and propitious, 
encouraging the farmers to sow. But when the grain was up and 
beginning to give promises of a prolific harvest the floods would come 
and destroy the hard work of the husbandman. This occurred so fre- 
quently that the lowlands had but little value. 

Owing to its tortuous course the Chariton river was utterly inade- 
quate to carry off any great volume of water. It was evident that if the 
lowlands should be saved it would be necessary to construct a practi- 
cally straight channel or canal running directly to the Missouri river. 

Among the early movers in the camj^aign to save the bottom lands 
were Judge Gran Goodson, John M. London, Judge Robert H. Kern, 
Jacob Grove, Charles 0., Albert and Thomas B. Dunham, and others. 
W. G. Walker of Macon was appointed Chief Engineer and has had 
charge of that work from the very start. A drainage ditch association 
was organized and the land owners went into the County Court with 
their petition to build a ditch and to issue bonds for the payment. The 
petitioners were not successful in the County Court, and they next 
filed the papers with the Circuit Court, which gave them authority to 
proceed. A canal was constructed from the northern part of Valley 
township running through Macon county and a mile and a half into 
Chariton county, where it connects with a ditch there leading on to 
the Missouri river. 

The excavation was made by a steam dredge, which was run con- 
tinuously day and night. The dredge consumed 1,200 gallons of water 
daily, and a ton of coal. It excavated daily a body of earth 250 feet in 
length, 12 feet in width and 6 feet in depth. A crew of four men 
operated the dredge — an engineer, fireman, craneman and a helper. 
For night work a dynamo on the dredge supplied electric light. 

The ditch as constructed is from eight to fifteen feet in depth and 
has a twenty-foot bottom, with a slope of one to one. These dimen- 
sions have been considerably increased by the flow of water. The ditch 



i 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 359 

is now lower than the bed of the river and whenever there is water in 
the river, water is also going through the ditch. 

In addition to the big canal from Valley township southward there 
is also a ditch on the west side of the river, in Valley township. This 
ditch connects the lower end of Painter Creek with what is known as 
the Willow Slough, and is about five and a half miles long. It is built 
in the same manner as the main canal, only it is somewhat smaller. 
The total number of acres affected by the ditch enterprise is 17,242. 
The aggregate expenditure for both ditches mentioned was about 
$60,000. To meet this cost necessitates an assessment of about $9 per 
acre, which is paid at the rate of fifty cents per acre annually. As the 
land was quoted at $25 an acre when the ditching commenced in the 
early part of this century, and was easily worth $65 an acre in 1909, 
with prospects of steadily increasing, the expenditure for canal enter- 
prise is considered a highly satisfactory investment. 

During the big flood in the summer of 1909 the canal was blocked 
at the Burlington railroad by the embankment, which had not been 
cut through. By reason of this the water on the lands north of the 
track was held back some days and the destruction to property was 
great. But that was said to be the heaviest flood known since the high 
waters of 1875. Since then the canal has found an adequate outlet 
under the railroad, a space of 140 feet, and there is no obstruction from 
end to end. 

It is the opinion of competent engineers who have examined the 
canal since the opening was made at the railroad embankment that it 
will be entirely adequate to carry off in a comparatively short time as 
large a volume of water as is likely to come down the valley, judging 
the extent of floods by past history. 

Landowners north of Valley township are now preparing to organ- 
ize a drainage association for the purpose of constructing a ditch from 
the north line of the county southward to connect with the completed 
ditch in Valley township. This will give Macon county a continuous 
drainage system through the valley. It is almost certain that this will 
result in the continuation of the enterprise to the northward, and in the 
course of a few years it is very likely that the whole Chariton valley 
will be saved by a canal extending from the Iowa line on down to the 
Missouri river. 

D. L. Hummer, president of the Hummer Construction Company of 
Marion, Ohio, had the contract for the construction of the Macon county 
ditch. He is well acquainted with bottom country and he remarked 
while here that he had never seen more fertile lands than those in the 



260 HISTORY OF MACON COrXTY 

Chariton valley. He suggested that when the ditch was completed 
through the entire length of the valley that the farmers would derive 
an immense revenue from raising fine vegetables, as well as wheat and 
grain, and that a trolley line would be constructed along the banks of 
the canal to bring the products to the railroad lines crossing it. 

Mr. Walker, the engineer, says that these bottom lands will 
produce from thirty-five to forty bushels of wheat to the acre, and 
from sixty to eighty bushels of corn. 

The length of the main ditch as now constructed from North Valley 
township to the connection with the Chariton county ditch is fourteen 
miles. This with the five and one-half miles from Painter Creek to 
Willow Slough gives nineteen and one-half miles of association ditch 
work in Macon county. 

Following are the property values of Macon county as shown by 
an abstract of the Assessment List for taxes for the year 1910 : No. of 
acres, 515,268 ; value of town lots, $1,355,750 ; total value of real estate, 
$6,188,780; horses, $499,100; jennets, $9,795; mules, $130,240; meat cat- 
tle, $422,660; sheep, $25,660; hogs, $43,160; money, notes and bonds, 
$965,774; farm machinery, household goods, etc., $383,415; personal, 
$2,479,804. 

Prairie Oil and Gas Co., pumping lines and station at La Plata, 
$82,940. 

Railroads, telegraph lines and telephones, $1,916,672. 

Merchants and manufacturers, $306,745. 

Banks, (capital stock, reserve funds and undivided profits) $460,- 
057.30. There are sixteen banks in the county. 

A few miles north of New Cambria, in a picturesque ravine, resides 
John Jones in a little thatched house partly above and partly below the 
soil. Mr. Jones adopted his peculiar domicile about the close of the 
Civil war and has clung to it tenaciously ever since. It is a cozy little 
place, with just about enough room for a man to turn aroimd. The 
center of his little home is dug out and propped like the entry of a coal 
mine. Lying cross-ways of the entry, up near the roof, is sort of an 
upper compartment like in a sleeping car. This is Mr. Jones's bed. 
The roof is safe and snug, and there is no danger of it leaking; it 
would take a tremendous wind storm to blow it away. On shelves hor- 
ding the little passageway are articles of every description which Mr. 
Jones has picked up in town and had given to him by friends, and which 
he has preserved. It is said that he never throws anything away. When 
he wears out a pair of shoes he places them on one of his shelves and 
saves them. An inventory of those heavily loaded shelves includes old 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 261 

knives, parts of locks, belts, liairpins, railroad spikes, nails of all kinds, 
coils of wire, almanacs, circulars, lamp shades, broken shears, funnels, 
bottles of various colors and kinds, ancient magazines, hooks, buttons, 
and here and there things to eat. Mr. Jones is not a poor man by any 
means. "When he took up his land many years ago he was a little hard 
run, because he brought nothing with him from Wales. He was industri- 
ous, however; raised strawberries, potatoes, and other vegetables and 
marketed them in New Cambria. When he got any money he saved it, 
and kept adding to it until he had quite a little pile. This he would 
loan to friends occasionally at the legal rate of interest. \\Tiile he 
cannot read English, and talks that language but slightly, yet he has 
become an expert at Hguriug interest in his head. You can't fool him 
on the amount you owe him. It is estimated that the queer old hermit 
is now worth from $12,000 to $15,000. 

Mr. -Jones has sold off the larger part of his land, retaining only 
five acres for a little yard and garden about his cave house. This he 
has carefully fenced with hedges and everything about the premises is 
as neat and clean as a city park attended to by a landscape gardener. 
Across the drains, are mossy bridges, sparkling with violets. On the 
upper pai't of the little tract is a tall, round stack of poles, which at a- 
distance looks like it might be an Indian wigwam. At the base of these 
poles are rusty stove pipes and pieces of iron ; bolts and sticks, cooking 
utensils, dish-pans and crocks, all neatly arranged — nothing is scat- 
tered about in confusion. Tlie hermit is his own housekeeper, landlord 
and farmer. He has lived on the little estate so long that he never 
feels at home when away from it. Once or twice, during the rigors of 
mid-winter, his New Cambria friends have triec^ to get him to come to 
town and await the passing of the severe season. On such occasions 
he has tried it in town for a few days, but invariably gets homesick and 
walks back to his little thacked structure. When the story of Mr. Jones's 
life was printed in some of the papers a while back, a few women, 
possibly as much interested in his money as his kindly disposition, 
offered to share his lot, but Mr. Jones shook his head and said he pre- 
ferred to enjoy a condition where he would be the boss. 

William P. Beach, a lawyer and real estate agent of Macon, 
attracted a good deal of interest to himself by the peculiarity of going 
without his hat. It was not a matter of economy because he always 
carried in his hand an up-to-date serviceable headpiece. In summer 
time he carried a straw hat and in winter time the ordinary dark felt 
or stiff hat, but never were one of these hats allowed to rest on his head 
even for a moment. Most people supposed that Mr. Beach's eccen- 



262 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUXTY 

tricity was caused by a desire to strengthen his hair, but he gave another 
I'eason for it. 

"I am not a crank, and I have a pecliar aversion to notoriety," 
said Mr. Beach, "but as I have nothing to be ashamed of I will say 
this; I have a brother who has always been a devoted patron of all 
manner of men's headwear. He has a full assortment of everyday 
hats, Sunday hats, smoking caps and sleeping caps; but indignant 
nature protested against these intrusions upon her beneficence by 
removing from his scalp every vestige of its original covering, except 
a ragged fringe at the base of the skull. The assumption, howeveT, 
that my hat was discarded as a head ornament through an apprehen- 
sion of baldness is a mistake. In the years when I wore a felt hat I 
discovered that catarrh was developing, and feared that it might 
become chronic, offensive and perhaps dangerous. It was to get rid 
of that incipient nuisance, that I abandoned the felt and the wool hat, 
and for a year or two wore a light straw hat winter and summer. I 
soon decided that I was better off without any hat at all. I am hapi^y to 
state that the catarrh departed soon after its chief promoter, my hat, 
was discarded and now I can enjoy heaven's breezes and sunlight with 
a healthy, safely covered head." 

Mr. Beach died March 12, 1904, after a very short illness with 
pneumonia. Some thought the latter was occasioned by his going with- 
out a hat. Mr. Beach's practice of going without a hat covered the last 
twenty-five years of his life. In bad weather he carried an umbrella 
to protect his head from rain and snow, but no matter how severe the 
weather or how far away he was from an umbrella, he never even 
thought of putting his hat on his head. 

Mr. Beach was born in Newark, New Jersey, April 19, 1840, 
and at his death was nearly sixty-four years of age. The Newark News 
shortly before his death wrote to Macon and secured a picture of Mr. 
Beach and a full story of his life. At fifteen he started westward afoot, 
cariying a small square valise containing notions of various kinds, 
which he sold for a small sum here and there, making expenses and 
continuing his tramp. Once he walked all night long on his way to the 
AVest. He did this in preference to jumping on freight trains, which 
he regarded as illegal. Six hundred miles west of New Jersey, Mr. 
Beach obtained a position as teacher in a district school. After having 
made a little money, he went to Iowa and then moved to Missouri, where 
he married a good woman who survives him. 

Another peculiarity of Mr. Beach was his exact honesty. In set- 
tling up an estate or business of any sort he was scrupulous to the last 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 263 

cent. He had been known to hunt all day for a man to whom a two-cent 
balance was due on a large settlement. 

Mr. Beach was a Republican and was always very much interested 
in politics. At one time, while living- at Macon, he announced himself 
as a candiate for governor, as a "stand-patter, old line Eepublican," 
opposed to a movement of the Republicans to affiliate with the Third 
Party people, and the newspapers of the city treated the matter rather 
extensively. They spoke of Mr. Beach and the two or three other 
members of his party who met here as "Beach's Convention." 

Thomas Benton Robertson, better known perhaps as "Saw-mill 
Robertson," made a pledge to a cousin, Charles Winfield of Quincy, 
Illinois, for 1896, directly after William J. Bryan had been nominated 
for President by the Democrats, that he would never cut his hair or 
allow a razor to touch his face until Mr. Bryan or some other gooa 
Democrat had been elected President of these United States. As the 
Republicans have been uniformly victorious since that time the hair 
aboTxt Mr. Robertson's head and face has grown to rather extensive 
proportions. But the old gentleman is keeping the faith and living in 
hopes that he will some day get to cut that wonderful head of hair. Dur- 
ing the last Presidential campaign, when the Democrats began to feel 
ho]3eful, quite a number of barbers of Macon and in other places urged 
Mr. Robertson to give them the privilege of trimming him up, which 
they offered to do free of charge for the sake of the advertisement. 
But the election went by and no barber has been ordered to take the job. 
In addition to the satisfaction of having kept his pledge until victory 
came Mr. Robertson will draw $100 from the Quincy Bank in the event 
of the election of a Democratic president. This money was deposited 
there in 1896 by Mr. Winfield, and is to be paid to Mr. Robertson if he 
sticks loyally to his curious vow. Mr. Robertson was born near Quincy, 
Illinois, in 1840. During his active years he operated sawmills in 
various parts of northern Missouri, and from that employment came the 
name, "Sawmill Robertson." He was married in Knox county, in 
1862. His wife died in 1901, leaving three children. Mr. Robertson is 
a familiar figure on the streets of Macon and he says he will be a con- 
spicuous one some of these days because he has the idea that the Lord 
will lengthen out his years until the Democrats put u]i a man who 
proves to be a winner. 

John Henry Griffin, for many years a successful real estate, loan 
and insurance agent of Macon, and for years county recorder, was 
born in Ten Mile township, October 31, 1840. He died at his residence 
in Macon, March 29, 1910. Mr. Griffin had never walked a stej) in his 



2G4 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

life. In his infancy lie was attacked by a malady which left him with 
both of his lower limbs paralyzed from the hips down. Above the limbs, 
however, his body was strong and his mind vigorous. Mr. Griffin deter- 
mined that his handicap should not cause him to be an object of 
sympathy. He was somewhat sensitive about it, however, and would 
indignantly refuse any favor or consideration on account of the fact 
that he was unable to walk. Early in life he learned to ride a horse 
and to handle a gun. He was said to have been one of the most accurate 
shots with the rifle and the pistol in Ten Mile township, and was a 
great squirrel hunter. He went to school and at the age of fifteen began 
teaching. From that day on down to his death, save for the time he was 
in the Confederate Army and in a Federal prison at Macon, he worked 
steadily. His first teaching was at the Moody school house. He did 
his work satisfactorily, winning the approval of the school board, and 
the patrons. When the war came on Mr. Griffin was among the first 
to enroll his name with soldiers of the South. To the Confederacy he 
brought his fine black horse, Ceilim, a carbine and two revolvers pur- 
chased with his own money. Mr. Griffin joined Price's army in time 
for the fight at Lexington; took part in that engagement; went on to 
Lone Jack, fought and was slightly wounded there, and continued with 
the army to Wilson's Creek; took part in that great battle, riding out 
on the firing line, discharging his carbine at the enemy and proving him- 
self as good a soldier as any man in the command. After Wilson's 
Creek, Price's army was reorganized, and the .officer refused to 
accept ]\rr. Griffin as a soldier because of his physical handicap. Mr. 
Griffin protested that he was as good a soldier as anybody and that he 
wanted to continue with the army. They told him it would never 
do, because there was lots of hard work ahead and the soldiers would 
have to walk as well as to ride. Mr. Griffin was taken sick at Spring- 
field and laid up in an old mill, used as a hospital there. The report 
got out that the Jayhawkers from Kansas were coming to raise trouble 
and Mr. Griffin got out of his bed and took to the woods, riding his 
faithful horse, Ceilim. Ceilim was trained so that when his master 
wished to alight he would lay down gently; when he approached him 
to mount the big horse would understand by a tap on the foreleg and 
prostrate himself so that Mr. Griffin could climb into the deep saddle. 
Jack Eichardson accompanied the young soldier in his long ride from 
Ozark region to Macon county. They arrived home safely but Mr. 
Griffin had liardly been welcomed by his parents when some militiamen 
from Macon went out there and arrested the returned soldier on tlie 
charge of being a "Rebel." 




THOMAS B. ROBERTSON 



WHO, AFTER READING BRYAN'S "CROSS OF GOLD" 
SPEECH IN 1896, SWORE HE WOULD NEVER CUT 
HIS HAIR OR SHAVE UNTIL BRYAN OR SOME 
OTHER DEMOCRAT WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 2G5 

Mr. Griffin was taken to Macon, where Major Foster was in com- 
mand, and held in prison three or four weeks ; liis offense being that he 
had borne ai-ms against the Federal government. Of course the young- 
man's father made frequent efforts to have him released, on the grounds 
that he was not a very dangerous enemy, but the authorities evidently 
considered him so. Finally Mr. Griffin took an oath tliat he would 
never bear arms against the Union cause again and his father gave a 
bond of $10,000 that his son would keep the oath. Mr. Griffin was then 
released and went to teaching school. He followed that occupation until 
1872. It is said that he was a very strong disciplinarian, frequently 
whipping the big boys and girls for infractions of the rules. One of 
the girls he had occasion to chastise was Miss Mary A. Coiner, who 
afterwards became Mrs. John Henry Griffin. 

In addition to teaching school Mr. Griffin learned to be a first-class 
farmer. He drove the plow, gathered corn, planted and even chopped 
wood. He was married in 1862 to the young lady referred to. In 1880 
Mr. and Mrs. Griffin came to Macon, where they located. For two 
years following Mr. Griffin operated a farm near town. Then he was 
elected county recorder, served four years and afterwai'ds went into 
the real estate, loan and insurance business. He proved himself a most 
capable business man. No man in the county was a better judge of land 
and property values than John Henry Griffin. Sometimes he made 
mistakes in men. At one time he was prettj^ heavily involved because 
of the failure of a party he had backed in business, and the defalcation 
of a county officer whose bond he had signed. Mr. Griffin paid these 
debts, manfully, witliout a complaint against anybody. He was regarded 
as a straight-forwai'd, honest, business man and his credit was good 
in Macon to almost any amount. Of course in getting about he rode 
horseback or in a buggy. An interesting friend that he had was a 
black shepherd dog, Robert by name, who seemed to realize his master's 
misfortune and to take a brotherh^ interest in protecting him from harm. 
He would never permit the horse to start up in the buggy until he 
saw that Mr. Griffin had his hands on the lines and was ready to go. 
No man dare lay his hands on his master wliile the shepherd dog was 
about. The day of Mr. Griffin's death he had written a large number 
of letters on his typewi'iter and had just been assisted into his buggy, 
preparatory to going down town and mailing the letters. He had 
hardly picked up tlie lines when he fell over dead. Mrs. Griffin called 
some neighbors and they undertook to remove the body from the buggy, 
but the shepherd dog flew at the men and would not suffer any one to 
touch his master. Then one of tlie men went to the horse and sought 



266 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

to lead it to the barn, but the shepherd dog leaped out of the buggy, 
ran around to the front of the horse and would not let it move. Finally 
they unhitched the horse. By that act the dog understood that the 
journey had been abandoned and ceased to make objections. 

Mr. Griffin was survived by his faithful wife. There were no 
children. 

It ought to be interesting to Andrew Carnegie to know that one 
of his war-time comrades of the telegraph key is living in Macon, and 
doing well. Mr. Carnegie, sometime ago, announced that he was going 
to remember all these faithful friends of the government. During the 
Civil war the names of 1200 persons appeared on the rolls of the tele- 
graph corps. Some newspaper writer estimated that in 1909 there 
were less than 200 of the military telegraphers living. One of these is 
Tom Smith, an energetic old gentleman who harvests a big ice crop in 
Macon every winter and drives a wagon around town delivering it in 
summer. They used to call him "Depot Smith" to distinguish him 
from several other Tom Smiths who lived in and about Macon. For 
many years following the Civil war Mr. Smith run a restaurant at the 
Hannibal & St. Joseph depot. 

Mr. Smith first took hold of a telegraph key for the government 
in 1861, soon after the Conscript Act, and was assigned to Bardstown, 
Kentucky, a place which for the next few years was full of incident and 
danger. There was a soldier's hospital at Bardstown and for a while 
a strong government force maintained there. Later on the government 
withdrew its soldiers and left Smith the operator to play a lone hand in 
a country infested with guerrillas. Captain of one of the bands was 
Sue Monday, said to be merciless and unsparing. Sue's outfit swooped 
down on Bardstown one day, cut the wires, carried away the telegraph 
instruments, and set on fire the depot and the cars in the railway yards. 
Mr. Smith hid out; he didn't think his duty to the government required 
him to fight the redoubtable Sue Monday and her crowd singlehanded. 

"When Sue and her people left town it was up to me to get a mes- 
sage over to headquarters at Louisville," said Mr. Smith. "There 
wasn't an instrument left in towTti. It had been raining during the early 
part of the night and I knew that the ground would make a good con- 
ductor. I picked up the two ends of the severed wire, and, striking 
them together, managed to get the news of the raid in to the Federal 
authorities at Louisville. Then I held Louisville end of the wire to my 
tongue, receiving a reply from the operator there, announcing that my 
improvised method had worked satisfactorily and the message had 
been received. 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 267 

"Late in the war I was on duty at Louisville, working at night. 
There was a feeling of approaching momentous events in the air. Some- 
thing was going to happen. Everybody seemed to understand that, 
but no one could guess just where, nor what was going to break loose. 
Sherman and Grant were planning some great thing to crush the Con- 
federacy. There were politicians in Washington who feared the grow- 
ing influence on the voters of these great generals. They were seeking 
to handicap them by various orders and red tape. At two o 'clock one 
morning the operator called me and repeated this confidential message 
from Sherman to Grant. 

" 'Go on with the plans as we have arranged them. Don't mind 
the damn fellows over at Washington. ' 

"I understood the significance of the dispatch. It meant that the 
march to the sea was under way, and that General Grant would immedi- 
ately begin on the last act in the great war tragedy around Richmond. 
How wonderfully excited would the people of Louisville have been that 
night had they only known ! Brokers and syndicates would have paid big 
money for the information known only to the telegraph corps of the 
government. But there was not a leak anywhere. The boys of the 
service were as loyal and patriotic about their duties as were the 
soldiers at the front." 

Mr. Smith was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, January 29, 1834, 
and though a few years older than the Scotch philanthropist, bears a 
striking resemblance to the pictures of that gentleman. He is short, 
stout and wears a well-trimmed beard just like Mr. Carnegie does. Mr. 
Smith's life has always been full of activity and he stands well among 
the people of Macon. 

Soon after the Iowa and St. Louis railroad was constructed into 
Macon county, rival townsite companies hurried to establish a couple 
of towns in the northern part of the county. The location was in the 
heart of the Chariton valley, right near the river and was most pictur- 
esque. Indian hill loomed to the northward and on all sides was rich 
bottom land. Both settlements were called Gifford. They were dis- 
tinguished as North and South. Later on, the North was dropped from 
the norsJi town and it became known simply as Gilford. The towns were 
separated by a bluegrass meadow, belonging to J. A. Urquhart. In 
both places buildings were rapidly erected, town lots sold and industries 
of all sorts established. Then came the big fight for the postoffice and 
the depot. A postal inspector went up, talked with the people of both 
towns and returned, unable to make a decision. He said it was the most 
trying x^roblem he has had ]nit up to him during his service with the 



268 HISTOEY OF ilACON COUXTY 

government. The railroad comijany felt the same way about it, for it 
hesitated a long time before establishing the depot, hoping that the 
towns would settle it themselves. The feeling was naturally somewhat 
strained, and for a while there was but little intercourse between the 
two thriving towns lying so close together. At one time the manager 
of the Iowa and St. Louis railroad, Mr. Brimson, furnished a private 
car for one of his ministerial friends to go to the Giffords and conduct 
religious services in a tent. The car was kept at the north town and 
the preacher put up his tent in the south town. The meetings were 
largely attended and much good resulted, it is said, but the preacher was 
not successful in causing the glad hand to be extended across the 
Urcjuhart meadow. 

At last the railroad put up a very nice depot at the north town and 
placed an agent in charge. At this time the south town was really the 
larger place, but the north town claimed that it had a contract with the 
railroad and that established its right to the depot. This settled the 
postoffice question, the rule of the department being that the office had 
to be near the railroad depot. For quite a while the south town received 
its mail largelj' through rural route service out of Elmer, preferring 
that to going to the north town for it. 

During all the years of rivalry the two towns grew in spite of it. 
Both of the towns had banks and large business houses. Eesidences 
were also numerous. The south town had a good newspaper. The 
Gifford Gazette. The north town had a box factory which worked a 
large force of men. 

In May, 1907, there was a notable meeting on the Urquhart meadow 
by the representatives of the two (jiffords. Following are the men 
composing the committee; North town — John Saddler, H. C. Surbeck, 
T. I. ^lurray, Dr. Foster. J. G. Magers. South town — Samuel Gash, 
Jose Bradley, W. A. Eobinson, Levi Thompson, J. C. Bradley. 

The proposition was to join the two places and have one good large 
town under the same organization. Following were the concessions 
offered by the north town: To move its bank a short ways to the south; 
to assist in defraying expenses of moving tlie Greenstreet building; to 
move the depot down to the corner ; to consolidate lumber yards5 

Concessions offered by south town : To merge bank into the north 
town bank; to move Bradley poultry house up on Urquhart forty, 
bewteen towns ; to centralize the school buildiug between the towns ; to 
open street through to north town and encourage building up so as to 
connect the two towns; to work together to make united Gififord the 
best town in North Macon countv. 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 26!) 

The two committees met as per agreement and discussed the pre- 
liminary points in a friendly way, but when it came to moving the depot 
the North Giffordites could not see the practicability of it. On that 
proposition the committees hitched and the pacification proposition fell 
through. 

It will not be long, however, it is thought, before a street is run 
through the center of Mr. Urquhart's meadow and that will result in 
a practical union of the towns. There is greater harmony now then at 
first and farmers do their trading at both places. With the completion 
of the railroad on through to the main line a united Gifford is almost a 
certainty, which means a large and i)rosperous community. 

Macon county enjoys mail facilities unexcelled by any community 
in the state. There are thirty-six Rural Mail Routes traversing all the 
more populous sections, radiating from the following towns; Macon, 
7 ; Excello, 1 ; Bevier, 2 ; Callao, 4 ; New Cambria, 4 ; Anabel, 2 ; Ethel, 
3 ; Elmer, 3 ; Atlanta, 5 ; La Plata, 5 ; Rural Route carriers cover about 
twenty-five miles. They receive $900 per annum. 

Following are the postoffices where mail is received and delivered : 
Anabel, Ardmore, Atlanta, Axtell, Bevier, Callao, College Mound, 
Elmer, Ethel, Evelyn, Excello, Gilford, Goldsbery, Kaseyville, Keota, 
La Crosse, La Plata, Lingo, Love Lake, Macon, New Cambria, 
Nickellton, Redman, Tullvania, Walnut — 25. 

These are the villages which appeared on the records in 1884 as 
postoffices, but are now served by Rural Delivery: Beverly, Barnes- 
ville, Bloomington, Barryville, Economy, Ettle, Goldsberry, Seney, 
Maple, Mercyville (Elmer), Lyda, Narrows Creek, Nickellton, Kasey- 
ville, Ten Mile, Woodville— 16. 

Congress has, within recent years, appropriated $60,000 for a Fed- 
eral Building at Macon. The site has been located on Rollins street, 
three blocks south of the Court House, and the lots paid for. It is 
expected construction work on the building will begin soon. 

Free city delivery in Macon was established in 1902. At that time 
the postoffice inspector, Mr. W. L. Reid, said Macon was the smallest- 
town in the United States that justified city delivery. The postoffice 
receipts were over $10,000 per annum. They have steadily increased 
since then. In 1909 the Macon office's patronage brought $14,000. There 
are four uniformed carriers, making two deliveries daily in the residence 
districts and three in the business section. Including the seven Rural 
Route Carriers, seventeen persons report for duty at the Macon post- 
office. Charles Farrar is postmaster ; Thomas McKay, assistant post- 
master; Miss Nelle Wilson, money order and stamp clerk. 



270 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

MACON COUNTY'S VOTE 

On Presidential Candidates : 1892. 

Cleveland, Democrat 3,274 

Harrison, Republican 2,722 

Weaver, Third Party 739 

1896. 

Bryan, Democrat 4,465 

McKinley, Republican 3,475 

Palmer, Gold Ticket ' 27 

1900. 

Biyau, Democrat 4,177 

McKinley, Republican 3,565 

Debs, Social Labor Ticket 128 

1904. 

Parker, Democrat 3,592 

Roosevelt, Republican 3,674 

1908. 

Bryan, Democrat 3,911 

Taft, Republican 3,543 




m 



% 




BIOGRAPHICAL 



THOMAS WAEDELL. 

Thomas Wardell, senior, the pioneer coal operator of Macon county, 
was born in the county of Durham, England, July 4, 1835. His father 
was John Wardell and his mother's name was Jane Triunble. Mr. 
Wardell came to America in 1844 and here he was married to Miss 
Ann Surtees, daughter of Theopolus and Jane Surtees. Mr. Wardell 's 
first occupation in America was that of a miner. He came to Macon 
county in 1861 and located at Bevier. He worked as a coal miner until 
the age of 30, which was three years after he settled at Bevier. But 
not long did he work as an ordinary hand. He soon developed that 
business ability which in later years was destined to make him one of 
the most successful coal operators in the West. He began supplying 
coal to the railroad company from a mine he operated himself, and grad- 
ually extended the capacities of his plants until he controlled a large 
tract of valuable coal land and was employing 600 men. During his 
active life Mr. Wardell was also interested in coal mines in Wyoming. 
Being a practical miner and knowing the business thoroughly, he was 
an accurate judge of values and of men. He foresaw that all of the 
land to the south of Bevier would some day be utilized in supplying 
coal for the market, and when he died he had acquired enough of 
this land to operate for many years. It is now in the possession of the 
Central Coal & Coke Company, successor to the Kansas & Texas Coal 
Company, and a railroad line, the property of the coal company, runs 
through the heart of the district. Mr. Wardell died October 12, 1888, 
leaving his wife and four children : Thomas E., Elizabeth, Mary and 
Jane. Elizabeth is now Mrs. Harry M. Rubey; the next oldest, Mary, 
married Harry Wilkinson, of Chicago, and the youngest daughter, Jane, 
is now Mrs. Sidney Brock. 

Mr. Wardell was one of the most energetic men that ever operated 
in the Macon county coal fields, and those who knew him predicted, had 
he lived, that great things would have been accomplished in this county 

371 



273 HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 

through his enterprise. He died in the prune of life. Eight in the 
midst of his business activity and full of plans for the development of 
a great ambition. His son, Thomas E. Wardell, has shown a great 
deal of his father's public spirit in the encouragement of enterprises 
about Macon. 

/ CHARLES O. BARNES. 

Thrown on his own resources at the early age of thirteen, and hav- 
ing in addition to the burden of supporting himself that of contributing 
to the necessities of the rest of the family, Charles 0. Bai'nes, of Bevier, 
for some years past the deputy sheriff of Macon county, has made his 
way in the world through difficulties and gained every step of his prog- 
ress by arduous effort and a strict reliance on Ms ovra resources, which 
were nothing but his natural ability and determined spirit. His is not, 
however, the only story in the family history that is darkened with trial 
and has the element of the dramatic in it in large measure. His grand- 
parents were pioneers in this state and dared all the dangers and 
endured all the hardshijas of frontier life. 

Mr. Barnes was born in the citj' of Macon, Missouri, on August 27, 
1866, and is a sou of Kit and Sophronia (Seney) Barnes, also natives 
of Missouri and the children of pioneers. The paternal grandfather, 
James Barnes, was born and grew to early manhood in Virginia. He 
came as a young man to this state and located in Boone county. Even 
though he was a preacher of the Baptist sect, and went about doing- 
good, especially ministering to the spiritual welfare as well as the 
physical comfort of the Indians, he was obliged to build himself forts 
to protect himself and his family from the occasional fury of the 
savages, for their peaceful attitude and promises were by no means 
to be relied on. He preached in Boone and Macon counties for many 
years, in the early days, and was one of the best known and most 
highly esteemed men in the region, meeting all the requiremeuts of his 
often perilous career with heroic courage and performing its always 
trying duties with fidelity. 

His son, Kit Barnes, the father of Charles O., was born in Boone 
county in 18.33, and grew to manhood amid the constant perils of the 
border. In 1852 he was married to Miss Samantha McGhee, and by 
this union became the father of four sons. In 1856 he moved to the 
city of Macon and during the next three years was engaged in mercan- 
tile business there. He then became a farmer, and for several years 
he tilled the soil with industry and profit. But the bent of his mind 
was toward mechanical pursuits, and he learned the trade of plasterer, 



HISTOEY OF MACOIJ COUNTY 273 

and to this occupation he adhered to the end of his life, which came at 
Bevier, Missouri, on November 15, 1879. His first wife died in 1860 
and 1862 he married a second, being united on this occasion witli Miss 
Sophronia Seney. Three sons and live daughters were born of this 
union, and by the early death of the father were left as a charge to their 
mother, who gave herself up to rearing and caring for them with all 
her fidelity and ability. Yet the task was beyond her powers and each 
of the older children was obliged to take a hand in helping to provide for 
the household as soon as a suitable age for the purpose was reached. 

Charles 0. Barnes attended the district school in his native city 
during the winter months of a few years, but, owing to the circum- 
stances of the family, his education was necessarily limited. By the loss 
of his father, when he was but thirteen years of age himself, he had 
to go to work in the coal mines at Bevier at that age and work labori- 
ously for some time as a track boy at 50 cents a day, giving his earn- 
ings to his mother to help her along. He was, however, industrious and 
frugal, and in a few years got a little start in life, and was able to 
begin a career for himself. He continued to woi'k in the mines and at 
other occupations until 1900, and then, because of his great interest in 
political affairs and his demonstrated ability for official duties, he was 
elected a member of the board of aldermen of Bevier. So satisfac- 
tory to the people were his services in this office that he was re-elected 
in 1902, 1904 and again in 1907. He had not given up the claims of 
industrial life on his energies and capacities, but having entered pub- 
lic life it has been difficult for him to break away from it, as the people 
have continued to demand his services. In 1908, when J. D. Hall was 
elected sheriff of Macon county, he appointed Mr. Barnes his deputy, 
and the latter has been serving the county in that capacity ever since. 
His duties have often been very trying and exacting, but he has been 
faithful to the limit in the discharge of them, and has made a number 
of very important and daring arrests in the state during his term 
in the office, and has aided in bringing back for trial a number of dan- 
gerous characters from other states. 

In politics Mr. Barnes is a firm and loyal Democrat, always ardent 
and effective in the service of his party, and several times has been 
elected a member of the county, ward and city central Democratic 
committees. His religious alliance is with the Methodist church. On 
May 13, 1887, he was united in marriage with Miss Martha Whitaker, 
a native of Macon county, Missouri. They have had six sons and one 
daughter. Three of the sons died in infancy. The other four of the 
children are living. As a public official, as a citizen of progressive 



274 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

spirit, deeply interested in the welfare of the county, and as a man 
of probity and uprightness, Mr. Barnes is higiiiy esteemed. It is well 
known all over the county that he can always be relied on to do whatever 
is right in every relation of life, and he has the confidence and regard 
of the people in all parts of the county and throughout a large extent 
of the surrounding coimtry, as well as in other states where he is 
known. 

V DE. EDWAED B. CLEMENTS. 

This eminent physician and surgeon, who has employed his activ- 
ities and devoted his energies and acquirements in the service of the 
people of Macon county for a period of twenty-eight years, stands 
deservedly high in the estimation of the public as a professional man 
and a citizen, and holds an elevated rank among his jDrofessional breth- 
ren throughout Northern Missouri. He was born in "Washington, 
D. C, on May 10, 1861, and was brought by his parents to Macon county 
when he was four years old. He is a son of John T. and Mary S. 
(Brush) Clements, the former a native of the District of Columbia 
and the latter of Vii'giuia. 

The father was an architect in Washington, D. C, and during the 
Civil war was an ardent supporter of the Union. Carrying his convic- 
tions into what was then a far western locality, he moved his family 
to I\lacon county, this state, at the close of the war and founded the 
Macon Journal, which was the first Eepublican newspaper ever pub- 
lished in this part of the country. He conducted this paper for some 
years, and also published for three years an independent daily which 
was known as the Macon Pilot. These were not his first ventures 
in the field of journalism. Prior to the Civil war he edited the Louis- 
iana Journal for a mimber of years. But when the war began, taking 
the Union side, as has been noted, he sought again his native heath 
in our federal district, and there joined the military organization known 
as "The National Eifles," which was soon afterward hurried to the 
front and was kept in active service throughout the memorable sectional 
contest that so awfully tore asunder and desolated our country. The 
command took part in the first battle of Bull Eun and in many other 
engagements'of the war, most of which made history and all of which 
established on imperishable records the valor of the citizen-soldiery of 
America, whether it fought under the Star Spangled Banner or the 
Bonnie Blue Flag. Mr. Clements rose by ability and fidelity in the 
army to the rank of captain and was breveted major for conspicuous 
gallantry on many a hard fought field. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 275 

At the close of the war he was appointed pension agent for Mis- 
souri and the adjoining states, and in acceptance of the appointment 
became a resident of Macon in this state. After ten years of faithful 
service in this locality, he returned to Washington and received an 
appointment in the pension department of the government, which he is 
still filling with acceptability. He and his wife are residents of Wash- 
ington and stand high in its social circles, being firmly established in 
the regard and good will of both its official and its civilian population. 
They are the parents of two sons and three daughters, all of whom are 
living. The family is of English and German ancestry, but both sides 
of it have long been resident in this country. Its American progenitors 
were pi-ominent in the Eevolution, which freed our land from foreign 
dominion, in the War of 1812, which gave us the same freedom on the 
high seas, in the Mexican war, which added vastly to the glory of our 
arms and the extent of our public domain, and in all other sang-uinary 
struggles in which our people have been engaged. 

Dr. Edward B. Clements grew to manhood in Macon and obtained 
his scholastic education in the public schools of that city. He had 
further jDreperation for usefulness in life through a course of special 
training which he pursued at a business college in the city of St. Joseph. 
He began the study of medicine under the direction of Dr. Thomas B. 
Hood, of Washington, D. C, and entered the medical department of 
Howard University, in that city, in 1877. He was graduated from that 
institution in 1881 with the degree of M. D. and immediately began 
the practice of his profession at Macon, where he has ever since 
resided and been activelj' engaged' in his helpful service to the people 
of this and adjacent counties. 

Dr. Clements has always been a close student of his profession 
and taken advantage of every means at his command to keep abreast 
with its latest discovery and thought. He has long been active and 
prominent in the county and state medical societies, and in 1886 took 
a post-graduate course of special instruction in the New York Post 
Graduate Medical School. For a number of years he was associated 
with Colonel Blees, an extensive manufacturer in this county, as the 
private physician for his family and employes, but at the same time 
continued his general practice with steadily increasing reputation and 
a steadily expanding body of patients. He is still in active practice 
and practically at the head of his profession in this part of the state. 

The Doctor served some years as one of the directors of the 
First National Bank of Macon and is now one of the directors of the 
State Exchange Bank of the same city. He is also vice-president 



276 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

and general manager of the Blees Buggy Company, which does an 
extensive business and has enjoyed great prosperity under his direc- 
tion. In politics he is a pronounced Eepublican and for eight years 
served on the state central committee of his party. So eflBcient were his 
services in the councils of the party that he was recognized as having 
great capacity for public affairs, and was in consequence elected a mem- 
ber of the lower house of the Forty-second General Assembly of the 
state, in the deliberations of which he took a prominent and very 
effective part. In fraternal life he is a Free ^lason of the Knights 
Templar degree and also belongs to the order of Elks and the Knights 
of Pytliias. 

In December, 1883, Dr. Clements and Miss Elizabeth Barclay were 
united in marriage. Mrs. Clements is a native of Ohio who came with 
her parents to Missouri in 1866. She and her husband stand high in 
the esteem of all the people of the county and are recognized as among 
its most useful and estimable citizens. They are active in all works 
of public improvement and energetic in promoting every intellectual 
and moral agency at work in the community. The public weal is dear 
to them, and their work in all worthy attempts to advance it is on 
perpetual record to their credit and the advantage of the people all 
around them, and they are esteemed in accordance with their worth 
and usefulness. 

BENJA:snX E. DYSAET. 

This Nestor of the bar of Macon county and venerable citizen of 
the state, who has been connected with its progress and advancement 
in many leading ways, has passed the whole of his seventy-six years 
of life to this time within its borders and given all his energy and 
ability to the service of its people. As a professional man he has high 
rank; as a public-spirited and progressive potency in all that pertains 
to the welfare of the state he has been an important factor in its devel- 
opment; as a valiant soldier in a short and disastrous militaiy career 
during the early stage of the Civil war he sealed his devotion to its 
cause in the gi-eat conflict between the sections with his blood; and in all 
the duties of citizenship in every relation in life he has well illustrated 
the best attributes of its elevated and progressive manhood and the 
characteristics for which its people are distinguished. 

Mr. Dysart was born in Howard county, Missouri, on April 13. 
1834. His father, .John Dysart, was a native of Tennessee and came 
to Missouri in his boyhood with his parents, who located in Eandolph 
county some time prior to 1820, before Missouri was a state, and while 



I 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 277 

yet a great part of its wide domain was under the dominion of its 
savage denizens of plain and forest. The grandfather, James Dysart, 
was also a native of Tennessee, and, although his life in Missouri 
scarcely passed beyond the pioneer period, he rendered good service to 
the region of it in which he lived in helping to found its government and 
bring about the lasting benefits of its later civilization. The father was 
a farmer, and in the early days of the state's history was the county 
judge of Howard county. 

His wife, the mother of Benjamin R. Dysart, whose maiden name 
was Matilda Brooks, was a daughter of William and Susan (Pyle) 
Brooks, who came from Kentuckj^ to Missouri, wliere she was born 
and reared. She and her husband became the parents of nine children, 
all of whom grew to maturity except the two last born. Those now 
living are : Benjamin R., the immediate subject of this brief memoir ; 
Martha, the widow of the late Rev. James B. Mitchell ; and Elizabeth, 
the widow of the late Dr. T. P. Parkinson, of Chariton county. The 
father died in Howard county in 1869 and the mother in 1873. 

Benjamin R. Dysart began his scholastic training in the public 
schools of Randolph and Howard counties. From them he went to. 
Central College at Fayette, Missouri, and later McGee College at 
College Mound. His preparation for his professional work was made 
at Cumberland University, whicli is located at Lebanon, Tennessee. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1858 and began his practice at Blooming- 
ton, at that time the county seat of Macon count}", associating himself 
with George W. Sharp, the firm name being Sharp & Dysart. The 
partnership lasted until the beginning of the Civil war, when Mr. 
Sharp entered the Christian ministry. He is now a Cumberland Pres- 
byterian clergyman and located at Kirksville, Missouri. When the 
partnership was dissolved Mr. Dysart obeyed the call of Governor 
Jackson and enlisted in Price's army for the defense of the state against 
armed invasion. He was severely wounded at the battle of Springfield, 
and this ended his military career. After recovering from his wound he 
returned to this coimty and located at Macon, which was made the 
county seat in 186.3. 

Here he resumed the practice of law and in this he has been 
actively engaged ever since. In March, 1891, he formed a partner- 
ship with the late Robert G. Mitchell, which lasted until the death of 
Mr. Mitcliell on March 6, 1909. In politics Mr. Dysart has always 
been a Democrat and an important factor in the councils and activities 
of his party. In 1875 he was elected a member of the convention 
which formulated the present constitution of the state, and in that 



2:8 HISTOEY OF MACON" COUNTY 

body of distinguisliel men his general and comprehensive intelligence 
and breadth of view gave him prominence and enabled him to render 
the people service of great value in determining some of the essential 
features of their organic law. 

On March 27, 1866, Mr. Dysart was united in marriage with Miss 
Emma V. Turner, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Bell) Turner, 
and a native of Pike county, Missouri, although her parents were born 
and reared in Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Dysart have two children, their 
daughters, Maude and Pearl. The parents are members of the Cum- 
berland Presbyterian church. For more than forty-two years Mr. 
Dysart has been an active practitioner of the law in this county. He 
has, in that long period, been connected with many leading cases and 
had both a busy and a highly creditable career. In all his practice he 
has upheld lofty ideals of citizenship and professional life, and, while 
giving all his energies and all his ability to his clients, has never lost 
sight of the highest duty of an advocate, which is to aid in promoting 
the cause of justice and securing right results in court proceedings. 
He is highly esteemed in and out of his profession, and richly deserves 
the universal regard and good will of the people which they so freely 
bestow upon him in all parts of the state. 

1/ BEN. FEANKLIN. 

"With a practice of seventeen years in the legal profession in 
Macon county to his credit, and extensive farming and live stock 
operations, also, to engage his attention and contribute to the wealth 
and commercial importance of the county, Ben. Franklin, one of the 
leading citizens of Macon, is justly regarded as one of the most useful 
and progressive men in this progressive section of the state of Missouri, 
and a true representative of its upright, enterprising and serviceable 
manhood. 

Mr. Franklin is a native of the state, born in Putnam county on 
September 14, 1861, and is a son of John N. and Sarah E. (Lucas) 
Franklin, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Virginia. The 
father passed his boyhood in Ohio and came to this state in 18^5, locat- 
ing in Putnam county. He was a farmer's son in Ohio and a progres- 
sive and successful farmer in Missouri. He was a Democrat in politics 
and took a very active interest in public affairs, but never accepted 
a political office, eitlier by election or apijointment. He died in June, 
1896. The mother, who was a daughter of James and Margrite Lucas, 
the former a Kentuckian and the latter a Virginian by nativity, is still 
living and has her home in Unionville, Putnam county, Missouri. They 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 279 

were the parents of six diildren, five of whom are living : Caius Cas- 
sius ; Marcus A. ; Nelson Amherst ; Ben and Thomas S. 

Ben Franklin, as he is called by everybody, and as he prefers to 
be called, began his scholastic training in the public schools of his 
native county, continued it at the Stanberry Normal school, and com- 
pleted it at the state university, located at Columbia, where he pursued 
the literary course. After leaving that institution he studied law under 
the direction of Hon. Andrew Ellison, judge of the Circuit Court at 
Kirksville, Missouri. He was admitted to the bar in June, 1889, and 
began the practice of his profession at Unionville in Putnam county, 
remaining there until 1893. In that year he moved to Macon, and 
there he has been practicing ever since, with a steady rise in rank 
in tlie profession and a constantly increasing body of clients. He is 
recognized as one of the leaders of the Macon county bar and has 
been connected with a large number of the principal cases tried in the 
county since his i^ractice in it began. 

In 1896 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Macon county and 
in 1898 was re-elected, serving four years consecutively in the office. 
In 1900 and 1902 he was chairman of the county central committee of 
his party in the county and proved himself of great value as an 
organizer and party manager. He was also one of the presidential 
electors on the ticket of his party in the campaig-n of Hon. Alton B. 
Parker for the presidency. He is a pronounced Democrat in political 
faith and at all times takes a very active part in the campaigns of his 
party. He has been twice elected president of the local school board, 
and is now (1910) serving in that capacity. In religious faith he is 
a Baptist. 

Mr. Franklin was married in 1895 to Miss Grace M. Simmons, a 
native of Missouri and a daughter of George E. and Emily (Pepkin) 
Simmons, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of this 
state. Five chiFdren were born of this union, all of whom are living. 
They are : Emily V., Frances E., John N., Amy L. and Mary Guthrie. 
It has been stated that Mr. Franklin is one of the leading lawyers 
of Macon county. He is also prominent as a farmer and stock man, 
owning and cultivating a total of 340 acres of first-rate land, divided 
into two farms, each well improved and completely equipped for its 
work, and carrying on an extensive live-stock industry, according to 
the most approved and progressive modern methods known to the 
business. 

Mr. Franklin is one of those men who have capacity for conduct- 
ing a number of industries successfully at the same time. His farm- 



280 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

ing and stock interests are never allowed to interfere with bis legal 
practice, but they are carried on witb vigor and intelligence and in 
their way and to the full measure of skillful cultivation minister to his 
welfare. His practice, although it is extensive and exacting, on the 
other hand, is not allowed to absorb his energies or his time to the 
exclusion of other affairs of moment, and so he is successful and 
enterprising in whatever he turns his attention to. In the duties of 
citizenship, and attention to whatever helps to improve the township 
and county of his home, or minister to the substantial advantage of 
its people, he is always zealous, energetic and leading. No good proj- 
ect for the benefit of the region in which he lives goes without his active 
and intelligent aid, and he not only puts his own shoulder to the wheel 
of progress of the county, but stimulates others by his influence and 
example to do the same. No citizen of Macon county stands higher in 
the regard and good will of its people, and none is more worthy of their 
respect and high esteem, from whatever point of view the observer 
may take. 

^ JOHN SCOVERN. 

Measured by its beneficence, its rectitude, its pi-oductivenfess, its 
altruism, and its material success, the life of this honored citizen and 
representative business man of Macon has counted for much. He is 
a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of Missouri, wliich 
has been his home from the time of his birth, and he has not only 
been, in the most significant sense, the arcliitect of his own fortunes, 
implying the winning of a large and worthy success in connection 
with the practical activities of life, but he has also, through his well- 
directed efforts, contributed materially to the civic and industrial 
progress and prosperity of his native state. His life has been an event- 
ful one and through the legitimate application of his own powers and 
talents he has risen to a position as one of the substantial capitalists 
and essentially representative citizens of Missouri. He is at the pres- 
ent time president of the State Exchange Bank of Macon, one of the 
strong and popular financial institutions of the state, and he is one 
of the veteran newspaper men of this commonwealth, in which connec- 
tion he has wielded much influence in the directing of public thought 
and action. 

John Scovern was born on a farm in Clark county. Missouri, on 
the 7th of March, 1845, and is a son of Samuel G. and Elizabeth (Gil- 
lins) Scovern, both of whom were born in England. The father came 
to America with his parents in 1829, and it is known, however, that 



HISTORY OP MACON COUNTY 281 

the paternal grandparents of the subject of tliis review settled in Ohio, 
where they passed the residue of their lives, their remains being interred 
in an ancient cemetery at Zanesville, that state. The mother was 
brought to the United States and was married in Augusta, Kentucky. 
It is presumed that Samuel G. Scovern was a boy at the tune of the 
family immigi-ation to the United States and that he was reared to 
manhood in Ohio. He was a millwright by trade and followed this 
vocation prior to his removal to Missouri, to which state he came in 
the pioneer epoch of its history, making the journey by boat down the 
Ohio river and thence up the Mississippi and Des Moines rivers. He 
located in Clark county, Missouri, where he forthwith grappled with the 
wilderness in his labors of reclaiming a farm, having secured a tract 
of government land. He gave his attention to the imiorovement and 
cultivation of this farm until 1851, when he disposed of the property 
and removed to Alexandria, Clark county, which was then the most 
thriving and promising town in Northeast Missouri. A number of years 
later he removed to Lee county, Iowa, where both he and his wife passed 
the residue of their lives. He died in 1899 and she was summoned to 
the life eternal in 1897. They were folk of sterling integrity of char- 
acter and the father was a man of industrious habits and strong indi- 
viduality. While conditions were such that he never attained to a 
large measure of temporal prosperity, he exerted a helpful influence 
in the various communities in which he resided and ever held the con- 
Mence and good will of his fellow-men. He was a Republican in politics 
and he and his wife held membership in the Episcopalian church. They 
became the parents of eight sons and one daughter, and of the number 
three of the sons and the daughter are living at the time of this writing, 
in 1909. Locating in Missouri at a time and in a section marked by the 
manifold disadvantages ever characteristic of pioneer life, the family 
endured the full tension of the incidental hardships, deprivations and 
arduous labor of life on the frontier, and the names of Samuel G. Sco- 
vern and his noble wife merit an enduring place on the roll of the hon- 
ored pioneers of the state of Missouri. 

John Scovern, the immediate su1)ject of this review, was, by the 
very nature of conditions in the days of his boyhood and youth, denied 
more than the most meager of educational advantages, but, like many 
another valiant soul, he has well overcome the handicap of early years, 
lie attended private schools of the primitive order common to the local- 
ity and period in which he was reared, but while still a mere boy he 
became largely dependent upon his own resources. At the age of twelve 
years he "accepted" the dignified and inviolable office of "devil" in 



283 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

the office of the Alexandria Eeveille, the first Free Soil paper to be 
published in Missouri, and in this establishment he served an effective 
apprenticeship in connection with the "art presei^vative of all arts," 
becoming a skilled compositor and familiarizing himself with all inci- 
dental details of the trade. It has well been said that the discipline of 
a printing office is equivalent to a liberal education, and this was sig- 
nificantly justified under the condition that obtained at the time when 
Mr. Scovern was thus gaining his knowledge of the business. He ampli- 
fied his knowledge in a practical way and none who have known him 
in the years of his maturity can doubt his having well profited by the 
education he received while thus identified with the printing and pub- 
lishing business. To the foreman of the office in which he served his 
apprenticeship he has ever felt a debt of gratitude and appreciation for 
the kindly consideration accorded and the assistance given in the secui-- 
ing of the educational training which would otherwise have been denied 
him. He has kept in close touch with the thought and action of the 
times, has read widely and with discrimination, and is today a man of 
broad and definite culture, though never given the benefit of direct 
academic training. 

Mr. Scovern continued to be employed in the office of the Eeveille 
for a period of four years, and from 1861 to 1864, the climateric pei'iod 
of the civil war, he was identified with steamboat transportation on the 
Mississippi, Missouri and Cumberland rivers, serving in various minor 
offices on various boats. These river vessels were largely in service for 
the transportation of supplies for the United States government, and 
during his association therewith Mr. Scovern encountered many thrill- 
ing adventures, as the boats were traversing the greater portion of the 
time the water highways along which the conflict between the north and 
south waged fiercely. It is needless to say that he has a plethora of 
interesting reminiscences in regard to his experiences during this 
l^eriod, and when conditions favor he can be drawn upon for tales of 
marked historical interest in connection with the period when the 
dark cloud of fratricidal war cast its gruesome pall over the national 
horizon. He was on the steamer, "Simnyside," at the time when tlio 
same was burned, at Island No. 16, in the Mississippi river, in Septem- 
ber, 1863, and this disaster entailed the loss of ninety lives, among those 
sacrificed being sixteen women and a number of children. He was in 
service on one of the first boats to pass Vicksliurg after its surrender, 
and on another vessel he made a hazardous trip in the trans]iovtation 
of government supplies up the Cumberland river. In 1864 he was 
on the steamer, "Benton," which ascended the Missouri river to Fort 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 283 

Benton, Montana, tlien tlie head of navigation. Tliis boat was engaged 
in trading with the Indians, and those on board met witli many adven- 
tures' on this eventful voyage into the great wikls of the northwest. 
From data furnished by Mr. Scovern, Edgar White, a representative 
literary and newspaper man of Macon, has written a very interesting 
article concerning this trip. 

In 1865, after the close of the war, Mr. Scovern resumed his con- 
nection with newspaper work, but at this time in the position of editor 
and publisher of the True Flag, which he established at Alexandria, 
this state, and which became a power in moulding public sentiment in 
that section. At a later period he admitted to partnership the late 
Noble L. Prentiss, who was for many years before his death associate 
editor of the Kansas City Star, being one of the leading newspaper men 
of Missouri. It was while conducting the True Flag that Mr. Scovern 
was enabled to accumulate his first appreciable capital and to lay the 
foundation of his later and pronounced success as a business man. This 
financial return was that gained from the publication of legal notices 
of sheriif's sales in Clark county, from which source he realized more 
than $5,000. These were the first official notices of the kind to be pub- 
lished in the county mentioned after the close of the war. In 1869 Mr. 
Scovern disposed of his interest in the True Flag and removed to Kirks- 
ville, Missouri, where he engaged in the general merchandise business, 
in connection with which enterprise he achieved a substantial success. 
In Kirksville, also, he was ])rimarily instrumental in the founding of 
the newspaper known as the North Missouri Register, and it finally 
devolved upon him to assume control of the paper, which he thereafter 
reluctantly conducted as editor and publisher for one year, at the expi- 
ration of which he disposed of all his interests in Kirksville and 
removed to Glenwood, Schuyler county, where he was successfully 
engaged in the general merchandise business until his removal to 
Macon, in the spring of 1882. 

Soon after establishing his home in this city Mr. Scovern initiated 
his identification with the banking business, by becoming a member of 
the private banking firm of Scovern, Logan & Wilson. In March, 1883, 
Mr. Scovern and his associates organized the First National Bank of 
Macon, and these private banking interests were merged into that bank. 
Mr. Scovern acted as president and cashier of this bank for twenty-five 
years, when it was liquidated for the purpose of consolidating with the 
State Exchange Bank, of which he is now president. The interested 
principals in this institution then purchased the interests of Webster 
M. and Harry M. Eubey and others in the State Exchange Bank, and 



284 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

upon tlie reorganization of the latter at tliat time Mr. Seovern was cho- 
sen president, of which chief executive oflSce he has since remained in 
tenure. His personal reputation and financial standing have contrib- 
uted materially to the success of the bank, as have also his executive 
and administrative talents. The bank is now one of the solid and 
popular financial institutions of the state, basing its operations upon 
a capital stock of $100,000, with deposits over $500,000, and undi\"ided 
profits of about $20,000. The bank building in its architecture and 
appointments is one that would be creditable to a metropolitan center, 
and its facilities for handling effectively all details of a general banking 
business are of the best. The executive officers besides the president are 
as here noted: Thomas E. Wardell, vice-president; Charles A. Wardell, 
cashier, and Christopher E. Maffry, assistant cashier. In addition to 
the president, vice-president and cashier, the directorate of the bank 
also includes John T. Doneghy, Edward B. Clements, Ben Eli Guthrie, 
William E. McCully, Thomas S. Watson and Herman V. IVIiller. 

Mr-. Scovei-n is a man of broad and liberal views and distinctive 
Iiublic spirit, and he has naturally been marked by the people as an 
eligible candidate for offices of trust. Thus he served as eouncihnan- 
al-large in the city council of Macon, and in 1889 he was elected mayor 
of the city, as the candidate on both the Republican and Democratic 
tickets, a fact that indicates beyond peradventure the tenacious hold he 
has upon the confidence and esteem of the community. He gave a most 
progressive and businesslike administration as chief executive of the 
municipal government. He was a member of the board of education 
for six years, during the last four of which he was president of the 
same. Within his incumbency of this position was erected the present 
fine school building, which would be a credit to a city many times greater 
in population and wealth than is Macon. In politics Mr. Seovern is 
admirably fortified in his convictions, and he has rendered important 
and effective service in advancing the cause of the Republican party 
in his native state. He and his family are communicants of the Protes- 
tant Episcopal church, holding membership in the parish of St. James 
church, in whose affairs they take the deepest interest. Mr. Seovern 
has been a communicant of the church for half a century, and for the 
past eighteen years he has sei*ved as senior warden of his parish. He 
is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained the 
chivalric degrees, being identified with Emmanuel Commandery, No. 
7, Knights Templar. His life has been one of consecutive and well- 
directed endeavor, and his life has not been hedged in by self-interest, 
but has been marked by an abiding sympathy and tolerance, and appre- 



HISTOKY OP MACON COUNTY 285 

cialion of the well-springs of liuman motives, so that he has, with a sense 
of stewardship, endeavored to aid and sustain the efforts of ' ' all sorts 
and conditions of men." He has an inviolable hold upon the esteem 
and confidence of the community with whose interests he is so closely 
identified, and none may retain this without just desert. 

In the year 1870 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Scovern to 
Miss Emma Haywood, who was born in Clark coimty, Missouri, and who 
is a daughter of William and Elizabeth Haywood, both of whom were 
natives of Virginia and Kentucky, whence they came to missouri in the 
pioneer days and numbering themselves among the earliest settlers of 
Clark county, where the father reclaimed a valuable farm and where he 
and his wife passed the residue of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Scovern 
have one daughter. Lulu May, who remains at the parental home and 
who is a popular figure in connection with the social activities of her 
home city. 

GOODDING BROTHEES. 

Isaac Willard and Edward F. Goodding, to whom these paragraphs 
are especially dedicated, and whose lives they briefly record, are among 
the leading farmers, stock-breeders and most esteemed citizens of Lyda 
township, Macon county. They have met the requirements and per- 
formed the duties of life in accordance with the spirit of a distin- 
guished ancestry, and at all times and in every relation of life have 
upheld the family name and reputation by their own worth and elevated 
manhood. 

These gentlemen are the sons of Eichard P. Goodding, who was 
born in Eandolph county, Missouri, in 1826, and was reared and edu- 
cated in the place of his nativity, obtaining his education in the prim- 
itive country schools of his boyhood and youth, characteristic of the 
frontier, and the best that were available in the wild condition and 
sparsely populated state of the region as it was then, and amid the 
scenes and exactions of pioneer life he acquired the qualities of self- 
reliance and readiness for every emergency which life on the frontier 
begets, and which are a necessary part of the equipment for its duties. 

Eichard P. Goodding 's father was Capt. Abraham Goodding, a 
native of Tennessee who became a resident of what is now the state 
of Missouri in 1816. He was a valiant soldier in the war of 1812 and 
fought well under General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, where 
the hardy citizen soldiery of our then unpruned wilderness confronted 
and confounded all that valor, discipline, extensive experience and 
practically unlimited resources could give the flower of the British 



2SG HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

army. He was also captain of a company in the Black Hawk war, and 
in that brief but sanguinary contest saw the red braves of the forest 
fall like autumn leaves before the unerring rifles of the backwoodsmen 
of the period, who never faltered in the presence of any danger, or 
failed to make their mark in any conflict. He married with Miss Nancy 
Eogers, a native of Kentucky, who was imbued with the same heroic 
spirit that distinguished him. Coming to this state in 1816, he located 
in Howard county, where he lived six years. In 1823 he moved to 
Eandolph county and built the first , house erected on the east side 
of the East Fork of the Chariton river. His life ended there on 
May 26, 1877. 

His son, Eichard P. Goodding, located in Macon county in 1860, 
and in June of that year mai'ried Miss Nancy J. Ayers, a daughter 
of Joseph and Charlotte (Shelton) Ayers, who was born in Morgan 
county, Tennessee, and came to Missouri with her parents when she 
was but eleven years of age. She and her husband and six children, 
four of whom are liAnng, Isaac Willard, Lucinda Frances, Edward F. 
and Herschel M. The other two were Mary B., who died in 1889, and 
was at that time the wife of Albert J. Crawford, and John E., who died 
in 1907 in New Mexico. The father died on April 3, 1905. The mother 
is still living and has her home with her two sons, Isaac W. and Edward 
F. Her advanced age of seventy years has not much lessened her 
activity, and her genial and generous disposition has grown stronger 
in its admirable traits through all the trials and hardships she has been 
called upon by force of circumstances to suffer. She is well and favor- 
ably known throughout a large extent of the surrounding country 
and is everywhere highly esteemed and venerated. 

Isaac AVillard Goodding was born in IMacon county on March 
26, 1865, and obtained his education at the schools in the vicinity of his 
home. Since leaving school he has been engaged in farming and rais- 
ing stock, in which he is associated with his brother, Edward F. He 
is an elder in the Presbyterian church, and has always taken an earnest 
and serviceable interest in church work. He has also been zealous in 
all the duties of citizenship, and been particulai-ly active in his efforts 
to advance the best interests of his township and county and promote 
the welfare of their people in every possible way. 

Edward F. Goodding is also a native of this county and was born 
on October 4, 1873. He, too, obtained his education at the schools near 
his home in its preparatory stage, but finished it at Missouri Valley 
college. As soon as he left college he joined his brother, Isaac, in 
the farming and stock-breeding enterprise, which they have ever since 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 



287 



conducted together. He, like his brother, is warmly interested in 
church work and has for some years served the congregation in the 
Presbyterian church, to which he belongs, as a deacon. He is also a 
member of the Order of Odd Fellows and K. of M., and is much inter- 
ested in the improvement and advancement of the region in which 
he lives as any other citizen. 

The Gooddiug brothers oAvn a fine farm of 260 acres and have 
all of it under regular cultivation, except what they reserve for grazing 
purposes. Their stock interests are extensive and are looked after 
with all the energy and intelligent study, experience and intelligent 
observation have given them. They are Democrats in political faith, 
but have never sought or desired political positions of any kind, 
although attentive to the interests of their party and effective in its 
service. The honorable post of private citizenship fully satisfies them 
and they prefer to serve the public as well as they can from that sta- 
tion. But they are widely known and have the confidence and esteem 
of the people in all parts of the county. 

WILLIAM JOSEPH BOULTON. 

Combining- in his parentage the sturdy qualities of the manly 
and self-reliant yeomanry of England and the cavalier spirit of Vir- 
ginia, William Joseph Boulton, who is one of the prosperous and pro- 
gressive farmers of Jackson township, Macon county, has well exem- 
plified in his successful career the characteristics of his ancestry and 
done credit to the place of his nativitj" as well as to the places in which 
his parents were born and reared. He was born in the township in 
which he now lives, and in which the whole of his life to the present 
time has been passed, on March 25, 1877, and is a son of Charles 
William and Emma Dee (Ellyson) Boulton. 

The father was born March 12, 1844, and reared in England and 
came to the United States and Missouri in 1868. He located in Jackson 
township, this county, and here passed the remainder of his days 
actively and profitably engaged in farming. The mother was a daugh- 
ter of Davis and Euth Ellyson, of Virginia, and descended from 
families long resident in that state. The father was also a newspaper 
correspondent of prominence and won as much reputation by his 
pen as he did success by his plow. He and his wife were the parents 
of three children, but two of whom are now living, their son, William 
.Toseph, and their daughter, Euth, who is the wife of Albert Harrison. 
The mother died in 1886 and the father in August, 189.3. 

William J. Boulton obtained liis education in the district schools of 



288 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

his native township, and while attending them learned the practical 
requirements of the work he has been connected with during all the 
years of his maturity by making a full hand, as soon as he was able, on 
his father's farm. After leaving school he began farming for liimself 
and has been connected with the same industry in a leading way ever 
since. He had the qualities that command success and progress, and he 
has achieved them in a very gratifying manner. He now owns 160 
acres of excellent land, left him by his father, which he farms with 
intelligence and skill, reserving from cultivation only what is required 
as pasturage for his stock. For, in addition to being a vigorous and 
progressive fanner, he is also engaged in raising live-stock for the 
markets on a scale commensurate with his facilities for the business 
and his extensive practical knowledge of it. 

Mr. Boulton was married on August 26, 1908, to Miss Vada Mans- 
field, a native of Missouri, and a daughter of Isaac and Lyddie (Smith) 
Mansfield, who have resided in the state for many years. Mr. Boul- 
ton is an active, working Democrat in political relations, always zeal- 
ous and effective in the service of his party, and regarded with great 
respect by both its leaders and its rank and file in his township and 
county. His wife is a member of the Christian church, in which he 
also takes an active interest. In the public affairs of the county he is 
energetic and useful, giving special attention and the most effective 
support to every worthy enterprise in Avhich the enduring welfare of 
the region of his home is involved, or which ministers to the advance- 
ment or comfort of its people. He is esteemed as one of the leading 
citizens and most representative farmers of Jackson township, and is 
held in high regard in other parts of Macon county, where his sterling 
worth and elevated manhood are known. 

CHAELES 0. BROWNSON. 

This successful and progressive farmer and stock man of Jackson 
township, in this county, became an orphan at the age of three years 
by the death of his father, and it became necessary for him to begin 
making his own way in the world at an early age. For, while his 
mother, who survived her husband thirty years, was true and faithful 
to her trust in striving to rear her children, it was impossible for her 
to care for them as she wished and they were thrown on their own 
resources to a considerable extent, while tliey were still young. They 
met the responsibility with energy and zeal and have proved that the 
lessons and example given them by their faithful sui-A'iving parent were 
not lost upon them in any degree. 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 289 

Charles 0. Brownsou was born at Prairieville, Barry county, 
Michigan, on November 9, 1856. He is a son of Oscar F. and Deborah 
A. (Steele) Brownson, the father a native of Richmond, Vermont, 
and the mother of Allegany comity. New York. The father moved 
to Michigan with his parents when he was a young man, and there 
lie met with and married his wife. They had four cliildren, two of 
whom are living: Sarah E., the widow of the late Alfred Wyatt, 
of Kansas City, Missouri, and Charles 0., the immediate subject of this 
brief review. The father died in 1859 and the mother in 1889. Their 
sou, Charles, with his sister, Sarah E., was brought to Missouri by 
his mother when he was a small boy, arriving in this state and Macon 
county in 1864. He attended the district schools from the age of seven 
until twenty years old. 

On leaving school he turned his attention to farming and raising 
stock, and these have been his steady occupations ever since. He 
now owns ninety-five acres of first-rate land, which he has improved 
with good buildings and provided with everything required for its 
vigorous and profitable cultivation. His stock industry is extensive 
and managed with great enterprise, so that it, also is profitable and 
flourishing. He has been very successful and has to his credit the 
fact that all his acquisitions are the results of his own direct efforts, 
ability and good business capacity. 

In the public affairs of the township and county of his home he has 
always taken an active and very serviceable interest, aiding in the 
achievement of every worthy undertaking in which the welfare of the 
people and the development of the region around him were involved. 
He served on the school board four years, was road overseer two years 
and road commissioner three years. He has also been a judge of the 
elections many times, and in numerous other capacities has rendered 
excellent service to the people. In politics he is a zealous Republican, 
always foremost in supporting the interests of his party and helping 
to promote its success. In church relations he is a Methodist, and 
for many years has been an ardent and successful worker for the 
good of the congregation to which he belongs. He is now one of its 
stewards and the treasurer of its Sunday school. 

On January 1, 1890, Mr. Brownson was united in marriage with Miss 
Amanda A. Worth, a native of Missouri and a daughter of Andrew 
and Sarah (Gloyd) Worth, prominent residents of Carroll county, in 
this state. Mr. and Mrs. Brownson have had three children, but the 
only one living is their daughter. Bertha C. All the members of the 
family stand well in the community in which they live and enjoy the 



;.'yO HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

respect of the people in a high degree. They are recognized as very 
exemplary citizens, who perform all the duties of life with fidelity and 
meet every requirement in a spirit of entire devotion to what is 
right. 

^ JOHN S. METTES. 

Although himself born and reared in this country, this prosperous 
and highly successful farmer and stock man of Jackson township, 
this county, is of Holland parentage, his father, John Mettes, and 
Ills mother, whose maiden name was Gasenia Holofskopl, having been 
born and reared in that country. They had the characteristic energy 
and progressiveness of the wonderful nation from which they sprang, 
whose people enlarged their country by building it out into the sea and 
made it fruitful as a garden, and the son inherited from them the 
same qualifications for success in life. 

The parents came to this country in 1850 and located in Oceana 
county, Michigan, where their son, John S., was born in 1855. He 
was one of their seven children and is the second born of the six who 
are still living. They are Nicholas, John S., "William, Martin, Mary 
and Anna. The father also is still living and has his home at Leasburg, 
Missouri. The mother died August 22, 1904. The parents have been 
industrious and frugal farmers and prospered at the industry. They 
moved to Missouri in 1867, and at once became active and productive 
factors in the agricultural interests of Macon county, in which they took 
up their residence and the mother passed the remainder of her days. 

John S. Mettes obtained his limited education in the district schools 
of his native county, which he was obliged to leave at an early age and 
go to farming. He accompanied his parents to this state when he was 
but tw:elve years of age, and ever since has been actively engaged in 
farming and raising stock in a general way. His progress was slow 
at first, for his undertaking was an arduous one and he was not fully 
equipi^ed for it either by age or available capital. But he had a fortune 
in his energy and perseverance, and he studied the requirements of his 
work, in order to reap the largest and speediest returns. He soon got 
a good start and since then his progress has been steady and well main- 
tained. He has been very successful and won high rank among the 
best farmers of Jackson township, in which his operations are con- 
ducted. He owns an excellent farm of 300 acres and carries on an 
extensive and profitable stock industry in connection with his farm- 
ing. To all departments of his work he gives the most careful and intel- 
ligent attention and makes every week of his labor tell to his advantage. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 291 

In 1879 Mr. Mettes was united iu marriage witli Miss Mollie 
Lynch, a daughter of William and Katharine (Healey) Lynch, and 
a native of Illinois. Six children have been born of the union, all 
of whom are living. They are : Frances Grace, John William, James 
H., Joseph B., Katie Bess and Mary Anna. The father is an active 
working Democrat in his political relations and always gives his party 
good and faithful service, although he seeks none of the honors it has 
to bestow for himself. Fraternally he is connected with the order of 
Modern Woodmen of America and in his church relations is a Catholic. 
His interest in church work has always been cordial and helpful. He 
was chiefly instrumental in building the church of his faith which is 
located in Jackson township, and in many other ways has given earnest 
and serviceable attention to the welfare of the sect to which he belongs. 

He has shown deep and abiding interest in the welfare of the town- 
ship and county in which he lives, also giving earnest and effective sup- 
port to all good projects for their advancement and the enduring 
progress and prosperity of their people. No citizen of the township 
stands higher in the good will of the inhabitants and none is more 
deserving of the regard he enjoys from all classes of the citizens 
among whom he has so long lived and labored. 

STATE EXCHANGE BANK. 

The State Exchange Bank of Macon was founded on March 1, 
1894, and in 1896 it was consolidated with the Bank of Macon. Two 
years later it absorbed the First National Bank, and this move brought 
to its coffers $300,000 in deposits. The absorption took place in Jan- 
uary. 1908, and after it occurred the reorganization necessitated by 
the change of conditions resulted in the choice of the following directo- 
rate: President, John Scovern; vice-president, Thomas E. Wardell; 
cashier, Charles A. Wardell; assistant cashier, C. E. Maffery; direc- 
tors, John Scovern, Thomas E. Wardell, J. T. Doneghy, Ed. B. Clem- 
ents, Ben Eli Guthrie, E. G. Mitchell, T. S. Watson, H. V. Miller and 
Charles A. Wardell. Mr. Mitchell died in 1909 and was succeeded by 
W. E. McCulley. 

The capital stock of the bank in 1908 was $100,000, and it is the 
same now. Under the present management the deposits and volume 
of business have steadily increased until at this time (1910) the bank 
is the strongest financial institution in Macon county. But its progress 
toward this distinction has not been remittent or jerky. It has been 
steady, continuous and along lines of wholesome development, growing 
out of the progress and improvement of the city and the increasing 



293 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

l^rosperity of its people. The president and cashier of the institution 
have liad the clearness of vision to see and the alertness of action to 
seize the opportunities presented for its advancement, and it is mainly 
through their foresight and enterprise that the bank has made such sub- 
stantial progress. But they have done nothing speculative or experi- 
mental. They have simply met the requirements of the situation in a 
masterly way, providing for the wants of the community as it has kept 
growing, and have made the most of the circumstances. 

Under a management so jDrogressive and up-to-date it was to be 
supposed that every provision for the most approved modern banking 
business would be made, and it has been. The banking house, which 
is on Vine street, is modern in every way, equipped with everything 
necessary for its purpose and the convenience of its patrons, so far as 
office furniture and tixtures are concerned, and supplied with fireproof 
vaults and safety deposit boxes which can be rented at a moderate rate. 
The institution does a general banking business, including every fea- 
ture of modern banking, j^aying 3 per cent interest on time deposits, and 
exerting its whole energy for the accommodation of its patrons. In 
order to be of the greatest possible service to the community in which 
it ojierates, it confines its loaning operations to the people of Macon 
county. 

Operating on safe and wholesome lines, keeping its activities at 
work to the full measure of the requirements, watching with sleepless 
vigilance every avenue of approach that might endanger the interests 
of its patrons and its own reputation, and exhibiting the utmost liberal- 
ity in business consistent with safety and good management, this bank 
has been a fruitful source of help to the city of Macon in the onward 
march of its progress and an invincible bulwark of defense to its people 
against financial disaster in times of trouble. In periods of fiscal 
depression, stringency in business and panic in the industrial world, 
when other banks, in this and all other parts of the country, have been 
temporarily paralyzed or even permanently wrecked, this institution 
has shown itself to be as strong as Gibraltar, and against it all the 
assaults engendered by such conditions have been employed in vain. 

JAMES LANDREE. 

James Landree, who is one of the patriarchs of Lyda township, 
in this county, is now eighty-seven years of age and has lived in Macon 
coimty all of seventy-two years. During all of that long period he has 
been actively connected with the leading industry of this section and 
has expended his efforts faithfully and diligently in helping to build 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 293 

it up and to provide for the substantial welfare of its people. His 
long record among this people has been one of uprightness and use- 
fulness, and he is universally revered for the elevated character of 
his citizenship and the modest and unostentatious way in which he 
has borne himself in all the relations of life. 

Mr. Landree was born in 1823 in that part of Virginia which was 
torn from the Mother of States and Statesmen by the stern arbitra- 
ment of the Civil war, and grew to the age of fifteen in his native 
place, attending the country scliools and gaining his preliminary train- 
ing for the work that was to fall to him as a planter and farmer. He is 
a son of Jean Baptiste and Jeannette (Taylor) Landree, the former 
born in the province of Quebec, Canada, and the latter in Pennsylvania. 
His paternal grandfather came from France to Canada at an early 
period and his mother's father from England to this country, at some- 
where near the same time. The father moved to what is now West 
Virginia as a young man and was married in Pennsjdvania. In 1838 
he moved his family to Missouri, locating in Macon county and engag- 
ing in farming. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, 
only three of whom are living, James, Ada, the wife of Thomas Burns, 
and Charles AV. The mother died in 1864 and the father October 18, 
1876, in his eighty-ninth year. They were persons of consequence and 
standing in the county and held in higli regard by all who knew them. 
They came to the state when it was largely wild and impopulated and 
bore their full share of the burdens and liardships of frontier life, 
doing all they could to improve and develoji the country around them 
and conducting themselves as only good citizens will. 

Their son, James, became a farmer also on leaving school and 
has adhered to that line of effort ever since, although of late years 
he has been somewhat retired and less active than in his prime. He 
was married in 1846 to Miss Louisa Jane Johnson, a native of Macon 
county. Of the four children born to them only two are living, their 
sons. James Monroe and Walter. All the members of the family enjoy, 
in a marked degree, the respect of the communities in which they live 
and fully deserve the esteem in whicli tliey stand. For all are useful 
members of society and do their wliole duty as citizens. 

Mr. Landree, the venerable head of the household, has ever been 
active in the support of all undertakings for the good of his town- 
ship and count}^, and has made an excellent record as an energetic 
and progressive man. He has been a life-long Democrat in his political 
adhesion, and, while he has never sought or desired political prefer- 
ment, he has always given his party active and loyal support. He 



2di HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

has managed his own business with vigor and prudence, and lias shown 
the same qualities with reference to public aft'airs. At his advanced 
age he is still hale and hearty and displays as much activity as many 
men who are much younger. His life is a connecting link between 
the early days of the county's history, its state of untamed wildness, 
and its present state of advanced development and progress, and he has 
done his part to aid in bringing about the change. 

JOHN ]\IATTHEW ELSEA. 

Uniting in his make-up the blood of Virginia and that of Ireland, 
and indoctrinated in the characteristics which distinguish the people 
of the Old Dominion and those of the Emerald Isle, John Matthew 
Elsea, of Lyda township, Macon county, is a fine example of elevated 
American citizenship with a versatility of capacity adaptable to any 
circumstances and a readiness in resourcefulness that enables him to 
meet any emergency with the spirit of a master who believes in himself 
and has nothing to fear. Mr. Elsea is himself, however, a native of 
Missouri, and was born in Shelby county on November 23, 1856. He is 
a son of John G. and Mary S. (Patton) Elsea, the former born and 
reared in Virginia, and the latter a native of Ireland, who came to 
this country with her parents when she was but thirteen years old. 
The father came to this county when he was a young man and 
engaged in mercantile business for a number of years at Callao. He 
then tired of this jDursuit and turned his attention to farming, at which 
he passed the remainder of his life, dying on his farm in 1887. His 
widow is still living and resides in Atlanta. They had sis children, 
three of whom have died. Those who are living are John M., "Will- 
iam B. and Ha Virginia, the wife of V. D. Gordon. The father pros- 
pered as a merchant and farmer, and by his upright and useful life 
secured the respect and good will of all classes of the people. He 
was a man of quiet demeanor and never sought prominence in public 
or private life. It was enough for him and satisfied all his aspirations 
to perform faithfully all the duties of citizenship in every relation 
of being, and this he did in full measure. He never sought or desired 
official station and mingled but little in public affairs. 

His son, John M. Elsea, grew to manhood under the parental 
rooftree and obtained his education in the public schools, attending 
those located in Callao, mainly. After leaving school he entered upon 
the stage of action for himself as a farmer, and this is the part he has 
played in the world's industrial drama ever since. And he has played 
it successfully, winning substantial I'eward for his diligence and skill 



HISTOEY OP MACON COUNTY 295 

for himself and helping to build up and magnify the industrial and 
commercial greatness of his township and county at the same time. He 
has a fine, well improved farm of 120 acres, which he has brought to a 
high state of productiveness by the vigor and intelligence with which 
he cultivates it, and he also carries on an extensive and flourishing- 
live-stock industry, which is very profitable. It is conducted with the 
same care and attention that mark his farming operations, and it is but 
a logical sequence that both pay him well, because of the labor and skill 
he bestows upon them. He is also a stockholder in the Union Teleplione 
company and takes an active interest in its success and further 
development. 

Political affairs enlist Mr. Elsea's active interest and secure his 
helpful service. He is a firm and zealous member of the Democratic 
party, but, while he works with ardor for the success of his party, 
he never seeks or desires a public office of any kind, and has always 
refused when asked to take one, either by election or appointment. In 
reference to local affairs of interest and importance to the community, 
he is always energetic and influential, using his activities and giving 
his excellent example in behalf of progress and the enduring welfare 
of his township and county. His religious connection is with the 
Baptist church, in which he is deejaly interested and in whose behalf 
he is an ardent and devoted worker. He has served many years as one 
of the trustees of the congregation to which he belongs and is always 
a leader in all its worthy and commendable undertakings. 

Successful in his own business and of great assistance in pro- 
moting the general interests of his community, Mr. Elsea is looked upon 
as one of the useful and representative citizens of the township in which 
he lives. He is a fine specimen of the well-to-do and progressive Mis- 
souri farmer and his whole record is higlily creditable to Macon county. 
On August 5, 1886, he was joined in wedlock with Miss Margaret 
L. Miles, a daughter of Major and Nancy (Daugherty) Miles, long 
residents of Macon county, where she was born and reared. She and 
her husband are the parents of seven children who are living and have 
had one that died. Those living are : William Arzwell, who resides 
in Texas, and Grace L., Gilbert Miles, Anna Lee, Marguei'ite, Claudine, 
and Corinne, all of whom live in this state. 

WILBERT HENRY BROCKMAN. 

Among the enterprising, progressive and successful farmers of 
Lyda township, in this county, Wilbert Henry Brockman, whose home 
is in the neighborhood of Atlanta, stands high and is fully entitled to 



29G HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

tbe rank he liolds. The story of his life, as told in plain and simple 
narrative, would seem commonplace and uneventful, for its record is 
one of fidelity to daily duty and the conscientious performance of every 
task belonging to him with the utmost of his capacity and zeal. This 
savors of tlie commonplace and presents few spectacular features to the 
analysis of history. Yet it is by no means without significance in the 
eye of a true discernment. "Contentment, like the speedwell, blows 
along the common beaten path." And the career of Mr. Broekman 
displays the beauty and fragrance due to a peaceful and unruffled 
course of steady progress, and the strength and virility of the manhood 
that can pursue it without turning aside amid the clamors and con- 
tentions of our rushing and all-daring American life. In the success 
he has achieved by his method, his life also shows how potential the 
quiet and unostentatious forces are when concentrated on a single 
worthy purpose, and how much they can accomplish by standing aside 
and attending to duty while the noisy world rushes by them or roars and 
strives around them. 

It is not to be supposed, however, that Mr. Broekman has been 
indifferent to the developing and improving potencies at work among 
the people amid whom he lives and labors. He has been one of the most 
active and energetic promoters of every undertaking in which the 
substantial welfare of his township and county has been involved, but 
he has not exijended his efforts in this behalf, or any other, in a way 
that has been showy or intended to attract attention. He has labored 
for results and left to others the work of making displays and winning 
commendation. His life has been that of a plain farmer, and he has 
met every requirement of his station comi^letely and in a masterly 
manner. 

Mr. Broekman was born near where he now lives in 1873. His life 
began in Atlanta, and he is a son of John Wesley and Sarah E. (Hamil- 
ton) Broekman. He obtained his education in the district schools 
of Lyda township and as soon as he left school began liis life work 
as a farmer. He has held to this occupation with unwavering devotion 
ever since he started in it, and his fidelity to the tem]ile of industry 
in which his devotion has been exhibited has poured out upon him 
abundant rewards. He now owns and farms 120 acres of fine land, 
which he has improved with good buildings and provided with all that 
is necessaiy for conducting his farming operations with vigor and 
according to the most approved modern methods. He is also interested 
in raising live-stock for the markets and his industry in this line of 
effort is a flourishing and profitable one. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 297 

In politics he is a consistent and zealous member of the Democratic 
party, but while he is earnest in his attachment to the principles for 
which it stands he has never been a very active partisan or in any 
sense desirous or willing to accept a political office. In fraternal life he 
is a Modern Woodman and in religion is connected with the Baptist 
church. In 1895 he was united in marriage with Miss Nevada Bunch, 
a daughter of Perry L. and Martha (Cook) Bunch, and a sister of 
Henry Bunch, a sketch of whom will be found in this volume. Mrs. 
Broclonan was born and reared in this county. She and her husband 
have one child, their son, Paul, who is still a member of the parental 
homestead and an ornament to its family circle. 

ALBERT JACOB CRAWFORD. 

Among the early settlers of Ralls county, Missouri, in fact, one 
of the pioneers of that section, was Wilks Stark Crawford, the grand- 
father of Albert J. Crawford, now one of the prosperous and progres- 
sive farmers and stock men of Jackson township, Macon county, and 
the subject of this brief memoir. Helping to lay the foundation of civ- 
ilization and government in this state, and to redeem its wide and rich 
domain from the wilderness and its savage claimants, nomadic men and 
beasts of prey, he was a very useful man and acquired prominence and 
influence among its people of that early day. In Ralls county he lived 
and labored, laying down his life at last amid the scenes of his toil and 
endurance and the substantial triumphs of progress he had helped 
materially to win. It was in that county he located on his arrival 
in this state from Virginia, where he was born and reared, and it was 
there, also, that his son, Jonathan, the father of Albert J., was born 
in 1834. 

Jonathan Crawford grew to manhood on the frontier and became an 
extensive farmer and raiser of live-stock, keeping pace with the prog- 
ress and development of the country around him and under all circum- 
stances taking a leading part in whatever was attempted for its 
advancement. Soon after attaining his majority he married with Miss 
Susan Killinger, a native of Virginia, whose parents were also earh'' 
settlers in that part of the state. Seven children were born in the 
household of Jonathan Crawford and five of them are living: Wilkes 
S. ; Jefferson D. ; Mary Ann, the wife of John Hollyman; Albert J., 
and Ada, the wife of D. Q. Flinchpaugh. The parents are also living, 
although practically retired from active pursuits. The father has been 
a life-long Democrat in his political faith and allegiance, and has 
at all times given his party loyal and effective support. 



298 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Albert J. Crawford obtained Ms education in the district schools 
and at Oak Lawn College, which is located at Novelty, in Knox county, 
this state. On completing his education he at once began farming, and 
having put his hand to the plow in this way he has never looked back, 
but has steadily gone on in his chosen occupation. His progress has 
not been startling or spectacular, but regular and steady. It was slow 
and, perhaps, at times, painful at first, but he had the mettle for deter- 
mined perseverance, and the business capacity to use all his oppor- 
tunities to advantage, and soon had a fair start. Since then he has 
gone onward with accelerating speed and steadily increasing prosper- 
ity. He has a fine farm of 866 acres and has it all under vigorous and 
judicious cultivation except the portion necessarily reserved as a graz- 
ing ground for his stock. He feeds and raises large numbers of cattle 
and quantities of other live stock, giving the industry close and careful 
attention and making every element of it minister to his benefit, while 
his business adds also to the commercial importance and power of the 
county and state. 

As a Democrat of firm conviction and zealous loj^alty to his pai-ty 
Mr. Crawford takes an active interest in public affairs and is an ardent 
and effective political worker, although he has never sought a political 
office of any kind. Without regard to politics he has served as a member 
of the school board for a period of twenty-one years and has given the 
schools under his direction the most careful and helpful supervision. 
In religious connection he belongs to the Presbyterian church, and is 
a very active worker in the congregation of which he is a membei-. 
For years he has been one of its elders and the clerk of the session, 
and during the last twelve years the energetic, efficient and appreciated 
superintendent of its Sunday-school. 

Mr. Crawford has been married twice. His first union was with 
Miss Mollie B. Goodding, a native of Macon county, and the marriage 
occurred in 1888. They had one child, their son. Finis B. The motlier 
of this child died on January 30, 1889, and in September, 1891, the 
father married again, his choice on this occasion being Miss Fannie 
Goodding, a sister of his former wife. Tliey have four children, Carl 
Herbert, Eunice Mary, Herschel Goodding and Herman Harold. ^Ir. 
Crawford is in the prime of life and has excellent health. He is com- 
fortable in a worldly way, and has the means to gratify his desires, so 
far as his personal comfort is concerned, and also to develop any 
ambitions for his own advancement or the benefit of his townshi]> 
and county he may have. He is firmly established in the regard and 
good Avill of the people and accounted one of the most worthy and 




CAPT. BEN ELI GUTHRIE 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 299 

representative men among them. He would seem from all the circum- 
stances to have before him many years of usefulness to his section of 
the state and the way open to still greater prominence and influence, 
if he should desire it. He has the best wishes of the people for his 
advancement, and his widespread popularity will give him their active 
support in any distinction he may seek. For he is truly representative 
of their best aspirations and characteristics and would do tliem credit 
in any position or capacity. 

^ CAPT. BEN ELI GUTHEIE. 

Gallant, intrepid and skillful as the leader of his host in war, whea 
"Eed Battle stamped his foot and nations felt the shock"; patient, 
persevering and knowing as a teaclier in the humbler temples of Cad- 
mus and the higher avenues of scholastic training; resolute, resourceful 
and masterly as an advocate and counselor, a veritable sunbeam, gilding 
and warming everything he touches in social life, and in eveiy relation 
an elevated citizen, cultivated gentleman and man of sterling worth, 
Capt. Ben Eli Guthrie, of Macon, has dignified and adorned the citizen- 
ship of Missouri in every walk in life into which duty has called or 
inclination has led him. He is the leading member of the Macon county 
bar, and is not outranked in his profession in the state, even though his 
well-known modesty may cavil at these statements and object to their 
being made in this work. 

Captain Guthrie was born near Keytesville, Chariton count}', Mis- 
souri, on May 31, 1839. He is a son of Eev. Allen W. and Elizabeth 
(Young) Guthrie, natives of middle Tennessee. The father came from 
his ancestral home to Missouri an orphan boy at the age of seventeen, 
and passed the remainder of his days in this state actively engaged in 
farming and ministering to the spiritual welfare of the people as a min- 
ister of the gospel of the Presbyterian sect during the greater part of 
his mature life. He was the youngest son of Rev. Eobert Guthrie, who 
was born in Maryland in 1773, his parents having emigrated from the 
North of Ireland to that state before the Revolutionary war. Rev. 
Robert Guthrie removed to North Carolina later, and still later to 
middle Tennessee. The father died in 1843 and the mother in 1846, in 
Missouri, having come to Missouri in 1831. Two of their sons. Rev. Eli 
Guthrie and the father of Cajitain Ben, were the first members of the 
family to become residents of Missouri, coming to this state in 1830. 
The older brother, Eli, was drowned in the Missouri river at Dewitt, 
Carroll county, in 1837, while trying to rescue persons who had been 



300 HISTOEY OF MACOJST COUNTY 

caught in the floating ice, with a generosity and humanity characteristic 
of the family, risking his own life to save others. 

That generation of the Guthries belonged to the Cumberland branch 
of the Presbyterian church, and three of its members were ministers 
of the gospel, ordained by that branch. They were men of ability and 
daring, and were widely known throughout Northeastern Missouri, the 
portion of the state in which their services were rendered to the pio- 
neers. They came into a region still largely given up to the dominion 
of savage wildness of man and beast and called it to a higher state. 
The wilderness hearkened to their eloquence and became milder because 
of their presence. 

Rev. Allen W. Guthrie, father of the Captain, was ordained in 
1838, and during all of the next ten years preached throughout Chariton, 
Macon, Monroe, Eandolph, Howard, Boone, Audrain and Callaway 
counties. He was married on September 6, 1838, to Miss Elizabeth 
Young, a daughter of Hon. Benjamin Young, of Callaway county. Ten 
children were born of the union, of whom four grew to maturity and 
two are now living. The mother died in 1855 and the father in 1891. 
As pioneers, they had the spirit of daring and endurance the conditions 
of the region required. As moral agencies at work among the people 
they were widely and practically useful. As man and woman they were 
highly esteemed, and as important factors in founding the civilization 
of this part of the state their memory is held in reverence. Capt. Ben 
Eli Guthrie began his scholastic training in the district schools aijd 
continued it at Chapel Hill college in Lafayette county, attending that 
institution in 1855 and 1856. During a part of 1856 and all of the suc- 
ceeding year he was a pupil under the tutorship of the late Col. Alonzo 
W. Slaybock of St. Joseph, Missouri. In 1858 he matriculated at McGee 
college at College Mound, in this county, for the regular course of 
academic study. He remained at that institution until the beginning 
of the Civil war, and was but two weeks from his graduation when 
Governor Jackson's call to the people for volunteers to defend the 
state against armed invasion sounded through the commonwealth with 
trumpet tone, and, moved by the firmness of his j)olitical oijinions and 
a sense of devoted loyalty to his state, Cajitain Guthrie, young man 
of twenty-two as he was, and on the very verge of academic honors, 
flung everything else to the winds and obeyed the call. 

He mustered a company of which he was chosen captain and was 
soon at the front with his muster under the command of General Price. 
The company took part in all the activities of General Price's cam- 
jiaign in tlie fall of 1861, then took his company over to the Confed- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 301 

erate army in December of that year, it becoming Company I of the 
Fifth Missouri Infantry, and a part of the First Missouri brigade. 
He remained in the service to the close of the memorable conflict and, 
although participating in many historic battles and countless minor 
engagements, escaped without disaster except what grew out of the 
hardships and privations incident to all war, and particularly experi- 
enced by the armies of the Confederacy. He was mustered out of the 
service at Jackson, Mississippi, in May, 1865. 

"When the war drum throbbed no longer, and the battle flags were 
furled," Captain Guthrie taught school in Mississippi until 1867. In 
that year he was elected professor of languages in McGee college, 
College Mound, Macon county, and he filled this position until the sum- 
mer of 1874. At that time he resigned and at the succeeding election 
was chosen school commissioner for Macon county, an office which he 
filled with great acceptability for two terms. In the meantime he had 
studied law, and in Sei:)tember, 1875, he was fonnally admitted to prac- 
tice at the Macon county bar. In 1878 he was elected prosecuting 
attorney of the county, and at the end of his first term was re-elected 
for a second. 

Since retiring from the office of prosecuting attorney. Captain 
Guthrie has been continuously engaged in the practice of his profes- 
sion and has been very successful in it, rising to the first rank in the bar 
of the state and being a very important factor in the management of 
many important cases. In 1888 he was appointed reporter for the 
appellate court of Kansas City, and during the next twenty years he 
rendered exceedingly valuable and highly appreciated service to the 
state in that capacity, retiring voluntarily in the summer of 1909. Dur- 
ing the greater part of his service as court reporter he was also asso- 
ciate counsel, with Hon. Gardner Lathrop, of Kansas City, for the 
Santa Fe Railroad Company, and was conspicuous in the defense of 
many noted cases for the company. In 1909 he was the leading counsel 
of the people of Macon county in the celebrated M. & M. bond case. (See 
General History for a more extended account of the bond issue). 

Of Captain Guthrie's extensive and accurate knowledge of the 
law, both as written and as interpreted by the courts, of his eloquence 
as an advocate, his skill and alertness at the trial table, his wisdom and 
common sense as a counselor and his mastery of analysis and argument 
before the courts, this is not the ])lace to speak. They are well known 
to the people of Missouri, and any attempt to enlarge upon them here 
would be inappropriate. They will pass into history with his name, and 



303 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUXTY 

remain in the public mind as a part of the imperishable heritage left to 
Missouri by her ablest and best ctizens. 

On August 31, 1873, he was united in marriage with Miss Susie 
A. Mitchell, eldest daughter of Eobert C. Mitchell of College Mound. 
Two children have been born of the union, but only one is living, a 
son named Allen, who is connected with Theodore Gary in the tele- 
phone business and is a man of force and influence in his community. 
The Captain and his wife and son are members of the Presbyterian 
church, and for many years he was an officer in the church organization 
of the congregation to which he belongs, and the superintendent of 
its Sunday-school. 

We have the wisdom of antiquity in the admonition to call no man 
happy until after his death. But if the respect and esteem of the whole 
people of the state, if high character and elevated citizenship, if com- 
manding eminence in one of the leading professions, if clean living and 
domestic peace, if a long and unbroken record of usefulness to man- 
kind — if all these, or any of them contain the elements of happiness, 
we might waive the admonition in the case of Captain Guthrie, for they 
are all his. He has good health and continuing vigor also, although 
he has passed the Scriptural limit of human life, and all his faculties are 
in full flower and fragrant with the odors of high vitality. In prosj^ect 
he has the reward of his upright life, and in retrospect, the satisfaction 
of an unsullied and serviceable past. And all who know him rejoice 
over both. ' ' The elements are so mixed in him that Nature may stand 
up and say to all the world 'This is a man!' " 

JAMES WILLIAM FARMER. 

This worthy and highly esteemed citizen of Lyda township, in this 
county, who is a farmer both by name and occupation, has every 
incentive to feel the earnest and intelligent interest in the welfare of his 
township and Macon county which he manifests in every way, and 
is altogether sincere in his devotion to them. For he is a native here 
and has lived in the same locality all the years of his life to this time, 
drawing his stature and his strength from the soil on which he was 
born, obtaining his education in the schools hard by, mingling in the 
activities of the region from his youth as an individual producer on his 
own account, associating with the people living now around him in all 
the relations of life, and selecting his partner for life from among 
the daughters of their liouseholds. 

Mr. Farmer was born in Lyda township, Macon county, on Janu- 
ary 4, 1863, and is a son of Henry T. and Biddie Ann (Kelly) Farmer, 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 303 

natives of Kentucky and the latter a daughter of Francis Kelly, a man 
of influence in that state. (For a more extended notice of the parents 
see sketch of John T. Farmer, brother of James William, to be found 
elsewhere in this volume.) The father was a farmer, and was suc- 
cessful and piosperous in his work. He was a Eepublican in politics, 
but never became an active partisan or held a political office. He died 
on December 5, 1905. The mother is still living and has her home in 
Lyda township. Although slie is sixty-six years of age, she supervises 
and directs the operations of a farm of 340 acres. She and her husband 
were tlie parents of six children and four of them are living: James 
William, the immediate subject of these paragraphs; John T., the 
postmaster of Atlanta; Frances, the wife of Henry Bunch, of Lyda 
township, this county; and Edgar, who lives in Macon county. 

James W. Farmer's experiences as a child and boy were in nowise 
different from those of other children and lads who were reared with 
him in this portion of the country. He attended the district school 
near his home and, when he was well enough developed to do so, began 
to assist his father on the farm. He grew to the age of seventeen in 
this way, a plain and useful farmer's son, doing well his part as a 
farm hand and meeting all the obligations of society which rested upon 
him. But as a youth his experiences were different from those of many, 
if not all, of his associates. For at the age of seventeen he began 
farming for himself, and he has been actively and profitably engaged 
in this industry ever since. He owns a fine farm of 180 acres on which 
he conducts a general farming enterprise of magnitude and importance, 
and also carries on a flourishing and extensive industry in raising live- 
stock for the markets. His farm is well improved, completely equipped 
with the necessary up-to-date implements for its vigorous and intelli- 
gent cultivation and has been brought by his skillful husbandry to a 
high degree of productiveness. 

Mr. Farmer is a progressive and public-spirited citizen and takes 
a leading part in all matters pertaining to the development and advance- 
ment of the township and county in which he lives. He has served as a 
member of the school board during the last eighteen years, and as 
such he has rendered the community excellent service by his intelligence 
and breadth of view with reference to the cause of public education, and 
his vigor and energy in the administration of his office. Fraternally 
he is connected with the Modern Brotherhood of America, and in his 
political allegiance is allied with the Eepublican party. Although 
by no means an office-seeker, or even an active partisan in the usual 
sense of the term, he takes an earnest interest in the welfare of his 



304 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

party aud gives it the best service his circumstances allow in all its 
campaigns. But party spirit and party claims never obscure his vision 
as to the best interests of the people, and with him those interests 
always come first, partisan considerations aud personal desires being 
at all times secondary and subordinate. 

On October 10, 1888, Mr. Farmer united in marriage with Miss 
Alice Brockman, a native of this county and a daughter of John W. and 
Sarah E. (Hamilton) Brockman, prominent citizens of the coimty and 
reckoned among its most useful residents. Four children were born of 
this union and three of them are living, Clella, Bessie and Damon. All 
the members of the family enjoy in a marked degree the regard and 
good will of the people on all sides and in all classes, and they well 
deserve the high esteem in which they are held wherever they are 
known. 

, HENEY BUNCH. 

Working industi'iously on his farm of eighty acres in Lyda town- 
ship from day to day and year to year, steadily pushing forward his 
own interests without reference to the affairs of other j^eople, yet never 
neglecting his duty as a citizen or withholding his support from all 
worthy undertakings for the benefit of the locality in which he lives. 
Henry Bunch is one of the most estimable citizens of ]\Iacon county, 
aud in his way one of the most useful. He ought to have a deep and 
abiding interest in the welfare of Macon county, for it is the place of his 
birth and has been his home all his life so far. He ought also to feel an 
earnest and helpful desire for the comfort and advancement of its 
people, for he has been living and laboring among them ever since his 
childhood. His local patriotism meets these requirements and is 
manifest and ardent. 

Mr. Bunch's life began in Independence township in 186-I-. He is 
a son of Perry L. and Martha (Cook) Bunch, natives of Kentucky, 
the former a son of Henry Bunch and the latter a daughter of Valentine 
Cook, and both belonging to families long resident in that state. The 
father came to Missouri in 1837 and located in Independence town- 
ship of this county. At the time of Ins arrival in this part of the state 
it was still wild and unpeopled to a large extent, and all the hard- 
ships and exactions of frontier life had to be borne bj' its few scat- 
tered inhabitants. The elder Bunch accepted the situation, with all 
that it involved, and throughout all the early history of the region he 
faithfully performed his part as a pioneer and promoter of the best 
interests of the people. He was of a retiring disposition, and never 



HISTORY OF i[ACOX COUNTY 305 

sought public office or miugied much in the managemeut of public 
affairs. But he met every duty of citizenship with fidelity and never 
shirked a task that belonged to him, however disagreeable it might be. 
In politics he inclined to the Republican party, after it was formed, but 
he never became an active partisan. 

He and his wife became the parents of six children, all of whom 
are living. They are: Henry; Ida, the wife of Charles Howell, of 
Atlanta ; Dora, the wife of Elwin George, of Oklahoma ; Rose, the wife 
of A. A. Saunders, of La Plata ; Nevada, the wife of W. H. Boockman, 
and Alta. The father died on February 3, 1897. He was a farmer 
all his life, and in his day was a prosperous one. The mother was 
married in 1906 to J. H. Saunders and now lives in La Plata. 

Their son, Henry, obtained his education in the schools near his 
home, and as conditions at that time were much disturbed, owing to the 
lingering agonies engendered by the Civil war, his schooling was neces- 
sarily very limited. On leaving school he began farming for himself 
as soon as he was able, and this has been his steady occupation ever 
since. He has eighty acres of good land, which is well improved and 
highly cultivated, and he also carries on a flourishing business in 
raising live-stock for the markets. In both lines of endeavor he has 
been very successful, making a competency for himself and helping 
to raise the productiveness and wealth of the township. Like his 
father, he is a Reiiubliean in politics, but not an active partisan, and 
has refused all overtures made to hini to become a candidate for public 
ofQce, either by election or aj^pointment. He is an earnest and devout 
member of the Baptist church and an ardent worker in its interest, 
taking a leading part in all its benevolent and other worthy under- 
takings. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen and 
the Maccabees, and he is active in his membership and devoted to the 
welfare of both organizations. 

AVhile Mr. Bunch has not helped in an official way to direct the 
destinies of the township or county, and has left to others the functions 
of government and the responsibilities attached to them, he has not 
failed in the full performance of his duty as an excellent citizen. He 
has given the people around him a fine example of industry and thrift, 
and has shown how essential they are to success, even in this land 
of plentiful opportunities and practically boundless resources. He 
has also lived an upright and useful life in social and general relations, 
and has won by his worth the generous and apjireciative regard of all 
who know him. In 1897 he was united in marriage with Miss Frances 



306 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Farmer, a native of Macon county. They have one child, their son, 
Harold McKinley, who is now attending school. 

^ CHAELES MORGAN. 

While living in a very different environment and section of country 
from that of his nativity, childhood and youth,. Charles Morgan, of 
Lyda township, in this county, is not far from the latter. He was born 
and reared about 100 miles from where he now lives, his life beginning 
in Cass county, Illinois, in April, 1858. His parents, George W. and 
Louisa J. (Deerheart) Morgan, were prosperously engaged in farming 
in Illinois until the death of the latter there in 1861. The father was 
born in North Carolina and in early life became a resident on the 
prairie of the great inland empire state, where he remained until 1877; 
when he moved his family to Missouri and located in Macon county. 
By his first marriage he became the father of eight children, four of 
whom are living, John P., Martha, George W. and Charles. The sec- 
ond marriage of the father was with Miss Wolf, of Illinois. No 
children were born of this union. His life ended in 1895, and he left 
a good name as a priceless heritage to his children, and the knowledge 
on their part that he well deserved the high place he filled in the regard 
of all who knew him. 

Charles Morgan lost his mother by death when he was but three 
years old, and, although he remained with his father until he attained 
his majority, he began the battle of life for himself as soon as he 
finished the limited course of academic training furnished him by the 
district schools in the neighborhood of his home. His years have been 
devoted to farming and raising live-stock, and he has been very suc- 
cessful in both. He is a progressive man and whatever he undertakes 
gets the best care and efforts he can give it. His fanning is conducted 
according to the most approved modern methods and his stock industry 
with all the intelligence and skill acquired from judicious reading and 
observant and long-continued practice. Both reward his attention and 
intelligence with excellent returns, and in each he is in the first rank 
in this part of the country. His farm comprises 300 acres of good land, 
and what is not required for pasturage for his herds and flocks is 
cultivated with the utmost vigor, care and progressiveness. 

In reference to the general interests of the township and county 
he is one of the most helpful, intelligent and enterprising citizens of the 
locality in which he lives. Every worthy undertaking for the improve- 
ment of the region or the advancement or greater comfort of its people, 
receive his active aid and has the benefit of his serviceable influence and 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 307 

stimulating example. He has served on the school board for three 
years and been highly beneficial in promoting the interests it has in 
charge. Politically he is a Democrat, and, as he believes firmly in the 
principles of his party, he is always zealous and very effective in work- 
ing for their supremacy in the government of the county, state and 
nation. His fraternal relations are with the Modern Woodmen, the 
Maccabees and the Eoyal Neighbors, and his religious connection is 
with the Presbyterian church. He is an ardent church worker and a 
valuable aid in every work for good which the congregation to which 
he belongs engages in. In 1877 he was married to Miss Sarah Jane 
McDuffee, a daughter of Alexander and Rebecca (Callette) McDuffee, 
and a native of Macon county. Eight children have been born of this 
union. Those living are Charles W., Sarah Mabel, Everett F., Hugh 
H., Carl H. and Alpha Grace. All the members of the family are highly 
respected and each of them has a host of friends. The home is a popu- 
lar social center and to those who frequent it, and they are many, it 
furnishes a fine example of graceful and unostentatious Macon county 
hospitality. The character of that is above criticism, and it is high 
praise to ascribe it to any household, but well merited in the case of the 
Morgan home. 

^ . JOHN L. NORFOLK. 

The great state of Missouri, with its 70,000 square miles of area 
and its more than 3,000,000 inhabitants, its enormous industrial pro- 
duction, agricultural output, mineral wealth and commercisil power, 
challenges the attention and admiration of the world. And the wonder 
it excites is all the greater, in view of the fact that within the memory 
of men now living it was an expanse of almost trackless wilderness, 
with its immense stores of bounty for the children of men practically 
unknown, and all its great possibilities undeveloped. It basked in the 
sun with its lap full of treasure, as it had done for countless ages, 
waiting, and, in due time, calling for its lord and master, the command- 
ing might of mind, to take possession and make the most of what it had 
to offer for the service of mankind. 

Among the men of this generation who obeyed the call and have 
never regretted it is John Louis Norfolk of La Plata township, one 
of the leading farmers of Macon county and one of the infli;ential and 
representative men of the locality in which he has his home. He was 
born in Pennsylvania in 1850 and is a son of John F. and Lucina ( Mor- 
rison) Noi'folk, also natives of Pennsylvania and long residents of that 
state. They came to Missouri in 1879, one year after their son, John 



308 HISTORY OF ilACOX COUNTY 

L., Lad blazed the way foi- them, aud here they continued to the end 
of their days the occupation of progressive farming which they had 
followed in their native state. The father died in Macon county, on a 
farm which he had greatly imjjroved, in 1891, and the mother i^assed 
away in 1895. They had six children, all of whom are living, and are 
John Louis, Frederick C, Ellen, Emma, Florence and Frank. 

John Louis Norfolk, their first born child, obtained his education in 
the Union schools of Monongahela, in his native state, and, after its 
completion, engaged in boating on the Monongahela, Allegheny and 
Ohio rivers for a period of eight years. In 1878 he came to Missouri, 
and, locating in Macon county, began the enterprise in farming, which 
he is still conducting with great profit to himself and decided benefit 
to the region around him. 

The life story of this progressive and self-reliant man has its 
lights and shades of tragedy, comedy and sentiment, but it is not strik- 
ing in aught except in the faith which he has kept with himself in 
pursuing with persistent and determined industry the path he marked 
out for himself in early life and the great success he has achieved by 
his steadfast adherence to it. He nows owns and farms in Macon 
county a fine tract of 160 acres of land, which he has improved with 
good buildings, provided with every aj^pliance of the most ap^jroved 
pattern for conducting its operations, and brought to a high state of 
development and pi'oductiveness. He also owns and directs the farm- 
ing of 1,600 acres of land in Cheyenne county, Kansas. "While his 
operations are extensive, they are carried on with vigor and intelli- 
gence and the returns ai-e commensurate with the outlay of effort and 
skill, and these are considerable. 

Mr. Norfolk has also taken a deep and very serviceable interest 
in the public affairs of his township and county, contributing in every 
way available to him to the general welfare and advancement of the 
region and discharging all the duties of citizenship with high ideals and 
unwavering fidelity to duty. He was one of the organizers of the 
Farmers Fire and Lightning ^Mutual Insurance Company, of which 
he has served as director, treasurer and, for six years, president. He 
was also one of the organizers of the Farmers Tornado, Cyclone and 
Windstorm Mutual Insurance Company of the First Congressional 
District of Missouri, of which he has served as director, treasurer and, 
for the past six years, as president. He has served as a member of the 
school board for more than thirty years in succession, this being the 
longest continuous service to the people rendered by any man in Macon 
county. He has been president of the board a number of times and its 




■■■!^ 



FRANCIS W. ALLEN, M. D. 



HISTOEY OF ilACOX COUNTY 309 

clerk for twenty years or longer. The schools have prospered and pro- 
gressed under his direction, and they now stand, in their i^resent high 
development and excellent condition, an enduring monument to his 
foresight, energy and sagacity, and everything else he has put his hand 
to shows the quickening influence of his progressive spirit. In fraternal 
relation he is allied with the Masonic Order, the Woodmen and the 
Maccabees, and in church affiliation he is a Presbyterian. 

In 1871 Mr. Norfolk was united in marriage with Miss Barbara L. 
Cowan, a native of Steubenville, Ohio. They have had eight children and 
four of them are living, Harry A., Frank I., Eletha B. and Flossie. In 
politics the father is an ardent Eepublican and always takes a leading 
part in the campaigns of his party. He is a zealous and effective 
worker for its success and his services in its behalf are highly appre- 
ciated by its leaders and all who are interested in its welfare. Being 
strictly a self-made man, and having made his own way in the world 
without extraneous aid or the benefit of any of Fortune's favors, he 
might well be proud of the success he has achieved and the prominence 
he has won among his fellow citizens. But he is only thankful for his 
opportunities and the ability to make the most of them. With refer- 
ence to his personal worth and what he has accomplished, he is as 
modest as he has been industrious and successful. But the people 
around him give him his proper rank and standing as a farmer and 
a man, and they esteem him accordingly, and that is very highly in every 
relation of life. 

^ DR. FRANCIS W. ALLEN. 

For nearly seventy-five years a resident and during more than 
forty-two one of the active, serviceable and progressive physicians and 
surgeons of Missouri, the late Dr. F. W. Allen, of this county, whose 
death at the advanced age of seventy-four years and seven months 
crowned a Ife of unusual activity and usefulness, was one of the most 
eminent and universally esteemed men in the whole northeastern section 
of the state. He lived and labored for the good of his fellow-men, and 
in return for his devotion to their welfare they bestowed upon him 
a full measure of their regard and good will, and Fortune smiled upon 
him with a fair share of her bounty in worldly possessions and material 
wealth. He rose to well-merited prominence in his profession, gained 
elevation and influence as a citizen, and attained the highest rank in 
social life. 

Dr. Allen was born on ApvW 1, 1832, in Howard county, this state, 
and was a son of Charles and Mary (Withers) Allen, natives of Vir- 



310 HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 



o 



ginia and early settlers in Howard county, Missouri. The father was 
born in Alleghany county, in the Old Dominion, in 1802, and passed his 
younger days on the plantation of his father, employing also a few 
years of his early manhood there in the same occupation on his own 
account. He came to this state as a young man, when Howard county, 
where he located, was on the frontier and still largely in its state of 
primeval wilderness. After a residence of two years in that county, 
he moved to Monroe county, and there he passed all his subsequent 
years actively engaged in farming, dying in 1852 on the farm he had 
redeemed from the wilds and rendered fruitful and comfortable as a 
home for his family. His marriage with Miss Mary Withers resulted 
in the birth of eight children in his household, and of these four are 
yet living: George M. ; Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas McManama; 
Charles I., and James S., all residents of Monroe county. The father 
was an active and devout member of the Chi-istian church, and a deter- 
mined advocate of every form of public improvement that he thought 
would benefit his community aud advance the interests of the rest of 
the coimty in which he lived. 

Dr. Allen began his scholastic training in the district schools of 
Monroe county, continued it at the State University at Columbia, Mis- 
souri, and completed it at Bethany college in Virginia, from which he 
was graduated in the literary course. After his return home he taught 
school at Middle Grove Academy in Monroe county and the academy in 
Macon City, where former Governor Dockery, of this state, was one 
of his pupils. When the Civil war broke out, although he did not share 
the extreme views of some of the Southern people, his sympathies 
were "with them in their contest for the salvation of the political tenets 
they held. But he did not join in the sectional and fraternal strife as 
a soldier. Instead of going into the army as a possible subject for a 
violent death, he determined to prepare himself to save human life 
and minister to its comfort. He entered the St. Louis Medical College 
and pursued a full medical course of instruction, obtaining his degi-ee 
of M. D. at its completion. In 1864 he returned to Macon county and 
began the practice of his profession, continuing his work with gi'eat 
industry and success imtil his death on November 23, 1906. 

For many years the Doctor was an active working member of the 
count}'-, the state and the national medical societies, contributing lib- 
erally from the storehouse of his medical learning and professional 
experience to the interest and value of their proceedings, and deriving 
great benefit from them in return. His practice was extensive, general 
and exacting, but he never faltered in the performance of his duty 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 311 

or grew impatient of its requirements. It was his life work and engaged 
all his faculties, and he gave it the most devoted attention at all times. 
No personal desire, no pecuniary interest, no public occasion or display- 
ever caused him to neglect his patients, and because of his fidelity, as 
well as his ability and skill, he was esteemed as few men of his time 
in this locality were. All classes of the people revered him, and many 
depended on him as their chief reliance in times of trouble. His first 
patient was also his last one. Uncle Johnnie Clarkson, whom he visited 
on Friday morning before taking sick. 

On December 6, 1864, he was united in marriage with Miss MoUie' 
Pearl, a native of Macon county and a daughter of W. E. and Elizabeth 
Pearl, early settlers in the county. Four children were born of the 
union, all of whom grew to maturity and are still living. In addition, 
the Doctor and his wife reared an adopted daughter, whose name is 
Eiizal)eth Brimmer. Their own children are: Eobert William and 
Charles M. ; Francis W., whose home is at Kaseyville, and John P., 
a resident of Cairo, in Randolph county. In politics Dr. Allen was a 
life-long and consistent Democrat, and, although he never sought or 
desired a political office, he was constant and effective in his service 
to his party. His fraternal connection was with the Masonic order, 
in the work of which he took a great interest, and his religious faith 
was expressed in an active membership in the Christian church, of 
which his widow is also a member and in which she is an energetic 
and appreciated worker. Dr. Allen was a very useful citizen. The 
trumpet of world-wide fame never sounded his name abroad, but the 
people among whom he lived and labored revered his character, appre- 
ciated his services and honor his memory. They regard him as one of 
the best and most worthy citizens Macon county ever had. 

JOHN M. KETCHAM. 

John M. Ketcham of Lyda township, Macon county, who is the 
owner of the celebrated Lakeview farm of 620 acres, which overlooks 
Love lake in that township, is a native of Allegheny county, Pennsyl- 
vania, where he was born on December 28, 1833. His parents, Joel 
and Elizabeth (Manon) Ketcham, were also born and reared in that 
state, the paternal grandparents moving into it from New Jeisoy. The 
father was a farmer and surveyor and a man of consequence where he 
lived, his work in surveying land lieing of great servi^p, to the people 
and highly appreciated by them. He died in 1874 and his widow in 
1882. Thev had nine children of whom thosp now living are: Ben- 



312 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

jamin, a resident of Iowa; Jolm M., the subject of this sketch; and 
William, whose home is in the state of Montana. 

John M. Ketcham secured his education in the district schools of 
liis native county, and. after leaving school, farmed there until 1866, 
when he came to Missouri. On his arrival in this state he took up his 
residence in Macon county, locating in Lyda township, where he now 
lives. He continued in this county the occupation he had begun in 
Pennsylvania, and prospered from the beginning of his undertaking 
here. He is now possessed of one of the most valuable and desirable 
farms in Lyda township, which has many advantages in the nature 
and productiveness of the soil, the range of its fertility and its beau- 
tiful location. It is on the border of the picturesque Love lake, and 
presents a commanding view of the beauties of that inviting inland 
mirror, which reflects from its clear and sparkling surface all the 
changes of the sky above it and the varied attractions of its shores. 
The farm comprises 620 acres and is known far and wide as Lakeview 
farm, as has been stated. It is highly improved, well cultivated and 
kept in the most attractive condition at all times. Here Mr. Ketcham 
farms entensively and profitably and also carries on a flourishing- 
industry in raising stock. His stock industry is general, but he makes 
a specialty of Chester white hogs, raising them in large numbers and 
giving every possible care to the work at every stage, thus preparing 
for the market the best product attainable to skill and favorable 
circumstances. His output is well known in all the markets of trade 
in live stock, and stands in the front rank everywhere. 

It is inevitable that a man of Mr. Ketcham 's enterprise and pro- 
gressiveness should be deeply- and intelligently interested in public 
affairs and should do all in his power to aid in promoting the improve- 
ment of the region in which he lives. He has shown this spirit and 
activity in many effective ways, and has been of great service. to the 
township and county in doing it. He served as a member of the school 
board four years and in 1884 was his party's candidate for the office of 
county judge. But being a Rei)ublican, he made a hopeless race from 
the beginning of the campaign, as it was impossible for any man, under 
ordinarj' circumstances, to overcome the large Democratic prepon- 
derance in the county. He is devoted to the welfare of his party and 
one of its most energetic and effective workers at all times. In church 
relations he is a Methodist. 

In 1869 Mr. Ketcham was united in marriage with Miss Belle 
Dunnington, whose parents came from Tennessee to Macon county and 
located in Lyda township, where she was born. Of the five children 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 313 

all are living, Ula F., AVilmer H., Clarence, Eolla Benjamin and Ora, 
the wife of P. Thompson, a merchant in Kirksville. The various 
members of the familj' stand well in the communities in which they 
live, and are recognized, wherever they are known as most estimable 
and worthy citizens. 

" FREDERICK WILLIAM DOHRING. 

To no clciss of our foreign population, whether by birth or 
parentage, is the Uuited States more indebted than those of German 
origin. They bring to our shores the native thrift, industry and hope- 
ful persistency of their race, and wliile they employ those qualities for 
their own advancement, they at the same time, use them for the general 
welfare and the advancement of the community around theni. Wlierever 
they locate they make the wilderness blossom and fructify like a 
garden, and often, in an incredibly short time, industries spring into 
active life, land rises in value, schools and other institutions of value 
multiply, and every element of a rapid and forceful progress is 
awakened and set in motion. 

Frederick W. Dohring, one of the progressive and prosperous 
farmers of Liberty township in this county, furnishes in his record of 
usefulness, in his residence of more than fifty years in the United 
States, a fine illustration of what the Germans have done in developing 
and building up the country. He was born in Prussia, Germany, in 
October, 1841, and is a son of Carl and Christina (Berner) Dohring, 
also natives of the Fatherland, where their forefathers dwelt for many 
generations. He came with his jiarents to the United States in 1857, 
and found a new home with them in Niagara county. New York. They 
were prosperous farmers in their new location, as they had been in their 
native land, and passed the remainder of their days in peace and plenty, 
finding the land of their adoption freer and more fruitful in the oppor- 
tunities it offered for industry and frugality than that of their birth had 
been. The mother died in 1867 and the father in 1877. Of their six 
children only two are living, their daughter Minnie, who is the wife of 
F. Berner of New York, and their son Frederick W. 

The last named obtained his education in the schools of Germany, 
and after his arrival in this country at the age of between fifteen and 
sixteen, worked on farms in Niagara county, New York, until the 
beginning of the Civil war. He then enlisted in Company B, Twenty- 
eighth New York infantry, and his regiment was soon at the front 
and actively engaged in the hostilities, which were energetic from the 
start. Mr. Dohring took part in the battle of Winchester, the battle 



314 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

of Cedar Mountain, where he was wounded, the terrible engagements 
at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg, and numerous contests of minor 
significance, continuing in the service until June 1863 when his regiment 
was discharged. He then returned to the pursuits of peaceful industry, 
Mr. Dohring sought again his New York home, where he remained 
until 1868. In that year he came to Missouri and located in Liberty 
township, Macon county, where he now lives. 

On his arrival iii this county he, resumed his farming operations 
up to 1890 when he became afflicted with rheumatism and was totally 
disabled. In that year he disposed of his farm and is now retired from 
active business. He ajiplied to his work all that reading, observation 
and reflection have taught him, and was highly successful in his oper- 
ations. He was more-over, one of the leading spirits in his township 
in the matter of public improvements and close and intelligent attention 
to the duties of citizenship. His political faith is pinned to the prin- 
ciples of the Republican party and he was incessant in his activity in 
behalf of its success. He served for many years as a school director 
and his work in furthering the interests of the schools was earnest 
and effective, and was cordially ajDjireciated by the people in whose 
behalf it was done. 

Mr. Dohring 's religious connection is with the Evangelical church 
(of which he was up to the time of his affliction) an active and zealous 
working member and had been for many years. He has given the 
congregation to which he belongs excellent service as a Stewart, the 
superintendent of its Sunday school, and in various other official 
capacities, and has always been among the foremost in support of all 
its worthy undertakings. In 186-1 he was united in marriage with 
Miss Frederica Berner, like himself, a native of Germany. They had 
five children of whom two are living, their son George, who is a resident 
of Kansas city, Missouri, and their other son Frederick F., at whose 
home he is living now. The mother died on April 26, 1898. She was 
universally regarded as a good woman, a credit to her native land and 
a benefaction to that of her adoption. Her husband is held in the same 
esteem, and the sons also stand high in public estimation wherever 
they are known. 

ALEXANDER M. ROSS. 

By his versatility in turning from one occu])ation to another and 
back again to the first, when circumstances justified the change, 
Alexander ^f. Ross, the leading blacksmith of Bloomington, and for 
some years one of the successful and progressive farmers of Liberty 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 315 

township, has given a good illustration of the readiness of American 
manhood to adapt itself to whatever is required of it by its enviroment. 

Mr. Eoss is a native of Macon county and was born in 1855. His 
father, Craven P. Ross, was born in Kentucky and came to ]\Iissouri 
with his parents in liis boyhood. He became a resident of Macon county 
in 1847, and here, to the end of his life, he followed farming with good 
success. His wife, whose maiden name was Margaret E. Posey, was of 
Kentucky parentage, but was born in Howard county, Missouri. Of 
the five children born to them only two are living, their sons George W. 
and Alexander M. The father died in 1899 and the mother in 1902. 

Alexander M. Ross secured his education in the district schools 
and, when he finished their course of instruction, learned the trade of 
blacksmith. He worked at the trade a short time, then taught school 
for a time. In 1892 he became a farmer and during the next thirteen 
years cultivated eighty acres of land with energy and profit. In 1905 
he again became a blacksmith, and since then he has steadily adhered 
to this occupation. He has prospered in it, as he did in farming, and 
is regarded as one of the substantial men of the town in which he has 
his home. 

Mr. Ross is a good and progressive citizen in every relation of life. 
He does well his part in his private character and conduct, and in 
reference to iDublic affairs he is always upright, enterprising and 
patriotic. No undertaking which lie deems of advantage to the com- 
munity goes without his active and helpful support, and no agency at 
work for the good of the people ever lacks his cordial assistance and his 
energetic and intelligent efforts in its behalf. His political allegiance 
is given heartily to the Democratic party and his services for its success 
are at all times effective and highly appreciated. But they are based 
on conviction and involve no material advantage for himself except 
what sjjrings from the general elevation and good government of the 
county and state. For he has always refused every overture made to 
him to become a candidate for public office. His fraternal connection 
is with the Modern Woodmen of America and his religious affiliation 
with the Southern Methodist church. He is zealous in his devotion to 
both and does his part to advance their interests in everj^ proper way. 

In 1873 Mr. Ross was united in marriage with Miss Anna E. 
"Weakley, who came with her parents to this state from Virginia, wliere 
she was born. Five children were born to the union and four of them 
are living : Margaret, the wife of W. R. Burton of Callao ; John F., an 
engineer on the Illinois Central railroad ; Omer C. and Myrtle. 



31fi HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

^ JAMES WELDON POSEY. 

The depai"tment of labor known as farming, which has engaged a 
large part of the human family from the birth of the race, has ceased 
to be a mere vocation affording only a living to those who engage in it, 
and not always that, and, under the genius of modern discovery, pro- 
gress and improvement, has been developed into a science of high 
rank and an industry of colossal proportions and importance. Accord- 
ing to the readiness with which communities, counties, states and 
nations have realized this and applied it, their agricultural interests 
have been magnified in volume and value, and all their other interests 
have increased in extent and power proportionally. Macon county, 
Missouri, is one of the portions of this country in which the appreciation 
of these facts has been practical and almost universal, and has wrought 
wonderful results. In this county farming is generally conducted on 
a scientific basis and its allied industry of raising live stock has received 
similar progressive and intelligent attention, and both have advanced' 
and prospered in an eminent degree. 

James Weldon Posey of Liberty township is one of the many 
farmers and stock men in the county who have profited by the new 
view of their business, and have followed it in an intensive manner with 
great advantage to themselves and corresponding benefits to the region 
and all its people. He is a native of the county, born on March 17, 
1865, and the son of Green Harrison and Deborah (Russell) Posey, 
natives of Kentucky. The father came to Missouri in 1855 and located 
at Bloomiugton, where he farmed extensively and with steadily 
increasing prosperity. He became influential in the township and held 
a number of the offices in the gift of its people, working always for their 
benefit and the general improvement of the locality. He was a Demo- 
crat politically but always had the best interests of the township at 
heart and held them, in all his career, above partisanship or any \)ev- 
sonal consideration. .He died on April 12, 1893, and his wife on 
March 29 of the same year. They were the parents of eight children 
of whom the living are : Mary, the wife of Vincent Sullivan of Macon ; 
Nanny, the wife of George Morford of Kansas; Green R., James W. 
and Anna E., the w^fe of D. V\\ Mayhew of Callao, all w^orthy and 
esteemed citizens of the comnmnities in Avhich they live. He was twice 
married and had the following children by his first wife, Sarah A. 
Simpson of Brevier, Mrs. Levina J. Brown, of Brevier, Wm. H. of 
Kansas City and Mrs. Permelia E. Wilkes of Callao. Her maiden 
name was Emilv J. A^andiver and she died in 1850. 




JUDGE NATHANIEL M. SHELTON 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 317 

James W. Posey received only a district school education and a 
limited one at that. The struggle for advancement among men began 
early with him, and as soon as he left school he started on the i-ngged 
ascent toward success and consequence by beginning at once the work 
he had laid out for himself. He became a farmer and has been one ever 
since. But he did not find progress easy or rapid at first, nor did he 
have the knowledge of the business he has acquired through study of 
its possibilities and the requirements for developing them, and conse- 
quently he was obliged to feel his way, as it were, and fight for his 
advancement. His subsequent gains and his present prosperity and 
standing are therefore all the more gratifying in that he has won them 
for himself by learning how to use all his resources to the best advan- 
tage, applying for the purpose everything he acquired in reading, 
observation and close reflection. He now owns a fine farm of 200 
acres, which is well improved and which he farms in a scientific manner. 
He also carries on an extensive business in live stock and a flourishing 
dairy industry. 

Mr. Posey has always exhibited a hearty and serviceable interest 
in the welfare and progress of his township and county, manifesting 
it by his activity in behalf of all projects in which their good is involved, 
and also by his freedom from partisanship and his support of the party 
and the men for public office whom he believes to be most likely to 
promote the general weal and the best interests of all the people. His 
religious allegiance is given to the doctrines and tenets of the Chris- 
tian church and he is an active church supporter and an important and 
valued member of the congregation to which he belongs. He was 
married on September 26, 1887, to Miss Mittie A. Harrison, whose 
parents came to Missouri from Kentucky, but who was born and reared 
in this county. They have three children : Clarence 0., Hazel M. and 
AValter E. 

HON. NATHANIEL MEACON SHELTON. 

Eminent as a jurist, occupying an exalted place in the confidence 
and esteem of the people as a citizen, and an ornament to any social 
circle of which he is a part, Hon. Nathaniel Meacon Shelton, of Macon, 
circuit judge of the Second Judicial District of Missouri, is an honor 
to the state in which he lives, the profession to which he belongs, and 
high-toned American manhood, of which he is so shining an example. 

The Judge was born near Troy, Lincoln county, this state, on 
March 17, 1851. His parents were Meacon A. and Anna (Berger) Shel- 
ton, natives of Pittsylvania county, Virginia, where the father was an 



318 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

extensive planter and owner of large tracts of land and numerous 
slaves. They were married in 1828, in their native state, and when 
they determined to migrate to the then far distant and uncivilized region 
beyond the Mississippi from their ancestral home, they came to ^Mis- 
souri, in 1833, making the trip overland with teams and bringing with 
them a good herd of cattle and a number of their negroes. The father 
entered government land in what is now Lincoln coimty, which the fam- 
ily lived on, cultivated and improved until 1870, when the parents sold 
their property and thereafter made their home with their daughters 
until death called them from their earthly labors. The father died 
in 1873, aged 76, and the mother in 1887, aged 80 years. They were 
the parents of three sons and six daughters. Of these two sons and one 
daughter are living, and all are residents of Missouri. The family, 
like uncounted others, paid its toll to the awful slaughter of the Civil 
war, one son dying in the militaiy service of the Confederacy, being a 
surgeon in the Southern army. 

The father was a ^Miig until the party of that name died through 
the sectional strife in politics which preceded the war, and after that 
became a Democrat. For more than twenty years he was the pre- 
siding judge of the Lincoln County Court, and his name is revered by 
the-people of all Missouri as that of a capable and upright jurist and a 
citizen whose life was above reproach. He was twice married, his first 
wife, whose maiden name was Ann Evans, dying in her native state of 
Virginia. 

The Shelton familj' is of English origin, the American progenitors 
having emigrated from Great Britain to this countiy early in the sev- 
enteenth century. Abraham Shelton, great-grandfather of the present 
Judge Shelton, was long a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, 
in wliicli he served with Patrick Heniy and other distinguished men of 
his day who gave the political history of the world a new direction and 
wrote their names in illumiDated letters on its heroic pages. He also 
served in the House of Delegates after they gained their independence. 
He was active in the agitation leading up to the Revolution, and was 
widely and favorably known throughout his own and the other Ameri- 
can colonies as a wise counselor, a pure patriot and a fearless defender 
of his faith. 

His son, Crispin Shelton, the Judge's grandfather, was also an 
extensive planter in the Old Dominion, and died on his plantation 
there after many years of usefulness and elevated manhood. His 
widow came to Missouri and died some years later at the home of her 
son, the Judge's father. In two of the great commonwealths of this 



HISTOIJY OF MACON COUNTY 319 

country members of this family liave lived and labored for the gen- 
eral welfare, dignifying and adorning the citizenship of the nation 
and giving examples worthy of imitation everywhere by their readiness 
to take their places in every crisis, and their fidelity to every duty, 
whether in private or in public life. 

Hon. Nathaniel M. Shelton grew to the age of eighteen on the pater- 
nal homestead in Lincoln county. He obtained his scholastic training 
in private schools, Parker Seminary in Troy, this state, and at William 
Jewell College, located at Liberty, Missouri, which he attended two 
years. He then taught school one year, and at the end of his service as 
a teacher was appointed deputy clerk and recorder of Montgomery 
county, Missouri. During his two years of wise and faithful service 
in that capacity he studied law under the direction of Judge Elliott 
M. Hughes. In 1874 he entered the law department of the Missouri 
State University. After passing one year of laborious study in that 
institution, he was admitted to the bar in 1875 in Montgomery county, 
before Judge Gilchrist Porter, at Danville, Missouri. 

Judge Shelton began the practice of his profession in the same 
year in Schuyler county, and continued to practice in that county until 
his elevation to the bench in 1898. He was re-elected judge at the 
end of his first term, with a steady growth in popularity and strength 
before the people, whose confidence he has won and retained by his 
course on the bench, his demeanor as a man and his breadth of view 
and progressiveness as a citizen. Prior to his election as judge he 
served as attorney for the Wabash railroad for a number of years in 
Schuyler count}^ rendering the company good and faithful service 
without contravening the rights or interests of the peoi^le. In 188-lr 
he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature, and was 
re-elected in 1886. In that body he was chairman of the committees 
on education and criminal jurisprudence, and rendered such excellent 
service and showed himself so well equipped for the administration of 
public affairs that in 1888 he was elected to the state senate. In the 
senate he served capably and with high credit to himself as chairman of 
the judiciary committee. 

In 1902 the Judge moved to Macon county, where he has ever since 
resided. In politics he has been a life-long Democrat, and before his 
election to the bench was very active in council and on the hustings in 
the service of his party, holding firmly to the belief that its political 
principles and theory of government are the correct ones, and that in 
their ascendency in state and nation rests the enduring welfare of the 
American people, collectively and individually. He has always been 



320 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

one of the progressive men in the judicial district, looking with favor 
on every worthy enterprise for its improvement and the strengthening 
of its mental, moral and material forces, and lending all the full measure 
of aid circumstances allowed him to advance. Fraternally he is a 
Fi-ee Mason of the third degree and a member of the order of Modern 
Woodmen of America ; and socially he is a gentleman of the old school, 
preserving against all innovations the high character and courtly man- 
ners of our earlier and, perhaps, better days, not as assumptions or from 
force of habit, but because they are inherent with him and as much parts 
of his nature as the organs of his body and the faculties of his mind. 
Professionally he is in the front rank of Missouri jurists, strictly 
upright, fair and just, learned in the law, wise in applying and inter- 
preting it, and fearless in enforcing it. 

The marriage of Judge Shelton occurred on November :21, 1878, 
and united him with Miss Belle T. Garges, a native and life-long resi- 
dent of this state. Of the four children born to them three are living : 
Mabel, the wife of Wilbur M. French, M. D., of Chicago, Illinois ; Charles 
W., who is preparing for admission to the bar, and Anna E., both of 
whom are living at home. All the members of the family belong to the 
Christian church. 

GEORGE POHLMAN, JR. _^^ 

This diligent and faithful employe of the federal government and 
energetic church and Sunday school worker, who is one of the most 
highly esteemed young men in the city of Macon, is a son of George and 
Barbara (Slmdy) Pohlman of Middle Fork township in this county, 
a brief account of whose lives will be found in this volume, and the 
first born of their three living children. He was bom on January 31, 
1887, on the present farm of his parents in Middle Fork township, and 
there grew to the age of eighteen, i-eceiviug his scholastic training in 
the district schools of that locality and the high school in Macon, from 
which he was graduated in 1904. 

After leaving school Mr. Pohlman taught for about one year, and 
in August, 1905, entered the employ of the government as a mail 
carrier in Macon city. He has continued to this time (1910) to render 
faithful and satisfactory service in that capacity and place, rising 
steadily in the esteem of the people, and showing decided merit as a 
basis for their good will and regard. They have confidence in him 
because he has proven to their satisfaction that he deserves it, and they 
hold him in cordial regard because of the moral character and engaging 
social qualities which he possesses. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 321 

He ranks high and enjoys great popularity among his associates 
in the service, having served as chairman of the State Letter Carriers 
association and being at present the vice-president of the organization. 
His superiors in ofticial circles also accord him great credit for faithful 
and intelligent service and a general demeanor that is altogether 
acceptable and aids in giving the service a high reputation for its 
efficiency and the elevated character of its employes. 

In his church relations Mr. Pohlmau is a very active and zealous 
member of the Southern Methodist church. He is assistant super- 
intendent of the Sunday school attached to the congregation to which 
he belongs and the President of one of its large and studious classes. 
He is also a member of the official board of the church and president 
of the Epworth League branch in the church. No good element of 
church, Sunday school or League work escapes his attention or lacks 
his earnest, energetic and serviceable support in both counsel and 
active assistance. 

In the general duties of citizenship he is zealous and upright, 
allying himself unalterably with no faction in politics, no clique in 
society, no exclusive organization in fraternal life and no limited circle 
in any relation among men, but finding congenial associates in all, an 
atmosphere of health and improvement wherever good men congregate 
and opportunity for usefulness and service to his fellowmen every- 
where. He is broad in his views and progressive in all his tendencies. 
For all measures designed to improve the community ai'ound him and 
add to the comfort, convenience and general welfare of its people he is 
always ready to speak forcibly and act with intelligence and energy, 
and in behalf of all moral and educational agencies at work among 
the people he is at all times ready to expend whatever influence he can 
exert and help to awaken all the activities available to him through his 
own force or the powers he can jDut in motion in others by his per- 
suasion or example. At the age of twenty-three he is accounted worthy 
of general esteem and those who know him best look forward to 
eminence for him in any locality that may have the benefit of his services 
and the credit of his citizenship. 



\^ 



GEOEGE POHLMAN. 



Over the childhood of this now enterprising and highly successful 
farmer and stock man of Middle Fork township, Macon county, the 
terrible shadow of our Civil war hung darkly and deeply, and that 
shadow rested heavily over all the early years of his struggle to make 
headway in the world and obtain a competency for himself. It did not, 



322 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

however, suffice to arrest his industry and f rugahty or stay his progress 
toward the goal he had set for himself. He found it necessary at an 
early age to make provision for his own advancement, for he had no 
other dependence than his stout heart, strong arm and determined 
spirit. He grappled with the difficulties in his way and one by one 
subdued them, and even made many of them assistants in his progress 
and servants to his will. 

Mr. Pohlman was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on January 1, 1860, 
and is the only child of John and Catherine (Weigel) Pohlman, the 
former born in Berlin, Germany, in 1827, and the latter a native of 
Germania in Bavaria. The father came to this country in 1849 and 
located in Wisconsin where he remained three years profitably engaged 
in rafting timber under contract. At the end of the period named he 
moved to St. Louis. Here he obtained large contracts to furnish cord 
wood for use on the steamboats, loading it on barges for convenience 
in transferring it to the steam giants which then formed the only means 
of transportation along the Mississippi river. He prospered at this 
business also, but the Civil war came on and soon ended his labors with 
his life. In 1862 he enlisted in the Federal anny in the Third Mis- 
souri regiment, and after a service of three months was killed by 
another Union soldier by mistake near Albany, Missouri. He was 
married in October, 1859, and by this union became the father of one 
child, his sou George, who is the subject of this sketch. He was a 
Eepublican in politics and a Lutheran in religious connection. 

Thus widowed after three years of married life, and by a terrible 
tragedy which no one could foresee or prevent, the mother took upon 
herself the difficult task of rearing her young son and preparing him 
for usefulness in life. But the times were hard, her means were slen- 
der, and the disturbed condition of the country, particularly in the 
region in which she lived, added to the troubles she was obliged to 
bear, and made the burden of her duty almost too much for her to 
bear. She managed, however, to give her son a limited district school 
education in Ray county, where they were then living, and as soon as 
he was able he sought by every means in his power to reciprocate her 
devotion and return his assistance to her for hers to him. He sought 
employment wherever it was to be found, working diligently on fai'ms 
and in saw mills, and contributing all he could of his meager earnings 
to aid in her support. 

By great industry and frugality he accumulated some money and 
in 1881 established a home for both on a farm of 100 acres in Eay 
county, which he bought and improved, and on which he raised good 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 323 

crops of grain and hay. Mother and sou lived on tliis farm until 1885 
and made substantial progress against the sea of troubles that opposed 
them. In the year last named the son sold the farm and moved to 
Macon county, locating on the land on which he now has his home in 
Middle Fork township, six miles southeast of Macon. Here he has 
continued his farming operations and been extensively engaged in 
• raising stock ever since, making his stock industry a specialty and 
conducting it on a large scale. He has been very successful, and now 
owns 360 acres of good land in Macon county and 140 in Eay county, 
which he has purchased since he left that county, and which he has 
rented to a tenant. 

Mr. Pohlman has been diligent and determined in advancing his 
own fortunes, and he has also been very active and serviceable in help- 
ing to promote the development and improvement of the township and 
county of his residence and the welfare of their people. He has served 
as school director continuously for a jjeriod of twenty-two years and 
as road commissioner for a period of nine. He is independent in 
political affairs and a member of the Christian church in religion, as 
is his wife, also, and both are very zealous and energetic in church 
work. 

On August 12, 1885, Mr. Pohlman was united in marriage with 
Miss Barbara Shudy, a daughter of Francis and Johanna Shudy, 
residents of Shelby county. Six children have blessed the union and 
brightened the household and three of them are living: George, who 
resides in Macon City, a brief sketch of whom will be found in this 
work, and Catherine and J\Iildred, who are still members of the parental 
home and ornaments of its fireside, aiding in dispensing its graceful 
hospitality and making it attractive to the hosts of friends of the fam- 
ily who frequent it, and find it a social center of refinement and a 
model domestic establishment. 

^ WILLIAM PITTS JACKSON. 

Although he bears names of high distinction in English and 
American history, "William Pitts Jackson, one of the successful and 
progressive farmers and stock men of Morrow township in this county, 
with his residence and interests located near the town of College Mound, 
has done them no discredit. He has not aspired to eminence in either 
public or private life, but he has met in a commendable manner every 
requirement of elevated citizenship, and has given in his career a fine 
illustration of the commanding might of enterprise, industry and reso- 
lute determination under the guidance of capable American manhood 



324 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

in their application to the opportunities afforded for their exercise in 
this land of boundless resources. 

Mr. Jackson is a native of Eandolph county, Missouri, ^vhere he 
was born in 1863. His father, James Kobert Jackson, was a native 
of Virginia and came to this state in 1857, taking up his residence in 
Eandolph county. Here he met with and married Miss Sallie W. Allin,- 
a native of that county in which her parents were early settlers from 
Kentucky. "William P. is the fourth of the ten of his parents twelve 
cMldren who are now living, the other eight being Mollie, Amanda, 
Elizabeth, Sallie, Anna, Vertah, Fred and Lucy. The parents were 
prosperous and energetic farmers and accumulated a considerable 
estate by their continued and well-directed industry and frugality. 
They were also held in high esteem as worthy and useful citizens. The 
mother died on December 4, 1872, and the father on April 13, 1909, he 
having attained the ripe old age of eighty-two years before he passed 
away. 

Their son William P. began his education in the local schools near 
his home, continued it in a graded school at Huntsville and completed 
it at William Jewell College, which is located at Liberty, Missouri. 
After leaving college he began the work of farming and raising live 
stock in which he has passed all his subsequent years. He has 
acquired by his own efforts a tine farm of 114 acres and built up a 
considerable business in raising stock. He also has improved his farm 
with good buildings and cultivated it with great energy and success, 
making every acre of it that yields to the plow produce excellent results 
for the labor bestowed upon it. 

In connection with the development and advancement of his town- 
ship and county he has been very active and serviceable. Every worthy 
enterprise in which the welfare of the people is involved commands 
his close attention and has the benefit of his intelligent and efficient 
aid. Political affairs also interest him greatly and he takes a leading 
part in giving them what he considers proper direction and control. 
He is a zealous member of the Democratic party and always gives it 
his earnest and eft'ective support. He served as census enumerator 
in 1900 and has for some years been the clerk and one of the directors 
of the school board. He is also a deacon and the clerk in the congre- 
gation of the Baptist church to which he belongs. In connection with 
his other duties he is now looking after the interests of his father's 
estate, of which he is the administrator. He is a very busy man. but 
he has the faculty of doing his work easily and without worry, and so 
gets through with it without any waste of effort. In 1890 he was 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 325 

united in marriage with Miss Mallie Banta, a native of Maeon county. 
They have had five children and have now three living, their daughters 
Bernice E., Lillian A. and Margery W. The people of the township 
esteem all the members of the family highly, and wherever they are 
known they are accounted as worthy of cordial regard and good will, 
and also as useful to their community and giving good examples of 
proper living in every respect. 

JOHN M. LONDON. 

V 

Faithful to every call to duty in peace and war, true to the claims 
of private life and those of public service, successful in his own busi- 
ness and devoted to the interests of the county and state in which he 
lives, John M. London of Callao has proven himself a very worthy, 
useful and influential citizen of Macon county, and has won by well 
demonstrated merit the prominence and distinction he enjoys. As a 
valiant soldier in defense of the Union during the Civil war he rendered 
excellent service to his country and sealed his devotion with his blood 
in two of the terrible battles of the conflict. As a public official he was 
capable and faithful in the discharge of his duties in every respect. 
As a journalist he gave voice to the sentiments of a large number of 
the people around him and direction to their expression in two useful 
newspapers which he founded and conducted for a number of years. 
And as a promoter, farmer and stock man of extensive operations he 
has not only acquired worldly substance for himself, but helped to 
magnify the wealth, business activity and commercial power of his 
section of the state. 

Mr. London was born in Schuyler county, Missouri, on February 
14, 1843. His father, William T. London, was a native of Alabama 
and came to Missouri and Macon county in 1857. He was a prominent 
farmer and merchant and an important factor in the public life of this 
portion of the country. By his marriage with Miss Priscilla Bailey, 
who was born and reared in Kentucky, he became the 'father of six 
children, all of whom are living. They are: Virginia, the wife of 
George Hicks of this county ; John M. ; Franklin S. ; Emma, the wife 
of Professor Eidgeway, superintendent of the public schools of Kansas 
City, Missouri; Susan F., the wife of Esquire Conrad of Sheridan 
county in this state, and William J. The father died in 1864 and the 
mother in 1894. 

John M. London began his education in the district schools and 
completed it at-McGee College at College Mound, from which he was 
graduated in 1867, his attendance at this institution being prior to the 



326 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Civil war. When that momentous and terrible conflict began he 
promptly enlisted in the Sixteenth Illinois infantry in defense of the 
Union, and some time later he helped to organize the Forty-Second 
Missouri regiment. His service throughout the contest was active and 
continuous, and he still bears on his person the marks of its ravages, 
having been seriously wounded at the battle of Shiloh and again in 
the siege of ^''icksburg. He participated in every engagement fought 
by the Army of the Mississippi from the capture of Fort Donelson to 
the siege of Atlanta, and in many others of major or minor importance. 
He served as captain of Company E of the Tenth Missouri regiment 
and as adjutant of the Forty-Second. In the latter the position of 
lieutenant colonel was offered to him, but he declined to accept it out 
of deference to Colonel Forbes. After the close of the war he returned 
to Macon county. 

In 1866 he was elected clerk and recorder for Macon county for a 
term of four years, which he filled with great credit to himself and 
acceptability to the people. In 1867, in association with John T. 
Clements, he founded the Macon Journal, which he conducted until 
1876. He then founded The Greenback, an independent paper, and this 
he published until 1878, when he was nominated as the candidate of 
his party to represent the district in Congress. He was unsuccessful 
at the election owing to the large preponderance of the opposing party, 
and after that for a time gave his attention wholly to the management 
of the Farmers' Alliance, of which he was chairman. 

He then determined to give more attention to his private interests 
and in 1885 organized the Stean-London Trust Company of Macon, 
which he conducted alone until 1890, when he took Oswell Hicks, in as 
a partner, and during the next two years they managed the affairs of 
the company together. In 1892 he turned the company over to Mr. 
Hicks and began to give his whole energy to the cultivation of his farm 
of 640 acres and the management of his extensive live stock interests, 
which he has cfwned since 1885. The farm is highly developed and well 
improved, and both its operations and the stock industry connected 
with it are conducted with skill and enterprise of the highest order. 

Mr. London is still chairman of the Farmers' Union of Missouri, 
and in fraternal life he is connected with the Order of Odd Fellows and 
the Grand Army of the Republic, in all of which he takes a very active 
and serviceable interest. In 1867 he was married to Miss Mannie 
Fletcher, a native of Shelbyville, Tennessee. They have six children, 
Harold, Kate, Lee, Daisy, Ruth and Helen. In his private affairs and 
in connection with every public duty Mr. London has given to the 




F. THEO. MAYHEW 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 327 

■world a fine example of the sweep and resourcefulness of American 
enterprise, and in all respects he is deservedly conspicuous as one of 
the best types of Missouri citizenship. Measuring his success by the 
ordinary standards it has been great and continued. Applying to it 
the test promulgated by Emerson, who said that the only real success 
was to work in the right direction, it has been eminent, commanding 
and without a variation from its proper course. And a very gratifying 
circumstance in connection with it is the fact that he is highly 
appreciated by the people of Missouri and enjoys in a marked degree 
their universal esteem and commendation. Mr. London was the pro- 
jector of the Macon, Chariton drainage canal, and gave five j'ears of 
labor and a large amount of money on it, and which has promise of 
great benefit to these counties. 

/ F. THEODORE MAYHEW. 

Pure, constant and noble was the spiritual flame that burned 
and illumined the mortal tenement of the honored subject of this brief 
memori. He was a man of the loftiest principles, of strong intellectual 
powers, and was not only a successful business man, but also rendered 
a service of zeal and consecration as a minister of the Christian church. 
He was long numbered among the most influential and honored citizens 
of Macon county and maintained his home in Bevier until the time of his 
death, which occurred on the 27th of February, 1906. His memory is 
revered by all who remain to have remembrance of his gentle and noble 
life and who came within the sphere of his gracious and helpful 
influence. 

F. Theodore Mayhew was born in Jefferson county, Indiana, in 
the j^ear 1841, and was a son of Benjamin and Eleuder Mayhew, who 
removed from the Hoosier state to Tennessee when he was a boy. His 
father was a native of New Jersey and a member of a family whose 
name has been identified with the annals of American history from the 
early colonial era. In 1859 the family came to Missouri and located in 
Macon county, where the father engaged in agricultural pursuits and 
also became a teacher in the common schools. Both of the parents 
continued to maintain their home in this state until the close of their 
lives and both were earnest members of the Christian church. They 
became the parents of five children, of whom the subject of this memoir 
was the eldest, and of the number three are now living. 

F. Theodore Mayhew attended school but a little in Tennessee 
and his naturally alert and receptive mind enabled him to effectually 
supplement this discipline through well-directed reading and study in 



328 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

later years. He became a man of broad infoi-mation and no little 
erudiction, and he labored successfully as a teacher in the public schools 
of Missouri for a quarter of a century, having been eighteen years of 
age at the time of his parents' removal to this state. Those who had 
the benefit of his careful and able instruction during his years of devo- 
tion to the pedagogic profession feel a debt of gratitude for his faithful 
labors in their behalf, as well as for the kindly sjTupathy which he 
ever manifested. During a period of forty years he also was a minister 
of the Christian church, and he labored with much of zeal and intel- 
lectual force for the uplifting and bettering of his fellow-men. His 
sermons gave evidence of his earnest convictions and thus carried 
weight and conviction to Ms hearer. He ministered in isolated com- 
munities in the early days and also did pastoral work in more impor- 
tant charges, ever showing a high sense of his stewardship and making 
his influence felt for good in all the relations of his daily life. As a 
business man he was successful, and for a number of years prior to 
his demise he was associated with his only son in the general merchan- 
dise business in Bevier, where he established his home in the year 1902. 

In politics Mr. Mayhew was aligned as a staunch and intelligent 
advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party 
stands sponsor, and he rendered effective service in the promotion 
of the party cause. He was twice the nominee of his party for rep- 
resentative in the state legislature, but was unable to overcome the 
normal Democratic majority in his county and tlnis met defeat. He 
was public-spirited and liberal as a citizen and business man, and ever 
showed a deep interest in all that tended to conserve the welfare and 
progress of his home city and county, where his circle of friends was 
limited only by that of his acquaintances. His widow still maintains 
her home in Bevier and is loved by all who know her. She finds a due 
measure of solace in the hallowed associations and memories of the 
past and in the companionship and solicitude of friends who are tried 
and true. 

In July, 1869, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Mayhew to Miss 
Kate W. Ballenger, who was born in Macon county, Missouri, and who 
is a daughter of John Ballenger, a substantial citizen of that county. 
Two children were born of this union — Julia A., who is now the wife of 
James F. Harrison, of Callao, Missouri, and Ivy G., who continues the 
mercantile business in which he was associated with his father and who 
is the subject of an individual sketch in this volume. An ado]3ted 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mayhew is Etta J., whose maiden name was 
Corbin, and who is now the wife of Willard Buster, of Bucklin, Missouri. 



HISTORY OP MACON COUNTY 329 

^ JOHN WILLIAM OWEN. 

Although he is a native of Missouri aud has lived iu Macon county 
during all of his mature life, with an abiding and helpful interest in 
its welfare and the comfort and advancement of its people, John 
William Owen of Lingo township has seen life in other states and under 
very different circumstances from those which now surround him. The 
horse and cattle ranches of Montana engaged his attention aud secured 
his services in his youth and young manhood, and on them he learned 
what it is to depend on oneself and be ready for fast-coming emer- 
gencies. In the trying experiences of that engagement he also acquired 
endurance and a thorough mastery of his own faculties and capabilities, 
and the acquistions have been of great value to him in all his 
subsec^uent career. 

Mr. Owen was born in Randolph county, this state, on June 4, 1877, 
and is a son of William Edward and Nancy (Cluton) Owen, the former 
a native of Kentucky and the latter of Missouri but of Missouri 
parentage. The father, whose ancestors were pioneers in Kentucky 
and helped to civilize and develop that state, was a farmer's son and has 
passed all the years of his activity in the paternal occupation. He 
lived in California fifteen years, and freighted and raised live stock 
there, as he had done in his native state, and as he has done during the 
thirty-eight years of his residence in Missouri. He came to this state 
in 1872 and located in Randolph county on a large farm. There he 
carried on extensively, farming 800 to 1200 acres of land and con- 
ducting a stock industry of commensurate proportions. In 1899 he 
moved his family to Macon county, and here he continued his oper- 
ations in farming and raising stock on the same scale. He and his 
wife are still living in this county. They are the pai'ents of two 
children, their sons John William and Robert Lee. 

The father is a Democrat in politics and is at all times active in 
the service of his party. He has long been favorably known, also, for 
his energy, zeal and intelligence in helping to promote the advancement 
of the locality of his home and the substantial welfare of its people. 
He rendered excellent service as a member of the school board for a 
nimiber of years, and from his early manhood has been a member of 
the Order of Odd Fellows. He is now one of the oldest members of 
the order in the state. For many years he has also been active and 
effective in the service of the Christian church, to which he has long 
given his useful and valued membership. He and his wife are among 



330 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

the most esteemed citizens of the county, and are well worthy of the 
regard the people bestow upon them. 

Their son John W. began his education in the district schools of 
Eandolph county and completed it at Hatton College. After leaving 
school he worked with his father on the home farm for a short time. 
At the age of eighteen he went to Montana and there passed three 
years in the diflScult and exacting work on horse and cattle ranches. In 
1898 he returned to Missouri and began farming and raising stock on 
his own account. He continued his operations in these lines of endeavor 
until 1907, when he determined to devote his energies to buying and ship- 
ping stock, and he is now one of the most extensive dealers and shippers 
in the county, and the most extensive in Lingo township. His home is 
in the neighborhood of New Cambria. 

He also is an active, working Democrat, but has always refused 
to accept a political office either by election or appointment. His fra- 
ternal relations ai-e with the Order of Modern AVoodmen and the Order 
of Odd Fellows, and in religious affiliation he is connected with the 
Christian church. 

Mr. Owen's marriage occurred in 1899 and was with Miss Victoria 
Streiff, a native of Huntsville, Eandolph county, Missouri. They have 
two children, their daughter Thelma, who is now (1910) nine years 
old, and their son Percy, who is seven. While the father's interests 
are extensive and his business is exacting, he has not allowed them to 
wholly absorb his time or his energies. As every good citizen should, 
he takes an earnest interest and a leading part in helping to promote 
the development and improvement of his township and county and the 
welfare of their people. He is energetic in the service of every worthy 
enterprise in which these are involved, and his counsel is valued as 
much for its wisdom as his zeal is for its effectiveness. No citizen 
stands higher in the estimation of the peole, and none is more entitled 
to their regard and good will. He is loyal to state and nation and 
true to all the duties of upright and commendable citizenship, and life 
conducts his business in a way that has given him an excellent reputa- 
tion and helped to win ]\racon county the confidence and esteem of the 
business world wherever the products of her soil or the fruits of her 
industries are sold. 

v^ JOHN L. TERRELL. 

This esteemed citizen and successful and progressive farmer of 
Callao township represents the third generation of his family that 
has lived in Macon countv and worked for its advancement and devel- 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 331 

opment to the highest standard of excellence, and he is also an 
acknowledged representative of its people in their industry, thrift, 
enterprise and elevated citizenship. He was born in this county in 
1863 and is a son of Ehuben H. and Prisoilla (Hegwood) Terrell, who 
were also born and reared in Macon county. 

They were the parents of three children : Allie, the widow of the 
late Richard Teeters; John L., who is tlie immediate subject of these 
paragraphs, and Mary E. Their mother died in 1864, and the father 
married a second wife, being united on this occasion with Miss Eliza- 
' >)eth Vass, also a native of Macon county. Of the six children born of 
this union five are living: Wilbert F., Robert 0., Clyde B., Thomas, and 
Maude A., who is the wife of Luther Roberts. The father is still living 
on his farm near Keota and is now seventy-five years of age. Highly 
esteemed as a citizen, successful in his business and revered for his 
zealous interest in the welfare of the county, he is regarded as one of 
the most useful and representative men among its people. 

John L. Terrell obtained his education in the district schools and 
at a graded school in the city of Macon. He was obliged early in life 
to begin making his own way in the world, and after leaving school 
hired out as a fai-m hand in Illinois, his compensation at the start being 
only twenty-five cents a day. But he was frugal and thrifty, and 
knowing that his only dependence for success in life was himself, he 
apiolied all his energies to whatever his hands found to do, and gave 
strong indications of what was in him and what he was likely to make of 
himself. After working as a farm hand in Illinois for three years, he 
returned to Macon county and began farming for himself in Morrow 
township, where he lived until 1892. 

In that year he moved to Callao township, and here he has ever since 
resided. He has become more and more extensively engaged in farm- 
ing and raising live stock as the years have passed, and now owns 
360 acres of land, all of which is under vigorous and skillful culti- 
vation except what is reserved for grazing purposes for his large herds 
and flocks. The farm is improved with good buildings and equipped 
with every appliance required to carry on its operations in the most 
approved and progressive manner. Mr. Terrell has been very suc- 
cessful in all his undertakings and all that he has and is he has wrung 
from opposing circumstances by his own ability and energy. He is 
president of the Callao Fair association of which he was one of the 
founders and has been one of the most energetic promoters. The 
association is prosperous under his management and has a high rank 
among institutions of its character in this part of the country. 



333 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

In political alliance Mr. Terrell is connected with the Democratic 
part}^ and is one of its most constant and effective workers in Macon 
county. He served on the school board for a period of over six years 
and gave the people excellent service in connection with one of their 
most valued public institutions, being always a warm friend of the 
cause of public education. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Modern 
Woodman and the Royal Neighbors. In 1888 he was married to Miss 
Ethel C. Morrow, a native of Morrow township in this county. They 
have three children, their son Grover C. and their daughters Neva I. 
and Nellie I. The parents are regarded as among the most worthy 
and estimable residents of Macon county. 

BENJAMIN E. WILLIAMS. 

The life-story of Benjamin E. Williams, one of the progressive 
and successful farmers, stock men and merchants of Macon county, 
whose base of operations is in White township and whose mercantile 
enterprise is located in the town of Ethel, is the many times repeated 
tale of a man transplanted in his childhood to a new country, then 
largely undeveloj^ed and presenting many obstacles to progress. The 
rest of it, in outline, at least, is easily inferred from his present pros- 
perity and standing. He accepted the opportunities which came to 
him and made the most of them. His own ready brain, strong arm and 
confidence in himself were his main dependencies, and from early man- 
hood he has used them to his own advantage and for the general 
welfare in promoting the interests of the community of his home. 

Mr. Williams was born in the state of Ohio in 1859 and was brought 
to Missouri by his parents when he was but three years old. This 
state was then suflfering all the evil effects of the Civil war, and all 
its industries were prostrate and inert. He obtained what education 
he could in the district schools of the day, which owing to the disturbed 
condition of the locality, because of the irregular and predatory war 
which ravaged it, was necessarily limited and very incomplete. As 
soon as he was able he turned his attention to fanning on his own 
account, and in this industry, coupled with general stock-raising, he 
was almost exclusively engaged until 1882. In that year he became a 
merchant, and ever since he has been actively and profitably connected 
with mercantile life. He owns 500 acres of superior land, which he 
has brought to a high state of productiveness and improved with good 
liuildings, making it one of the most valuable and attractive farms in 
White township. His interests as a merchant are also extensive and 
productive, and his stock industry is conducted with a vigor and care- 



mSTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 333 

ful attention to details that assures success in all it aims at. He is 
also one of the directors and the vice-president of the Bank of Ethel, 
and takes a decided interest in everything that contributes to the 
general improvement and progress of the township and county in which 
he lives and carries on his fruitful operations. 

"While he has often been solicited to accept public office and always 
resisted importunities on the subject, he has at all times been actively 
and intelligently interested in public affairs and done his part towards 
giving them proper direction and seeking to lead them to the best 
results for the good of all the people. His fraternal relations are 
with the Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, 
and in religious connection is a member of the Presbyterian church. 
In his lodges and his church he is cordially interested and his member- 
ship in all the organizations to which he belongs is valued highly. In 
business he stands well as a representative of the most approved 
modern business methods. As a farmer he holds a leading rank in 
his township, as a stock man he has a wide-spread and excellent 
reputation, and as a citizen no man in the township in which he has his 
home is more generally or more highly esteemed. In reference to his 
career and his standing he has the modesty of real merit, and does 
not care to have his praises sounded abroad. But discriminating 
observers rank him as one of the best, most useful and most repre- 
sentative men in Macon county, and the truthful biographer has no 
right and no wish to withhold from him anything that belongs to him 
in the way of commendation. His life furnishes an excellent example 
to young men and can be imitated by them with great advantage to 
themselves. 

u FEANCIS MARION SEAES. 

Francis Marion Sears, one of the veteran merchants of Macon 
county and high on the list of the leading citizens of Ethel and "White 
townships, is the son of very early pioneers in this part of the state, 
and lived himself, in his boyhood and youth, amid the scenes, dangers, 
hardships and arduous struggles of frontier life. He was born in 
Easely township, Macon county, on July 25, 1845, and is a son of John 
Joseph and Elizabeth (Kirby) Sears, the former a native of Kentucky; 
born in 1800, and the latter of the same state. The father came to Mis- 
souri and Macon coupty in 1821. He took up a tract of wild land and 
did well his part in redeeming the region from the wilderness, ridding it 
of its savage denizens of forest and plain, man and beast, reducing it to 
productiveness, and founding upon it the forms, governing powers and 



334 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUXTY 

restraining influences of civilization. He helped to sow in it the seeds 
of progress, improvement and development, and start it in the career 
which has resulted in its jjresent high state of cultivation and mercantile 
and commercial greatness. 

John Joseph Sears and his wife were the parents of ten children, 
only two of whom are now living, James M., of La Plata, and Francis 
M., of Ethel. The father died in 1866 and the mother in 1888. But in 
their long career of usefulness in this region they put forces in motion 
which have resulted in great good to it and proven to be forceful fac- 
tors in all that has occurred in it since they laid down their trust. 
Here is one instance, at least, in which the good done by faithful work- 
ers lives after them and not "interred with their bones." 

Their son, Francis, enjoyed very meager and irregular oppor- 
tunities for scholastic training. The schools of his boyhood and youth 
in this locality were few and it was far between them. And those 
which were in operation lasted only during the winter months and were 
primitive and limited in the scope of their instructions. But such as 
they were, Mr. Sears attended them as much and as regularly as he 
could, and made the most of the advantages they gave him. After leav- 
ing school he remained at home and assisted his father in the work 
on the farm for a number of years, and then began farming on his own 
account. He continued his connection with this occui^ation until 1899, 
when he engaged in the furniture trade, with which he has ever since 
been actively and extensively connected. 

At the beginning of the Civil war he enlisted in the army and 
followed his convictions to the field of carnage, participating in the 
battle of Lexington and other engagements of greater or less imj^or- 
tance. In politics he is a Democrat and always has been. He has 
served his party faithfully and it has recognized the value of his serv- 
ices, holding him in high esteem as a worker and finding in him 
capacity for the administration of official duties of delicacy and impor- 
tance. He has been a justice of the peace for more than seven years 
and a member of the school board for more than three. In 1901 
he was elected mayor of Ethel, and in that capacity he served the town 
well and wisely until 1906. He is a gentleman of lofty ideals and 
very progressive views, and he has applied his methods of thought 
and action to all his official duties and all his efforts for the improve- 
ment and progress of the commimity in which he lives. In fraternal 
life he is connected with the Order of Odd Fellows, and his lodge in 
the order highly appreciates his energetic and stimulating member- 
ship. The township and county have had the benefit of his breadth 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY X]rj 

of view and his comprehensive enterprise in the promotion of all their 
designs for the advancement of the region and the enduring welfare 
of its people. 

On April 2, 1865, Mr. Sears was united in marriage with Miss 
Catherine Riley, a native of Macon county (who departed this life 
September 7, 1908), hut a daughter of parents-who came to this state 
from Kentucky, where their forefathers helped to redeem the wilds 
and lay the foundation of civilized and cultivated life. Of the eight 
children born to Mr. and Mrs. Sears only three are living: Luetta, 
the wife of J. W. Eatliff, residing near Goldsberry, this county ; James 
A., who lives at New Boston, Linn county, and William C, who is a 
resident of Ethel. During the last eleven years the father has been 
one of the leading merchants of Ethel, and throughout that period he 
has held the business name of the community up to a high standard 
of integrity and progressiveness, and has met all the requirements 
of his position as one of the prominent and representative merchants 
of the town in a masterly and commendable manner. Macon county 
has no better or more enterprising citizen, none whose influence and 
example have done it more good in general and special ways, and none 
whom the people more universally approve and esteem. 

LON HAYNER. 

Mr. Hayuer, who is cashier of the Citizens' Bank of Macon, has 
been an important factor in connection with the industrial and business 
affairs of Macon county, which has represented his home from his 
boyliood days, and he stands today as one of the honored and influential 
citizens of the county in which he has attained to success and i^restige 
through well-directed efforts along normal lines of productive enter- 
prise. As a banker he has long been prominent and influential and as a 
citizen and man of affairs he stands exponent of the utmost loyalty 
and public spirit. 

Mr. Hayner is a native of Scott county, Kentucky, where he was 
born on the 25th of October, 1846. In the fine old Bluegrass state also 
were born his parents, James M. and Margaret (Branhan) Hayner, 
who were reared and educated and there married. James M. Hayner 
was engaged in agricultural pursuits in his native state until 1855, 
when he removed with his family to Macon county, Missouri, where he 
developed a fine farm of 200 acres, in Independence township, and 
where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1884. 
He was a man of superior intelligence and impregnable integrity, and 
he ever commanded the unqualified confidence and esteem of the com- 



336 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

munity in which he so long maintained his home. He was originally 
a Whig, a great admirer of Henry Clay. Though never consenting to 
become a candidate for public office, he was a staunch advocate of the 
principles of the Democratic party, and his aid and influence were 
ever given in support of measures and enterprises which tended to 
conserve the welfare of the community. He and his wife were members 
of the Baptist church and their lives counted for good in all relations. 
Mrs. Hayner survived her honored husband by more than twenty years, 
and she was summoned to the life eternal in 1906, at a venerable age. 
They became the parents of two sons and one daughter, of whom the 
subject of this sketch was the first in order of birth. Thomas E. like- 
wise remains a resident of Macon county, where he is engaged in farm- 
ing, and Addie is the wife of James H. Ford, of Macon county. 

Lon Hayner, to whom this sketch is dedicated, passed his boyhood 
and youth on the old homestead farm, in connection with whose work 
he gained his initial experience in the practical responsibilities of life. 
His educational training was secured in the schools of Macon county, 
and that he made good use of his oiDportunities is evident when we 
revert to the fact that when eighteen years of age he became eligible 
for pedagogic honors. For nine years he was a successful and popular 
teacher in the schools of the county, devoting his attention to this voca- 
tion during the winter terms and assisting in the work and management 
of the home farm during the sunmier seasons. 

Mr. Hayner continued to devote his attention largely to farming 
until 1889, when he was elected to the office of county collector, of which 
he continued incumbent for a period of four years. After his retire- 
ment he was elected vice-president of the First National Bank of Macon, 
and he served in this capacity for six years. Upon the organization 
of the Citizens' Bank, in 1899, he became one of its chief stockholders 
and was elected its cashier. He has since held this executive office, and 
it is in large measure due to his discrimination and able management 
of the affairs of the bank that the institution has been so successful 
in its operations and has gained place as one of the solid and popular 
banking houses of this section of the state. He is also a member of its 
directorate. On other pages of this publication is given a brief review 
of the history of the Citizens' Bank. 

Liberal, broad-minded and public-spirited as a citizen, Mr. Hay- 
ner has ever shown a deep and helpful interest in all that concerns the 
welfare of his home city and county, and his aid and influence are ever 
to be counted upon in support of measures tending to advance the best 
interest of the community, civic, political and industrial. He has served 



HISTORY OP MACON COUNTY 337 

six years as a member of the board of education of Macon, as director 
and treasurer. From the time of attaining to his legal majority until 
the present he has given an unfaltering allegiance to the Democratic 
party, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Baptist church. 
He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity aild the Knights of Pythias. 
Mr. Hayner is the owner of the old homestead farm, which is endeared 
to him by the memories and associations of the past, and he gives to 
the same a general supervision. 

Mr. Hayner has been twice married. In 1879 he wedded Miss 
Susan Jackson, who was born and reared in Macon county and who 
was a daughter of James R. Jackson, a representative farmer of Mon- 
roe township. Three daughters represent the offspring of this marri- 
age, and all survive their mother, who was summoned to the life eter- 
nal in 1885. Gertrude, the eldest daughter, was graduated in Hardin 
college, at Mexico, Missouri, and is now the widow of William G. Eng- 
lish, of Roswell, New Mexico ; Annie E., a graduate of the college at 
Liberty, Missouri, is the wife of Charles Goodson, of Macon; and Sue 
E., likewise a graduate of Liberty college, remains at the paternal home, 
a popular figure in connection with the social activities of Macon. In 
1891 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hayner to Miss Emma Hock- 
ensmith, who likewise was born and reared in Macon county and who is 
a daughter of Mat Hockensmith. No children have been born of this 
union. She was educated at Stephens college at Columbia, Missouri. 

JOHN E. MENEFEE. 

One of the most enterprising, resourceful and successful real estate 
and loan men in Macon county, carrying on his business on a large scale 
and in a manner to command universal approval and commendation, 
and making even adverse circumstances minister to his advantage by 
the mastery of his spirit, John R. Meiiefee, of New Cambria, furnishes 
a fine example of American manhood at its best and determined to 
make everything tributary to its advancement. His success in his 
present undertaking is all the more creditable from the fact that he 
was not specially trained to the business in which he is engaged, but 
came to it, as it were, through the force of circumstances, and has 
proved, in his management of it, that he has tlie qualities that command 
success in any enterprise and under any conditions. 

Mr. Menefee was born in Livingston county, Missouri, on Febru- 
ary 25, 1871, and is a son of Robert M. and Iberiah S. (Shirley) Men- 
efee, the former a native of Marietta, Ohio, born on April 30, 1834, 
and the latter. a daughter of James A. and Martha Shirley, and born 



338 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

in Fayette, Howard county, Missouri. The father came to this state 
in 1839 and with them located at the village which is now called Wood- 
A'ille, but was then known as Centerville in Macon county. He was but 
five years old when the family came to this region, and here he grew 
to manhood and obtained his education, attending the district schools 
during the winter months for a few years. He was obliged to begin 
making his own way in the world at an early age, and soon after leav^ 
ing school became connected with mercantile life at Woodville and 
later at Chillicothe. He also engaged in the tobacco trade at College 
Mound. In 1862 he gave up mercantile pursuits and turned his atten- 
tion to farming, in which he was occupied until September, 1879, in 
his native county of Livingston. At that time he returned to Macon 
county and continued his enterprise as a farmer and stock man, keeping 
these industries as his chief occupation until his death on April 14, 1894. 

His marriage with Miss Shirley occurred in 1859, and by it became 
the father of ten children, of whom the following six are living : Albert 
S., who lives at Clarence, Missouri; John R., a resident of New Cam- 
bria ; Orlena, the wife of H. W. Owens, of Moberly ; Morris E., who is 
also a resident of Moberly ; Mattie B., who is the wife of I. M. Cole, of 
New Cambria ; and Lillian G., who lives in Kansas City, Missouri. The 
father was a Democrat in polities and took a very active interest in the 
success of his party. He served as a member of the school board for 
many years, giving the interests he had in charge close and intelligent 
attention and bringing about highly commendable results in the man- 
agement and improvement of the schools. In religious affiliation he 
belonged to the Southern Methodist church. His wife survived him ten 
years, dying on March 29, 1904. 

John E. Menefee was reared and educated in Macon coimty. He 
grew to manhood on his father's farm and attended the district school 
in the neighborhood of its location. After leaving school he clerked 
for H. E. Southwick in the lumber business for a period of three years. 
He then became a telegraph operator in the employ of the Burlington 
railroad and remained in its service two years, working at various 
places along the line. In 1897 he entered the employ of Hon. Albert 
D. Nortoni, a sketch of whom will be found in this volume, and who is 
now one of the judges of the Court of xVppeals of St. Louis. Judge 
Nortoni 's business then was in real estate and insurance lines and his 
headquarters were at New Cambria. Mr. Menefee was associated with 
him in this business five years. In 1902 he started a real estate, loau 
and insurance business of his own, and in that he has been very 
actively and successfully engaged ever since. He has made many 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 339 

large deals and numberless smaller ones during his career on liis 
own account, and has proven himself to be one of Macon county's most 
successful and enterprising real estate men. He makes a study of 
his business and the needs of his patrons, and if at any time he doesn't 
have just what a customer wants, he knows where to find it and how 
to make the deal satisfactory to both buyer and seller. No man in this 
part of the county has a more comprehensive or accurate knowledge 
of the trade in all its bearings. 

In political affairs Mr. Menefee is a Republican and an active 
worker for the good of his party. At this time (1910) he is secretary 
of the Republican county central committee and his work in this posi- 
tion redounds greatly to the benefit of his party and is highly appreci- 
ated by both its leaders and its rank and file. In fraternal life he is 
connected with the Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America and 
the Masonic order. In the order last named he belongs to the lodge 
at Buckliu, in Linn county, and to the Royal Arch chapter and the 
Knights Templar commandery at Macon. He was married in October, 
1895, to Miss Clara E. Nortoni, a daughter of Edward W. and Hannah 
T. Nortoni, and a native of New Cambria. Six children have been 
born of the union and all of them are living. They are : Herbert R., 
now (1910) thirteen years old; Merrill F., eleven; Shirley M., eight; 
Bert D., six ; Eugene, three ; and Virginia J., an infant, aged one year. 
The father has been eminently successful in business and has helped 
very materially to promote the advancement and improvement of the 
township and county in which his operations have been carried on. He 
and his wife are regarded as among the best citizens of this part of the 
state. 

ROBERT R. BEAL. 

Like nearly all other parts of Macon county, Missouri, Lingo town- 
ship has attracted considerable attention throughout the country by 
the extent and character of its live-stock industry, and its name and the 
names of its citizens who are engaged in that industry in a leading way 
are known in all the prominent stock markets in the land. In the list 
of those who are devoted to this interesting and profitable line of 
endeavor in the township, that of Robert R. Beal, whose residence is in 
the neighborhood of New Cambria, is prominent and well deserves 
its place. 

Mr. Beal was born in 1855 in Virginia. His parents, William and 
Elizabeth (Thompson) Beal, were born and reared in England, and 
were married in that country in 1846. They came to the United States 



340 HISTORY OF Mi^CON COUNTY 

in 1853 and located in Pennsylvania, where the father engaged in 
mining coal. In 1869 he moved his family to Missouri and took up 
his residence in Macon county. Here he turned his attention to farm- 
ing and raising stock and passed the rest of his life in the pursuit of 
those industries, dying on March 5, 1902. His widow is still living 
and has her home with her son, Robert. They were the parents of 
thirteen children, seven of whom are living: George; John T. ; Will- 
iam; Mary, the wife of D. H. Babbitt; Robert R. ; Elizabeth J., the 
wife of E. B. Thomas, of Colorado, and Thomas E. L. Their mother is 
now (1910) eighty-six years old. 

Robert R. Beal, who was but fourteen years of age when he came 
to this state and county with his parents, obtained his education in 
the district school in the neighborhood of his home in this and his 
native state. He acquired a thorough practical knowledge of farm- 
ing on his father's place, in the labors of which he took an active part 
from his boyhood. When the time came for him to choose an occupation 
in life for himself, he selected the one he had been reared to and 
became a farmer. He has never varied from this industry and its allied 
business of raising live-stock, and his determined and skillful pursuit 
of it has brought him success in a worldly way and excellent standing 
among the people of his township as a citizen. For he has shown 
himself to be public-spirited and progressive, with reference to the 
affairs of the community of his home as he has in connection with 
his private business, and has taken his place among the helpful factors 
engaged in pushing forward the development and improvement of his 
county and promoting the enduring welfare of its people. 

Mr. Beal's farm comprises 160 acres of land and is wisely and 
skillfully cultivated. It has been highly improved under his progres- 
sive management and he has supplied himself with the best modern 
implements for the most advanced and productive farming. The stock 
industry he' conducts on it is extensive and is also managed with pru- 
dence, skill and good judgment, and both departments of his business 
are highly profitable because he makes them so. In politics he is inde- 
pendent, bestowing his suffrage on the candidates he deems best suited 
to the offices they seek and most likely to look after the best interests of 
the people, and never accepting or desiring official station for himself, 
either by election or appointment. The schools, the churches, the social 
institutions and all the industries of the county enlist his cordial inter- 
est and have his active support, and in every other way he meets all the 
requirements of elevated and worthy citizenship. His course in life 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 311 

lias wou for him the general good will and regard of the people in all 
parts of the county. 

ALFBED JOHNSON SMITH. 

The experience in life, which has been a large part of the prepara- 
tion of Alfred Johnson Smith, of Lingo township, for the extensive 
farming and live-stock business he is so successfully conducting, was 
had in many parts of the country and under a great variety of circum- 
stances. He was born in the state of New Jersey in 1840, and in that 
state, also, his parents, David and Rosa (Miller) Smith, were born, 
reared, educated and married. They were farmers and prosperous in 
their day, and they were faithful to the duties of parentage and citizen- 
ship, bringing up their large family of twelve children, with a view to 
making all its members useful and worthy factors in the social and 
general life of the coimtry. Four of their offspring are now living: 
Alfred J., George, Caroline and Mary Ann. The mother died in 1856 
and the father in 1872. 

Their son, Alfred J., began his scholastic training in New Jersey 
and completed it in Illinois, moving to that state in 1857, when he was 
seventeen years old and soon after the death of his mother. He lived 
three years in Illinois, then, in 1860, went into the Rocky mountain 
region, where he remained until 1862. Leaving there he located in 
Illinois, remaining there imtil 1865. In that year he located in Missouri 
and became a Macon county farmer with his base of operations near 
New Cambria. He came to this county at a time of depression and 
difficulty. This portion of the state had suffered severely during the 
Civil war, and the predatory and relentless border warfare which pre- 
ceded that momentous struggle, and in October, 1865, when Mr. Smith 
arrived here, all its industries were prostrate and the greater part 
of its people were seriously handicapped by the conditions that had been 
forced upon it. Mr. Smith, however, like many others, saw beyond 
the passing moment. He realized that Missouri was a giant fallen in 
battle, seriously but not fatally wounded, and that the giant had scarcely 
risen, as yet, on his elbow. He noted that the giant's strength, although 
wasted, was not spent, but only temporarily depressed, and he deter- 
mined to assist in raising him to his feet and restoring his full stature, 
believing that he had rich favors for the faithful who attended him and 
would be liberal in the bestowal of his bounty. His subsequent career 
in aid of the restoration of this mighty state and its further develop- 
ment and progress has fully justified his faith and shown the wisdom 
of his choice. 



342 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

Mr. Smith has prospered on the soil of Missouri and grown to 
consequence and influence among the people of Macon county. He now 
owns 391 acres of land, and, in addition to farming that, his chief 
occupation is raising, buying and selling live-stock. He has has been 
very successful and is accounted one of the most progressive and 
capable farmers and stock men in this part of the country. He is, in 
addition, an excellent citizen, with a warm and serviceable interest and 
activity in the promotion of the advancement of his township and 
comity and securing the enduring welfare of their people. In political 
allianae he is a Eepublican, but he has never been an active or hide- 
bound partisan. He looks always to the best interests of the region 
in which he lives, and, except a membership on the school board and 
sei'vice as its chairman for many years, he has never consented to fill 
a public ofQce of any kind. He was married in October, 1863, to Miss 
Electa Smith, a native of Ohio. They had three children, their daugh- 
ters, Dora E., Edith and Anna. His wife died in 1881, but the daugh- 
ters are all living. The father is one of the leading men in the county 
and richly deserves the high position in the public estimation he 
occupies. 

THOMAS E. JONES. 

Although not a native of Missouri or of the United States, and not 
having passed all the years of his residence in this country in this 
state, Thomas E. Jones, of Russell township, near New Cambria, has 
lived in Macon county ever since he was twelve years old, a period of 
forty-five years. He is therefore, thoroughly acquainted with the 
people in this locality, familiar with their aspirations, methods and lines 
of activity, and imbued with their spirit. He might fairly be called 
ahnost a product of the county, so thoroughly is he in touch with all 
phases of its public and private life. And, at any rate, he is devoted 
to the best interests of the county and does everything in his power 
to promote and advance them. 

Mr. Jones was born in Wales in 1853, and is a son of Robert R. and 
Hannah (Jones) Jones, also natives of Wales, where their forefathers 
lived from immemorial times. They brought their family to the United 
States in 1860 and passed one year in the state of Ohio and four in 
Illinois. In 1865 they moved to Missouri and located in Russell town- 
ship, Macon county, where they reared their family and where the 
mother died after many years of faithful labor in the performance of 
every duty. The father is still living and has his home with his son, 
Thomas E. In tlie days of his activity he was a coal miner and a farmer 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 343 

acd followed both pursuits at the same time. At the period of his 
location in Missouri the state was still suffering from the effects of 
our great Civil war and all her industries were prostrated and inert. 
Mr. Jones' progress was, therefore, slow and painful for a time. But 
his industry was great, his frugality kept his expenses within his earn- 
ings and success was not long in coming to crown his efforts with the 
prosperity they deserved. As the state revived the industries grew 
more active and the worthy men engaged in them began to have a 
better chance. About this time Mr. Jones was seriously injured in a 
mining accident by which one of his limbs was broken and he suffered 
other casualties. But as soon as he was able he returned to work, 
never thinking of giving up the struggle or doing less than he was 
able in his endeavor to advance his fortunes and make provision for 
his family. He and his wife were the parents of fourteen children. Of 
this large number only four are living, Thomas E., E. Van R., Anna 
and ]\Iary H., all but one of whom are still residents of this state. 

Thomas E. Jones obtained his education in the district schools of 
Illinois and Ohio. He turned his energies to farming as soon as he 
left school and has been actively engaged in this occupation ever since. 
He had taste and special cajDacity for the business and he has been 
very successful in conducting it. He now owns 440 acres of first-rate 
land, all of which is under cultivation and yielding abimdantly, except 
what is reserved for grazing purposes for the extensive stock-raising 
industry he carries on in connection with his farming operations. His 
farm is well improved and fully supplied with all the appliances required 
for its full and vigorous cultivation, and is one of the valuable and 
attractive rural homes of the township in which it is located. It is a 
high tribute to its owner's skill and energy as an agriculturist and 
marks him as one of the best and most progressive farmers in the 
township. His stock industry is also representative of the best intelli- 
gence and most productive energy in that line in the region and helps 
to swell the commercial importance of Macon county. In politics Mr. 
Jones is a Republican, but he is not an active partisan and has never 
held a political office except membership on the school board. 

V ROBERT POWELL. 

Among the enterprising, progressive and successful farmers and 
stockmen of Lingo township, in this county, Robert Powell holds a high 
rank, which he has attained by his sterling qualities of head and heart, 
his fine business capacity, his unconquerable energy and the skill 
with which he conducts all his operations. He is successful because he 



3U HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

is enterprising and progressive, and the rank lie holds as a farmer 
he duplicates as a citizen, because he is as enterprising and progressive 
with reference to the development and advancement of the township 
and county as he is in connection with his private affairs, and applies 
to their welfare the same spirit of inquiry and intelligence which 
governs him in everything else. 

Mr. Powell was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, on July 7, 
1863, and is a son of Eobert and Laura (Griffith) Powell, who were 
born in North Wales and grew to maturity and were educated in that 
country. The father was a miner there and followed the same line 
of endeavor after his arrival in this country, working for about twenty 
years in the mines of Pennsylvania. He came to the United States in 
1842, and lived for the period named in the county in which his son, 
Eobert, was born. There also he met and married his wife, who came 
to this country in 1850. The last few years of their residence in the 
East were passed in the state of New York. In 1868 they moved to 
Missouri and located at New Cambria, where they engaged in fai-ming 
and raising live-stock. They had five children, all of whom are living: 
Samuel E., who lives in Montana: Humphrey, a resident of Macon 
county, Missouri; Elizabeth, the wife of John Gunner, and Eobert 
and G. M. The father was a Eepublican in politics and a progressive 
and broad-minded man with reference to public affairs and the improve- 
ment and advancement of the county. The mother died in August, 
1883, at the age of fifty-eight years, and the father in 1897 at the age 
of eighty-four. 

Eobert Powell was five years old when his parents brought him 
with the rest of the family to Macon county. He grew to manhood on 
his father's farm and took his place and did his part in the work of 
cultivating and improving it as soon as he was able. He secured his 
education at the district school in the neighborhood, and, as soon as he 
completed it, began farming on his own account. He has followed this 
industry steadily ever since and carried on a flourishing business in 
raising live-stock in connection with it. For a few years after he 
started his progress was slow and his profits were small. But he had 
tenacity of purpose and persistency in effort, and he soon got a good 
start. After that his advance was more rapid, and it has continued 
with increasing speed ever since. He now owns 200 acres of fine land 
and has his farm well improved with good buildings. It is also fully 
equipped with all the appliances necessary for its vigorous, cultivation, 
and all that is not needed for grazing purposes is farmed with a skill 
and energy of management that brings good returns -for the labot 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 343 

bestowed upou it. His stock industry receives careful and judicious 
attention, and this, too, rewards his eti'orts with gratifying results. 

In politics Mr. Powell is a pronounced Republican and always- takes 
an active part in the campaig-ns of his party, working with zeal and 
good judgment and making his etforts tell greatly to its advantage. So 
forcible and serviceable is he as a party worker that the organization 
named him as its candidate for public administrator at an important 
time, but, although he made a good race, it was impossible for him to 
overcome the large majority in the county against his party. He has, 
however, served as a member of the school board for more than ten 
years and as road commissioner for three. In fraternal relations he is 
a Modern Woodman and in religious connection a member of the 
Congregational church. 

Mr. Powell was married in December, 1891, to Miss Mary J. 
Roberts, a native of Macon county, Missouri, whose parents came to this 
country from Wales, where they w^ere born and reared. Six children 
have been born of the union, Laura Mabel, Jennie E., Robert E., Clar- 
ence G., Leslie M., and Alene, all of whom are living at home. The 
jDarents are w-ell esteemed, wherever they are known, as good citizens 
and valuable assistants in all worthy undertakings for the good of the 
township and county, and the children are regarded as fine exemplars 
of the sterling qualities for which their parents are so well known 
and so highly respected. The family is one of the most popular iu 
Lingo township, and the family home is one of the favorite resorts of its 
people and those of a large extent of the surrounding country. 

CITIZENS' BANK OF MACON. 

Among the leading financial institutions of Macon county is that 
whose title initiates this article, and its operations are fortified by 
ample capital and experienced and conservative executive management. 
The Citizens' Bank was organized in October, 1899, and was incorpo- 
rated with a capital stock of $20,000. The original executive corps was 
as here designated : Paul J. Burton, president ; Lon Hayner, cashier ; 
and these officers also memljers of the directorate, which comprises, in 
addition, John W. HoUyman, David B. Moore and Andrew J. Glenn. 
]\rr. Burton retained the presidency for a period of four years and 
was then succeeded by Judge Richard S. Matthews, who has since been 
the able and honored head of the institution. At the same time Robert 
W. Barrow was chosen vice-president, and Josephus L. Martin, assist- 
ant cashier. Mr. Hayner, of whom individual mention is made on other 
pages of this work, has retained the office of cashier from the time of the 



346 HISTORY OF MACON" COUNTY 

organization of the banlv to the present. In 1904 the capital stock 
was increased to $40,000. The personnel of the present board of direc- 
tors is as follows : Richard S. Matthews, Lon Hajmer, Charles G. Bus- 
ter, Ansel Milan and Eobert W. Barrow. 

The banking offices were first oijened in the Doneghy building, 
where the business was conducted until February, 1909, when the 
bank was removed to its present commodious and eligible quarters, on 
the corner of Vine & Rowlins streets, where the facilities are of the 
best and where a general banking business is conducted. In solidity, 
j)opularity and effectiveness of management the Citizens' Bank takes 
rank with tlie best in this section of the state. 

^ D. D. DOWELL. 

Pursuing the even tenor of his way as a prosperous and progressive 
farmer, pushing his own advancement to the limit of his opportunities 
and powers, and, at the same time, giving to the atfairs of the town- 
ship and county in which he lives all he can of wise and serviceable 
impulse toward a higher development and state of improvement, D. D. 
Dowell, of Russell township, in this county, is meeting the requirements 
of his station and his daily duty in a manly, straightforward way, 
which is of decided advantage to him, financially and in popular esteeem, 
and is of great benefit to the region around him and the people who 
live in it. 

Mr. Dowell is a native of Tennessee, where he was born in 1854, 
but he has been a resident of Macon county, Missouri, ever since he was 
two years old. His parents were Peter and Lucinda (Lovett) Dowell, 
the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Tennessee. They 
came to Missouri in 1856, bringing their young children and all their 
worldly possessions with them, and erected a new rooftree in Macon 
county, near New Cambria, where they passed the remainder of their 
lives actively and successfully engaged in farming. The country was 
still somewhat wild and unsettled when they arrived, and they bore 
their part faithfully in helping to reduce it to cultivation and make it 
rich with the fruits of civilized life. In addition to its semi-frontier 
condition, this region was then in the throes of a border warfare con- 
ducted along lines of spoliation and guerrilla violence, the issue at 
stake being the sectional control of it and what are now the adjoining 
states. The hostility of the original inhabitants of the region, consisting 
of wild beasts and still more savage men, the uncertainties of an 
unlaiown climate and inadequate protection from its extremes and sud- 
den changes, and the predatory warfare carried on around the new- 



HISTORY OP MACON COUNTY 347 

comers by the forerunners of the great Civil war, rendered their elTorts 
to bring their land to a high state of productiveness and get ahead 
in the struggle for advancement very much less fruitful than they 
would otherwise have been and vastly increased the trials, hardships 
and difficulties of their situation. But they were of determined spirit 
and never yielded to obstacles in their work. They kept on with per- 
severing industry and rigid frugality, and in time they reaped a large 
reward for their persistency and resolute endurance. The mother 
died in 1895 and the father on August 12, 1909. They were the parents 
of thirteen children, eight of whom are living: Franklin, William, 
George, D. D., Nancy, Eichard, James and Scott. All are well-to-do 
citizens of their respective communities and repeating in their day and 
generation the fidelity to duty their jDareuts exhibited in theirs, and all 
are well esteemed. 

D. D. Dowell obtained a limited education in the district schools, 
which he attended irregularly during the winter months of a few years. 
After he left school he continued to assist his parents on the home 
farm for a few years. He then started a farming enterprise of his own, 
and this he is still conducting, but on a much larger scale than when 
he began. His farm comprises 130 acres of good land and is well 
improved with comfortable buildings. It is supplied with all the appli- 
ances necessary for its progressive and vigorous cultivation, and all 
that is not required for pasturage for his live-stock is given up to a 
judicious rotation of crops and yields abundantly. The live-stock 
industry which he carries on in connection with his farming is extensive 
and profitable, and is managed with the same sedulous diligence and 
judicious care that he devotes to his farming operations, and, like them, 
it yields good returns for the labor and care devoted to it. Mr. Dowell 
also owns stock in a promising copper mine in Old Mexico, and has other 
possessions and interests of value. He has been very successful in all 
his ventures, and he has deserved his success. For he has conducted all 
his affairs with judgment and enterprise, and applied to them a con- 
siderable natural ability developed and trained by experience, observa- 
tion and reflection. 

In politics Mr. Dowell is a Republican and active in the service 
of his party. He has served on the school board over five years, and 
in many other ways has shown his deep and helpful interest in the 
welfare of the locality in which he lives. On October 14, 1877, he was 
united in marriage with Miss Mary F. Modrel, a native of this county. 
Eight of the ten children born to them are living: Lily, Albert L., 
Arthur, Goldie, Myrtle, Blanche, Leona and Lenora. The family is a 



348 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

leading one in the township and enjoys in a marked degree the esteem 
of all who know its members. 

ISAAC SAMUELS. 

Among the progressive, enterprising and successful farmers and 
stockmen of Russell township, Macon county, Isaac Samuels occupies 
a high rank which he has won by his own manly course in pursuing 
with steady industry, close and careful attention to his business and 
continuous ability and skill in the management of it, the one occupation 
to which he has devoted his energies. He has also met all the require- 
ment of high-minded and useful citizenship, and given a full share of 
his time and energy to furthering the interests of the community and 
promoting the welfare of its people by aiding in the accomplishment 
of every worthy undertaking in which those interests and that welfare 
have been involved. 

Mr. Samuels is a native of Ohio, where he was born in 1862. He is 
a son of Samuel Samuels, a native of Wales, who came to this country 
when he was nineteen years old. They came to Macon county and 
located in Russell township in 1865, and here they passed the remainder 
of their lives actively engaged in farming. The mother, whose maiden 
name was Jane Jones, was also a native of Wales and came to Ohio 
with her parents when she was but thirteen years old. They were 
married in Ohio. She and her husband were the parents of eight chil- 
dren, but only three of them are now living: William, who resides in 
Columbus, Ohio ; Mary, whose home is at Huntsville in this state, and 
Isaac, the immediate subject of this brief review. The father died in 
1874 and the mother in 1884. 

Isaac Samuels grew to manhood in this county and secured his 
education in its public schools. Soon after leaving school he entered 
upon his life work by becoming a farmer, a pursuit to which he has 
ever since faithfully adhered, and in which he has been very success- 
ful. In his work he has taken no chances and left nothing to fate. He 
has laboriously and faithfully done his part to secure the best results, 
a]:)plying to his efforts all the information he could gather from read- 
ing, observation and 7-eflection, and this method has brought him great 
success and established liim among the best and most progressive 
farmers in the county. He began life with practically nothing but his 
ability and his own determined spirit, and he now owns 265 acres of good 
land, which is well improved with good buildings, and all that is not 
required for grazing purposes is under advanced cultivation and yield- 
ing excellent returns for the lal)or and skill bestowed upon it. The 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 3-i9 

farm is one of the attractive and valuable country homes in the town- 
ship, all of which Mr. Samuels has made it by his assiduous and intelli- 
gent attention to its development and improvement. 

In connection with his fanning operations he also carries on an 
extensive and flourishing industry in raising and feeding stock for the 
markets. This industry he manages with the same care and intelligence 
that he devotes to his farming, and his output, because of the care 
bestowed upon it, stands high in the marts of trade, and his enterprise 
in this connection has been helpful in bringing Macon county into 
general notice throughout the country as a jjroducer of superior breeds 
and grades of live-stock of all kinds. In this respect his activity has 
been very serviceable to the county and resulted in a vast increase 
of its trade in the stock markets. 

In politics Mr. Samuels is allied with the Republican party, and 
while he is loyal to his organization in national affairs, and always 
supports it actively, in local matters he looks first to the welfare of 
the community and casts his vote in accordance with his views on that 
phase of the case. He has not, however, sought public office of any 
kind, but for the general good he did consent to act as a member of the 
school board for a number of years, and in this position his services 
were highly appreciated. 

In 1891 Mr. Samuels was imited in marriage with Miss Elizabeth 
Thaxton, a native of Macon county. They have one child, their daugh- 
ter, Beatrice. The parents are recognized as leading citizens and 
stand well in social circles. They also take an important part in 
stimulating and helping to higher development and larger usefulness 
all the moral and mental agencies at work in the community, feeling at 
all times an earnest interest in the welfare of the people in all the 
relations of life, and sparing no effort possible to them in aiding in pro- 
viding for it. All who know them hold them in cordial esteem and by 
the whole community they are regarded as most worthy, estimable and 
useful citizens. 

^ THOMAS 0. EVANS. 

Wales has given to the United States a large number of thrifty 
and productive citizens who are law-abiding, industrious and very help- 
ful in the development of the country and building up its interests in 
every line of useful activity. Among those of them who live in Macon 
county none is entitled to a higher regard than Thomas 0. Evans, one 
of the progressive and prosperous farmers and stockmen of Lingo 



350 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

township, whose home is near New Cambria, where he has Uved and 
labored for more than forty years. 

Mr. Evans was born in Wales in 1839 and obtained his education 
in the schools of that country. He was also married there in Aug-ust, 
1861, to Miss Maria Young, a native of the same country.s He is a 
son of William and Elizabeth Evans and one of the two survivors of 
their eleven children, he and his brother, Griffin, being all who are left 
of this large household. The parents were born and reared in Wales, 
and passed their lives there earnestly engaged in the hard work of 
making a living for their large family. They followed the pursuits 
of their forefathers for many generations, and at length were laid to 
rest, when their labors were ended, amid the scenes that were hallowed 
by their faithful and cheerful toil. The mother died in 1853, when her 
son, Thomas, was but fourteen years old, and the father in 1869. They 
never left their native land. 

Thomas O. Evans brought his bride of a year to this country in 
1862 and they found a new home in the Lehigh valley in Pennsylvania, 
where he worked in the extensive iron industries of that locality, 
remaining- six years and laboring zealously and living frugally to get 
a start for a higher destiny in this land of abundant opportunity. In 
1868 he moved his family to Missouri and took up his residence in 
Macon county. Here he turned his energies to the prevailing industry 
of the country and became a farmer and stock-raiser. He has adhered 
to these pursuits ever since and has made a very gratifying success 
of them. He now owns 500 acres of land which he has brought to rich 
productiveness and improved with good buildings. He also carries on 
extensively in raising and feeding live-stock for the markets and has 
a high rank in the county as a successful and enterprising stock man. 
His career in this county furnishes a fine illustration of what industry 
and frugality can accomplish in a contest with fortune when directed 
by ability. For all his progress has been the result of his own efforts 
and capacity, and it has been steady, increasing and accmnulative. He 
is one of the substantial men of the township in which he lives, and is 
esteemed throughout the county as an excellent citizen. He has shown 
a deep and serviceable interest in the welfare of the region in which 
he lives and been sedulous in his activity in helloing to promote the 
welfare of its people and aug-menting its industrial and commercial 
greatness. 

He and his wife have had nine children. Seven of them are living: 
Elizabeth, the wife of Lewis Jones' of Iowa; Thomas J., who lives 
in Montana; Mary A., who is living at home; Martha, the wife of Will- 



HISTORY OP MACON COUNTY " 351 

iam James, of Brookfield, Missouri, aud Helen, William J. aud David 
L. The father has never taken any great interest in partisan politics 
in this country and has never sought or desired a political office of any 
kind, local or general, appointive or elective. He has, however, per- 
formed -with fidelity and conscientiousness the duties of citizenship 
and been a credit to the county and state of his residence. He and 
his wife are members of the Baptist church and the other members of 
the family are also of the same faith. All are highly respected and 
deserve well the regard in which they are held. 

^ THEODOEE GAEY. 

In the career of Mr. Gary, whose name has been most prominently 
identified with the development of the telephone industry in Missouri 
and Kansas, is shown that definite ambition and persistence that are 
the mind's insi^iration in the surmounting of obstacles — the vitalizing 
ideal that transforms imagination into deeds. He has made an admir- 
able record of accomplishment as one of the veritable "captains of 
industry," and his fine administrative powers have been enlisted in the 
promotion of vai-ious enterprises of wide scope and importance. He 
has won success through his own efforts and stands today as one of the 
influential citizens and leading business men of the city of Macon, where 
he is held in unqualified popular confidence and esteem. 

Mr. Gary is a native of Wayne county, Ohio, where he was born 
on the 13tli of May, 1854, being a son of George and Katherine (Pet- 
tit) Gary, both natives of France. The father was born in the prov- 
ince of Lorraine, now a part of the German empire, in September, 
1822, and was a child at the time of his parents' immigration to Amer- 
ica. The family settled in Ohio, in which state he was reared to man- 
hood, and there he was identified with agricultural pursuits and also 
engaged in the house-moving business. There was solemnized his mar- 
riage to Katherine Pettit, in the year 1852, and they became the parents 
of ten children, of whom seven are living, the subject of this review being 
the eldest of the number ; George E., a traveling salesman by vocation, 
is a resident of Macon; Mary is the wife of Theodore F. Kerr, a trav- 
eling salesman, and they reside in Kansas City, Missouri; Matilda is 
the wife of Obediah McCabe, who is identified with the street-railway 
service in Sedalia, this state ; John F. is superintendent of construction 
of the Home Telephone Company, of Joplin, Missouri ; Laura is the wife 
of Theodore Krug, who is engaged in the jewelry business at Wichita, 
Kansas; and Anna is the wife of John Taylor, cashier for the LTnited 
States Express Company in Wichita. 



352 " HISTORY OF MACOK COUNTY 

The parents continued their residence in Ohio until 1867, when they 
removed to Mssouri and located near Jefferson City, where the father 
engaged in farming and house-moving. Later he removed to the city 
of Sedalia, and in 1886 he took up his abode in Wichita, Kansas, in 
which city he and his second wife still maintain their home and where 
he is now living, virtually retired from active business. He has ever 
accorded a staunch allegiance to the Democratic party, but has never 
sought or held i:)ublic office. He holds membership in the Cathohc 
church. 

Theodore Gary attended the public schools in a somewhat irregu- 
lar way during his boyhood and early youth, but his education, as a 
whole, has been mainly gained under the direction of that wisest of all 
head masters, experience. In fact, he himself has stated that he was 
educated in the "school of hard knocks," but, in view of what he has 
accomplished, none can doubt that this discipline was salutary, beget- 
ting resourcefulness, self-reliance and mastery of expedients. He 
assisted his father in the work of the home farm during his youth and 
also in the work of moving buildings, in which latter line of enterprise 
he engaged in an independent way when seventeen j^ears of age. About 
one year later he purchased his father's house-moving business, and he 
thereafter continued operations in this line for four years. At the expi- 
ration of this time, when twenty-two years of age, he removed from 
Sedalia, Missouri, to Macon, where he engaged in the same kind of 
business and also became agent for the sale and installation of light- 
ning rods. In view of his marked success in the field of applied electric- 
ity it is interesting to note that his initial experience was in connection 
with the primitive methods of securing protection from this great 
element of nature. 

In 1885 Mr. Gary turned his attention to the real estate and insur- 
ance business, in Macon, and about the same time he effected the organi- 
zation of the Macon Building & Loan Association, of which he contin- 
ued secretary and treasurer for a period of seven years and of which 
he is still a large stockholder, as well as a director. This is one of the 
most successful organizations of its kind in the state and its operations 
have inured greatly to the progress and material upbuilding of the 
thriving little city of Macon. In 1890, while still actively identified 
with the general real estate business, ^Ir. Gary secured control of 11,000 
acres of coal land, the principal owner of which was Thomas E. War- 
dell, and he handled the property with much discrimination and ability, 
finally selling the same to the Kansas & Texas Coal Company for a 
consideration of $400,000. His efforts in this important transaction 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 353 

brought liim to the favorable attention of the Wabash Eailroad Com- 
pany, who made him a flattering otfer to become manager of its auxil- 
iary town site company, an overture which he accepted. In 1884 he 
temporarily removed to Ashley, Indiana, where he opened a private 
bank and where he continued to maintain his home until 189G, when 
he disposed of his banking and other interests in that section and 
returned to Macon, Missouri, where he resumed real estate operation 
upon an extensive scale, under the title of the Hudson-Gary Land Com- 
pany. In 1888 he compiled and published a valuable work, entitled 
"Handbook of Macon County, Missouri," the same containing detailed 
information in regard to the county and its resources, and the publica- 
tion was one of the first of the kind to be issued in this section, prov- 
ing potent in directing attention to the attractions of Macon county 
and thereby furthering its progress and prosperity in a definite way. 
In 1899 Mr. Gary was the prime factor in the organization of the Macon 
Telephone Company, which purchased the somewhat crude and primi- 
tive local exchange that had been established bj' John "Wills. The 
gross earnings of the company for the first year were about $2,800, 
and these figures are significant in comparison with the gross earn- 
ings for the year 1909, which are in excess of $15,000. This wonderful 
transformation in the scope and importance of the enterprise repre- 
sents the tangible results of the fine administrative ability and well- 
directed initiative powers of Mr. Gary. Of this company, whose serv- 
ice is of the maximum modern type, Mr. Gary is president and manager, 
and operations are based on an investment of about $60,000. In 
1902 he found it expedient to withdraw from the real estate business 
and devote his attention to the amplification of his operations in the 
field of telephone operation. In the year last mentioned he organized 
the Nevada Telephone Company, at Nevada, Missouri, which is capi- 
talized for $25,000, and which owns a finely equipped plant. Of this 
company, also, he is president and manager. In the autumn of 1902 
Mr. Gary also effected the organization of the Home Telephone Com- 
pany of Joplin, Missouri, which was incorporated with a capital of 
$150,000 and which owns and operates one of the finest plants in the 
state. Its investment now represents fully $750,000, with the best of 
local and long-distance service, and its annual -business has reached 
the notable aggregate average of $150,000. Of this company Mr. Gary 
is president and manager. 

In the year 1902 Mr. Gary also took the initiative in the matter 
of the proposition of the settlement of the Missouri & Mississippi bond 
issue. Mr. Edgar White has devoted a short chapter in the general 



354 HISTOEY OP MACON COUNTY 

history of the county to this subject, to which we would refer the reader 
for full information. He secured in Macon the appointment of an 
advisory committee, consisting of fifty of the representative business 
men, and on the 30th of December of that year the proposition was 
submitted to the voters to be decided by them at the rate of 18 cents on 
the dollar. The measure was defeated by a majority of 250 votes, and 
the result is that the matter is still in litigation. 

In 1906 Mr. Gary organized the Topeka Telephone Company, of 
Topeka, Kansas, which has an investment of more than $800,000, being- 
incorporated with a capital of $1,000,000, and having an average annual 
income of $160,000. Of this company he is president. In 1907, in asso- 
ciation with others, he secured the plant and business of the St. Joseph 
Telephone Company, of St. Joseph, Missouri, which, in the following 
year, was reorganized under the title of th& Home Telephone Company. 
A fine modern plant has been installed at an outlay of more than $1,000,- 
000, and Mr. Gary is president and manager of this corporation, besides 
which he is president of the Atchison Telephone Company, of Atchison, 
Kansas, and of the Theodore Gary Investment Company, of Macon, 
Missouri. It is uniformly conceded that no man has done more to 
further telephone development in the middle west than has Mr. Gary, 
and his efforts have been directed according to the highest business 
pi-inciples and with consummate prescience as to ultimate possibilities. 
Having thus attained marked precedence and success along legitimate 
lines of enterprise, he has so ordered his course at all times as to 
merit and retain the unqualified confidence and esteem of those with 
whom he has been associated and also of the general public. In 1907 
he published an interesting brochure, entitled "Independent Tele- 
phony," the work offering an adequate descrijition of the magnitude and 
stability of the independent telephone sei'vice as operated without 
alliance with the great telephone trusts. The little volume has done 
much to beget public confidence and support in connection with the 
independent companies, not only those with which he is individually 
connected, but also those operating in other sections of the Union. 

It is to be as.sumed that a man of so broad business capacity and 
so distinctive energy and enterprise could not be other than a loyal 
and progressive citizen, and Mr. Gary has ever given his aid and influ- 
ence in support of all measures tending to conserve the general wel- 
fare, the while he has shown a deep interest in governmental affairs 
and practical political manoeuvers, though he. has had no ambition 
for the honors or emoluments of public office. His support was given 
to the Democratic party until 1896, when he repudiated the free silver 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 355 

heresy and the attack on tlie United States Supreme Court of the party 
and, with the courage of his convictions, aligned himself as a supporter 
of the cause of the Eepublican party, to which he has since given his 
allegiance. He is identified with various representative civic and fra- 
ternal organizations, was ijresident of the International Telephone 
Association in 1907, and for the two previous years held the office 
of vice-president of this organization. Both he and his wife are com- 
municants of the Protestant Episcopal church, being zealous and val- 
ued members of the parish of St. James church at Macon. 

Mr. Gary has been twice married. In 1876 he was united to Miss 
Nannie Ogan, who was born and reared in the state of Missouri, and she 
died in 1881. One child by tliis union died in infancy. In 1893 was 
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gary to Miss Helen Larrabee, daughter 
of Fairbanks Larrabee, of Macon, and she is prominent in connection 
with the leading social activities of her home city. To this union two 
children were born. Hunter L., who is assistant manager of the Macon 
Telephone Company and the Atchison Telephone Company, and Maiy 
B., who is the wife of William H. Loomis, Jr., of St. Joseph, Missouri, 
where he is manager of the Gary Investment Company. 

EEES J. BEVAN. 

It is a well-established truth that countries which are liberal in the 
matter of naturalization are prosperous and progressive. It would 
be impossible to estimate the volume of the obligation which is due 
from the United States to their population of foreign birth or parent- 
age. They have come to this country from every clime and brought with 
them the salient characteristics of the race to which they belong, and 
combining all in one mighty effort to develop, improve and enrich the 
country, have wrought out results which are the wonder and admiration 
of the world. All honor to the men and women of other countries who 
have left the lands of their nativity and become devoted citizens and 
active and potential factors in building up this land of their adoption, 
even though it did offer them better and more promising opportunities 
than they could see at home. For, while it did this, it also laid upon 
many of them a heavy bui'den of privation and hardship as the price 
of its benetits, and required them to work for every advantage they 
enjoyed. 

Among the number of this class who live in Macon county, Mis- 
souri, is Eees J. Bevan, one of the successful and progressive farmers 
and stock-raisers of Eussell township, where he owns and operates the 
resources of 450 acres of good land and has all the comforts and appli- 



3.jG history of MACOX COUNTY 

ances of a fine country home. Mr. Bevan was born in Wales in 1856, 
and is a son of Evan and Mary (Eichards) Bevan, also natives of that 
country and descendants of families resident there for many genera- 
tions. They brought their family to the United States in 1860 and 
located near St. Louis, in this state. Four years later they moved to 
New Cambria, Macon county, and here the father passed the remainder 
of his days, dying in 1900. He was engaged in mining the first few 
years after his arrival in Missouri, then turned his attention to farming 
and raising stock, which occupied him until his death. The mother 
is still living on the farm which their joint labors so liighly unproved, 
and which is hallowed by their devotion to the duties it laid upon them. 
They were the parents of six children, five of whom are living: Eees 
J., John, Harry, Joseph and James. 

Eees J. Bevan was educated in the schools of Macon county, but 
his opi3ortunities for scholastic training were necessarily limited. "When 
he left school he became a miner, following the occupation of his ances- 
tors in his native land for generations and that of his father in this 
country for a few years. He worked in the mines at Bevier, in this 
county, about five years, then became a farmer and devoted a consid- 
erable part of his energy^ to raising sujaerior short horn cattle, of which 
he now has a fine herd. Through his enteriDrise in this respect he has 
contributed largely and materially in elevating the standard of live- 
stock in the county and helped to bring the region into general notice 
as a field yielding high class cattle for the markets throughout the 
country. He also raises other live-stock of superior strains, reserving 
a sufficient portion of his farm of 450 acres for grazing and range 
purposes, and giving all his stock his best and most intelligent attention, 
omitting no care or effort on his part to secure the best results and 
largest returns for his labor and supervision. 

Mr. Bevan also takes an active interest and a leading part in all 
public affairs and is a valuable and appreciated help in the promotion 
of all worthy enterprises for the benefit of the township and covmty. 
He is a Eepublican in politics and always gives his party the best 
service of which he is capable, although he has no desire for official 
station. 

Mr. Bevan was married in August, 1884, to Miss Mary Jane Parker, 
who was born and reared in Missouri, but who is a scion of old families 
long resident in England, whence her parents emigrated to the United 
States. Of the six children born of the union three are living : Eliza- 
beth, the wife of Thomas Mendenhall, of New Cambria, and Evan and 
Bertha. In his career the father has shown a strong combination of 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 357 

the sturdy qualities of industry, thrift and endurance for whicli the 
Welsh people are noted, and the resourcefulness, daring and all-con- 
quering enterprise characteristic of the people of the United States. In 
all his attributes and undertakings he is true to the genius of the 
Middle West in this country, and in his manhood and his citizenship 
is thoroughly representative of its best qualities. He and the members 
of his family are esteemed wherever they are known as worthy and 
estimable persons, correct in their own deportment and very useful 
to the county in what they do and what they stimulate others to do by 
their own activity and influential example. 

V THOMAS H. EEESE. 

This successful farmer, extensive stock-raiser and influential citi- 
zen of Russell township, Macon county, is a native of Pennsylvania, 
where he was born in 1861. He is a son of John and Mary (Williams) 
Reese, who were born and reared in Wales and came to the United 
States in 1854. They took up their residence in Pennsylvania, which 
offered opportunity for almost every form of industrj^ known among 
men, and for a few years they dwelt in comfort and flourished there. 
But the voice of the great West had a potent influence with them and 
in due time they hearkened to its call and became volunteers in its 
great army of industrial conquest and progress, moving to this state and 
locating in Macon county. They chose New Cambria as their abiding- 
place in this region, and there the father worked at his trade as a 
carpenter and afterward became a farmer. They were the pai-ents of 
ten children, seven of whom are living : Joseph, Hannah, Mary, Jean- 
nette, John, Thomas and Maggie. The father died in 1887 and the 
mother in 1897. 

Their son, Thomas H., grew to maturity under the parental roof- 
tree and assisted in the work on the farm as soon as he was able to do 
it, working diligently during the summer months and attending the 
public school near his home in the winter during a few years. By this 
means he acquired a practical knowledge of the business he was des- 
tined to follow through life, and, although his instruction in books was 
limited, it was helpful to him in acquainting him with the value of 
learning and showing him how to increase his store of it. It also 
taught him self-knowledge and reliance on his own resources through- 
out the struggle for advancement among men, and thus gave him the 
means of making his own way in the world with steady progress and 
success, whatever the odds against him. 

After leaving school Mr. Reese at once began farming on his own 



358 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

account and Ms progress in the enterprise, although slow and painful 
at first, has been steady, and after a few years became rapid and con- 
spicuous. He now owns 240 acres of land, all of which he has under 
good cultivation except wliat is reserved for grazing purposes, for he 
carries on an extensive and profitable industry in raising stock for 
the markets in connection with his general farming operations, and 
gives to each branch of his business the careful and intelligent attention 
required for the best results, and is repaid for his outlay of time, energy 
and studious supervision by securing such results. 

Mr. Eeese has taken an earnest and helpful interest in the affairs 
of the community and given them a i^roper share of his energy and 
zeal in work for their riglit guidance and successful promotion to the 
highest good for the townshij) and county. For more than ten years 
he has been a school director and for a number was district clerk for 
the board. In religious connection he belongs to the Baptist church and 
to the congregation of which he is a member he renders faithful and 
appreciated service. He was married in 1885 to Miss Catharine Jones, 
a native of Ohio, They have four children, Albert G., Ada J., Paul J. 
and John M. 

The parents stand well in the community socially, the father is 
prominent as a farmer and stock-breeder, and has a high rank in these 
industries as one of the most enterprising and successful men engaged 
in them, and as a citizen he is influential and universally respected for 
the elevation of his character, his breadth of view and his public spirit 
in all things involving the advancement and enduring welfare of the 
region in which he has his home, expends his energy and conducts 
his fruitful and productive operations. 

FEANCIS W. DREW, M. D. 

Although born, reared and educated in England, and a resident 
of that great country until he reached the age of thirty-one years, 
Dr. Francis W. Drew, of Ethel, is as devoted now to the land of his 
adoption as he ever was to that of his nativity, notwithstanding he still 
reveres the latter and holds it in affectionate regard. He has been a 
physician in active general practice in Macon county during all of the 
last twenty-two years, and by that long and intimate association with its 
people has become endeared to them and a prominent and influential 
factor in their political, social and professional life. His birth occurred 
in County Gloucester, England, in 1851. His father, James Edward 
Drew, was a London surgeon of eminence, and his mother, Anna Cos 
(Drew), was also a native of England. The ancestry of the doctor on 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 359 

both sides of the house resided in England from time immemorial. 
The mother died in 1888, having survived by eight years her husband, 
-who died in 1880. They were the parents of eight children, all of whom 
grew to maturity. 

Dr. Francis W. Drew began the study of medicine in his native 
land after completing his scholastic education in some of its best schools. 
He came to the United States in 1882, and leaving the blandishments 
and supposedly higher culture of the East to those who preferred it, 
journeyed at once into what is still called the Middle West, and took 
up again the study of his profession at Keokuk, Iowa, entering the Keo- 
kuk Medical College and remaining among its students until he was 
graduated with the degree of ^1. D. in 1886. He began the practice 
of his profession in that city and remained there about one year. In • 
1888 he located at Ethel, being one of tlie first settlers of tliat now thriv- 
ing and pi'ogressive town, as he has since been one of the prime factors 
in building it up and develoi^ing its industries, and its intellectual, moral 
and commercial life. His life has been a busy and fruitful one ever 
since his location in this region, as his practice has been large and 
active, and has resulted in a very considerable contribution to the com- 
fort, prosperity and general welfare of the people. He is well informed 
in his profession and skilful in the application of his knowledge. He 
is, moreover, a gentleman of strict integrity and high character, and 
the peoj)le have found him worthy of their confidence and esteem and 
have freely bestowed their regard upon him. He is one of the leading 
physicians in the county and one of its most estimable and popular citi- 
zens, being known and esteemed throughout its limits, and in all the 
relations of life proving himself entitled to the good opinion in which 
he is universally held. 

The Doctor is a diligent student of the literature of his i3rofes- 
sion, striving by all means at his command to keep abreast of the latest 
thought and discovery in the science to which he is devoted ; and he also 
receives and contributes practical help in the progress of the science by 
mingling freely with his professional brethren as an active member 
of the state and county medical associations, with which lie has long 
been connected. He is medical examiner for the Equitable and New 
York Life Insurance companies, and in Fraternal life belongs to the 
Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. His 
political faith and services are given to the Democratic party and he is 
very active in working for its success in all its contests. His influence 
is considerable and his services to the party are highly appreciated 
bv both its leaders and its rank and file. 



■360 HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 

Dr. Drew was first married to Miss Katie Allison, a daughter of 
Dr. Joseph Allison, of Barrow in Furness, England. They had four 
children, Josephine, Ernest, Blanche and Barrett E. The mother died 
in December, 1889, and in January, 1905, the doctor married a second 
wife, Mrs. Anna Cross, of St. Louis, Missouri. They have two children, 
whose names are Lorna Dorothy and Anita. Now in the very prime 
of life and full maturity of his powers, firmly established in the regard 
and good will of the people, with a high rank in his profession and 
a constantly increasing practice. Dr. Drew is one of the most useful 
citizens of Macon county, and as his health is good and his energj' 
undiminished, it is to be expected that he has yet many years of use- 
fulness before him and that his services to the people will still increase 
in extent and power. He has not sought political office of any kind, 
being devoted to his professional work, and finding in that enough to 
engage all his faculties and consume all his time, except what may 
be needed in helping to foster and develop the resources of the county 
and make them as eftective and widespread for the good of the people 
as possible. But he performs all the duties of citizenship with zeal 
and intelligence, and exemplifies in his daily life, in public and private 
relations, all the attributes of elevated and highly commendable 
manhood. 

JAMES R. HEATON. 

Orphaned by the death of his mother when he was eleven years 
old and by that of his father three years later, the latter being brutally 
assassinated in the midst of the sectional strife that darkened and 
saddened this unhappy land from 1861 to 1865, because of his political 
opinions and his fidelity in defending them in two of the historic wars 
in which this country has been engaged, James E. Heatou, of Ethel. 
in this county, was obliged at an early age to look out for himself and 
work for his own advancement among men. He is one of the prominent 
and progressive farmers and stockmen of "White township, and during 
the last four years has been president of the Bank of Ethel. The success 
which has attended his efforts and the consequence he has reached 
are all the more gratifying because they are the results of his own 
capacity, industry, thrift and excellent management. 

Mr. Heaton was born near Concord church in this county in 1850, 
but he is a scion of old Virginia families resident in the Old Dominion 
from Colonial times. His parents, James D. and Alcinda (Jackson) 
Heaton, were natives of that state, as were their forefathers for many 
generations. The father enlisted in the Mexican war at the age of 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 361 

eigliteen years imcler General Sterling Price and served for the full 
term of his enlistment, winning renown for conspicuous gallantry. At 
the first call for volunteers to serve the South in the Civil war he again 
took the field under General Price, and in this sanguinary contest he 
also served the full term of his enlistment and made a record creditable 
alike to him and the cause he was defending. After his return to his 
former home and a peaceful residence there for about two years, he 
was taken out on the night of August 18, 1864, by the federal state mili- 
tia, which was called the Home Guards, and made to pay the penalty 
with his life for what he believed in, being cruelly killed by men whose 
duty it was to ]5rotect peaceable citizens in the enjojTneut of their 
rights. He and his wife were the parents of six children, four of whom 
are living, W. J., James E., S. C. and A. J. 

James R. Heaton secured what education he could in the public 
schools, but his attendance was necessarily very limited and irregular. 
Yet he had a studious and observing mind, and made considerably more 
of even a little scholastic training than many a boy does of much. And 
since leaving school he has found experience always a thorough teacher, 
even though her lessons have been often difficult and her discipline 
has been nearly always severe. But he has profited by her instruction 
and is a man of considerable general information and a keen and 
accurate judge of human character, knowing men well and taking their 
measure correctly, with many times but limited acquaintance with 
them. 

When his schooling in books was completed Mr. Heaton went 
vigorously to work at whatever he could find to do, following various 
occupations for a few years and giving close and conscientious atten- 
tion to whatever he undertook. In this way he laid the foundation of 
the general confidence and esteem in which he is held, and made every 
step of his progress a permanent advance. In 1871 he began farming on 
his own account and has been doing this with diligence and success ever 
since. He has 270 acres of fine land which he has brought to a high 
state of productiveness and improved with good buildings and equipped 
with every needed appliance for its full and skillful cultivation. He 
also conducts an extensive and flourishing enterprise in general stock- 
raising, to which he gives special attention and the fruits of his best 
study, observation and reflection. He deserves the success he wins 
in everything he undertakes, because he puts all his resources in motion 
to secure it. 

Mr. Heaton also takes a very active interest in everything designed 
to advance the interests of the township and county, whether for the 



362 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

promotion of their business interests, their intellectual forces, or their 
moral or social agencies. Since 1906 he has been president of the Bank 
of Ethel and has given its affairs his close personal attention. As 
the directing spirit of its policy and its main impulse in activity he has 
shown himself to be both able and wise, and has helped very materially 
to build up the business of the institution, increase the number of its 
patrons and maintain its high rank in the financial world. In polities 
he is a true and loyal m.ember of the Democratic party and at all times 
active in its service. The only political office he has ever held is that 
of town clerk, which he filled for a term of two years. He has always 
been averse to official station, preferring to serve the state and its 
people from the honorable post of private citizenship. His religious 
connection is with the Christian church. Of this organization he is 
an active and very useful member, giving his aid to all its worthy under- 
takings and helping to guide it by wise counsel to the highest and best 
development. 

In 1871 Mr. Heaton was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth 
Singleton, a native of this county. They have five children: Allie M., 
the widow of the late F. E. Van Fleet; W. J.; Mellie B., the wife of 
(j. "W. Burns, of South Dakota ; and T. G. and Minos C. The parents are 
held in the highest esteem wherever they are known and they well 
deserve all the regard and good will the people bestow upon them. 

HARRY M. RUBEY. 

Success is the prerogative of valiant souls, and it has been vouch- 
safed Mr. Rubey to attain through his own well-directed endeavors a 
significant measure of success as a business man of fine initiative ability 
and sterling integrity. He is in the very prime of his life and his busi- 
ness experiences have been varied, but ever directed along lines making 
for progress. He is a native son of Macon county and is now recognized 
as one of its leading business men and representative citizens — one to 
whom is accorded the most unequivocal confidence and esteem and one 
whose labors have not been self-centered, but have redounded to the 
general welfare of the community.- He maintains his home in the 
city of Macon, with whose banking interests he has been prominently 
identified, and here he is now the head of the Eubey-Browu Company, 
dealers in farm mortgages, bonds, investment securities, etc. 

Harry M. Rubey was born in the city of Macon, the thriving capital 
of Macon county, Missouri, on the 25th of July, 1865, and is a son of 
Webb M. and Jennie P. Rubey. The subject of this review gained 
his preliminary education in the excellent public schools of his native 



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HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 363 

place, after which he was a student in St. James Military Academy, at 
Macon, Missouri, and in the Missouri State University, at Columbia, 
in which latter institution he continued his studies for a period of three 
years. After leaving the university Mr. Rubey assumed the position of 
collection clerk in the First National Bank of Macon, and after having 
been employed in this institution for two years he went to Devil's Lake, 
North Dakota, where he operated a farm for one year, at the expiration 
of which, in 1881, he returned to Macon and engaged in the clothing 
business, as a member of the firm of Dowling & Rubey. He disposed 
of his interest in this enterprise later and removed to Kansas City, 
Missouri, where he held the position of head bookkeeper for the Kansas 
City Car "Wheel Company for one year. In 1888 Mr. Rubey returned 
to Macon and he then became associated with Thomas E. Wardell, Jr., in 
opening the first large coal mine south of the tracks of the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy railroad in the city of Bevier, Macon county. 
The venture was one that at that time caused no little skeptical com- 
ment, but the result was the eventual development of the finest coal 
fields in this district. 

In 1889 Mr. Rubey again entered the service of the First National 
Bank of Macon, of which he was made assistant cashier, an executive 
office of which he remained incumbent until the 1st of January, 1894, 
when he resigned the position and effected the organization of the State 
Exchange Bank of Macon, which was incorporated in March of that 
year, with a capital of $25,000. He became cashier of the institution, 
in which he was the largest stockholder, and held this position until 
1896, when the bank was consolidated with the Bank of Macon, under 
the title of the State Exchange Bank. He became cashier under the new 
regime and served in this office until January, 1907, when the institution 
was consolidated with the First National Bank, which then went into 
voluntary liquidation, upon the expiration of its charter. In the same 
year he organized the Rubey-Brown Company, for the handling of 
real estate mortgages, bonds, securities, etc., and he has since been 
president of this company, which now controls a large and substantial 
business and which is one of the leading concerns of the kind in this sec- 
tion of the state. Mr. Rubey is also treasurer of the International 
Life Insurance Company, of St. Louis, which is incorporated with a 
capital of $1,000,000. He has proved an aggressive business man and 
able executive, showing much facility in the handling of affairs of broad 
scope and importance, so that his personal reputation tends to conserve 
the success of every enterprise with which he identifies himself. As a 



364 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

business man and as a citizen lie holds to high civic ideals and he is 
essential!}' liberal and public-spirited in his attitude. 

In politics Mr. Rubey is a recognized leader of the Democratic 
forces in his native state, and he has rendered effective service in 
manoeuvering the normal political agencies in various campaigns. He 
is at the present time (1909) cliairman of the Democratic state central 
committee, and previously was for many years chairman of the central 
committee of his party in Macon county. In 1905-6 he ably represented 
his native county in the state legislature, and was an active and effi- 
cient worker both on the floor of the house and in the committee room. 
He was assigned to membership on a number of important committees 
and was the author of what is known as the negotiable instrument law, 
which he introduced and ably championed and which was duly enacted. 
It is worthy of note that this law has since been adopted by nearly all 
other states in the Union. "While serving in the legislature Mr. Eubey 
was also president of the Missouri Bankers' Association. In 1904 he 
was elected mayor of Macon, securing a most gratifying majority 
at the polls, though the city is normally Eepublican by a considerable 
majority. He held this office two years and gave a most progressive and 
businesslike administration of the municipal government. 

Mr. Rubey is a man of genial personality, free from ostentation 
and placing true estimates on men and affairs, so that his popularity 
has a legitimate basis. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, 
including the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, 
and also with the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, the Knights 
of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. He holds member- 
ship in the Macon Commercial Club and is president of the Missouri 
State Automobile Association. Pie and his wife are communicants 
of the Protestant Episcopal church, being members of the parish of 
St. James church, in Macon. 

On the 27th of December, 1888, was solemnized the marriage of 
Mr. Rubey to Miss Elizabeth A. AYardell, daughter of Thomas "VVardell, 
who was one of the honored and influential citizens of Macon. 

V RICHARD EDWARD OWEN. 

Eminently successful in his own business and active and serviceable 
in ]iromoting every undertaking involving the welfare of the township 
and county of his home, Richard Edward Owen, one of the prosperous 
and iirogressive farmers and stock-raisers of Walnut township, in this 
county, is justly regarded as a highly useful and representative citizen. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 365 

He is not a native of this state, or even of this country, although he has 
been living in Missouri and Macon county ever since he was two years 
old. He was born in Wales on February 8, 1866, and is a son of John 
and Grace (Jones) Owen, also natives of Wales and descendants of 
families living in that land of hardy and resourceful people from time 
immemorial. 

The father was a cabinet-maker and wrought at his trade in his 
native land a number of years. In 1868 he brought his family to the 
United States and was led by a friendly dispensation of Fortune to 
Macon county, Missouri, where he located and had every prospect 
of prospering well during the rest of his days. But it was decreed 
that he should not enjoy life long in his new home. Before the end of 
the year in which he located in it he died, passing away in 1868. His 
widow is still living and has her home in Glaston. They had five 
children, but their son, Eichard E., is the ouly one of them now living. 

Eiehard E. Owen was reared in Macon county and secured his 
education in its public schools. Orphaned by the death of his father 
while he was himself still an infant, and with his mother a stranger 
in a land far distant from the home of her ancestors and all her early 
friends, his boyhood and youth were full of care and privation. His 
mother gave him excellent supervision and provided for his wants 
as well as she could, accepting her hard and lonely destiny with a heroic 
spirit and doing all she could to meet its every requirement. Still, 
every step of her son's advance was the result of effort and struggle on 
his part, and what he is and has now he has produced himself by his 
own capacity and indefatigable industry. He is a self-made man in the 
best sense of the phrase and is a credit to the inherent ability and force 
of cliaracter by means of which he has won his success and attained his 
prominence and influence among the people. 

After leaving school Mr. Owen worked at various occupations for 
awhile, doing whatever he could get to do and doing all so well that he 
soon established himself in the confidence and regard of the people 
as a reliable and competent man at whatever he turned his hand to. 
But he at all times felt a longing to be a farmer and raise live-stock for 
the markets, and in the course of a few years he made his way to the 
accomplislunent of his desires in this respect. He now owns a tine farm 
of 160 acres, all of which is under cultivation except what is reserved 
for grazing purposes, and has the place well improved with comfortable 
and commodious buildings and all the appliances of a first-rate country 
home. His stock industry is extensive and a source of pride and great 



366 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

attention to liim. He gives every step of the work connected with it his 
personal oversight and applies to its management all the information 
he can gather from reading, observation and reflection. The result 
is that he has a high reputation for the quality of his output and it 
ranks far up in the market. 

His connection with the public affairs of the township and county 
is close and serviceable. He takes an active interest and a leading 
part in all projects of worth for the development and improvement 
of the region, and is always to be found at the front in furthering their 
advancement and successful accomplishment. In political allegiance 
he is allied with the Democratic party, and is one of its faithful and 
efficient workers in all campaigns. He has been a member of the school 
l)oard for a number of years and a justice of the peace for three. He 
also served one term as road overseer. In all these positions he has 
given the people evcellent and appreciated service, having an eye single 
to their welfare and tlie public good. In fraternal life he is a member 
of the Woodmen of the "World and in religious connection belongs to the 
Presbyterian church. In 1894 he was married to Miss Irene Hazen, a 
native of Oregon and a lineal descendant of General Hazen, who was 
a distinguished soldier in the Civil war and for a long time at the head 
of the United States weatlier bureau. They have three children, their 
sons, Richard, Jr., Philip and Daniel, all of whom are still members of 
the family circle and attending school. 

Richard E. Owen jnet Miss Hazen while he was working on the 
Northern Pacific railroad. Quitting the railroad, he accepted a posi- 
tion as fireman in the Hotel Portland, in 1889. Five years later he 
married, living with his bride one year in Portland, then coming to 
Missouri in 1895 to take up the happy life of a farmer. 

SINGLETON LYLE KASEY. 

This highly representative citizen and leading farmer of Macon 
county, whose interests are principally in Morrow township near the 
town of Callao, and are very extensive and valuable, was born on June 
8, 1838, in Breckinridge county, Kentucky, but has lived in this county 
since 1866, a period of forty-four years. His parents, Singleton Lyle, 
Sr., and Frances (Boatwright) Kasey, were born and reared in Vir- 
ginia, the former in Bedford county and the latter in Cumberland 
county. They were planters of prominence and influence in the Old 
Dominion, and accounted among the best citizens of that portion of the 
state in which they lived. They were married in 1823 and had four 
children, all of whom they reared to maturity. Three of them are liv- 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 367 

ing, Eliza, widow of the late Clinton McCann; James T., who lives 
at Salisbury, Missouri, and Silgletou L. Tlieir mother died at her Ken- 
tucky home on January 3, 1866, and the next year the father came to 
Missouri to live. Here he passed the remainder of his days, dying 
on March 28, 1875, in Macon countj*. He was a Whig until the party 
of his j'oung espousal died and he then became a Democrat. He always 
took an active part in political affairs, but was never a candidate for 
any office, either by election or appointment. He was a man of large 
property, owning considerable land in Virginia and Kentucky and a 
large number of slaves before the Civil war; When he moved into this 
state he located at what is now Kaseyville in Macon county, which got 
its name from him and his family. The great-grandfather of our sub- 
ject was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, serving three years under 
General Morgan. He took part in the battle of Gilford Courthouse and 
a number of other important engagements, being discharged at 
Morristown. 

His son. Singleton Lyle Kasey, was reared on the parental estate 
in Kentucky and educated in the schools of his native county. After 
completing his education he taught school for a number of years there. 
In 1866 he moved to Macon county, Missouri, and two years later, in 
association with his brother, he started a mercantile establishment 
at Kaseyville, which they conducted together for a period of twenty 
years. The brother retired after ten years. He then retired from mer- 
chandising to devote his entire attention to farming and raising 
stock, except what might be required for the performance of a good 
citizen's duty in connection with public affairs and the development 
and improvement of the region in which he lived. He is still actively 
engaged in farming and raising stock, and has been very successful in 
all his operations. He now owns and has under cultivation 1,450 acres 
of first-rate land, all of which he farms with skill and good judgment, 
except what is necessary for grazing for his extensive herds and flocks. 
' In politics Mr. Kasey is a firm and faithful working Democrat, 
with an earnest and continuous interest in the success of his party and 
a determined and effective zeal in helping to bring that about on all 
occasions. He has demonstrated decided fitness for public office and a 
wide knowledge of public affairs. So conspicuous has he been in this 
respect that in 1892 he was elected a member of the state legislature 
and re-elected in 1894, serving until 1896. He took high rank in the 
legislature and rendered his constituency and the people of the whole 
state valuable and appreciated service. He had a law passed creating 
an additional mine inspector, thus increasing the closeness and effi- 



368 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

eiency of the mspection by dividing the work between two men instead 
oi' having it all done by one. This Jaw has been of great benefit to 
the state and has also helped the mining interests very considerably 
by securing greater care and better results in their work. Fraternally 
Mr. Kasey has been a member of the Masonic order since 1864. He 
was married on November 6, 1878, to Miss Octavia Stanley Hall, a native 
of Eandolph county, Missouri. They have four children, James S., 
Emma Eliza, Sebree Preble and John AYilliam. 

^ JOHN A. WRIGHT. 

A native of Macon coimty, born on August 26, 1852, and having 
passed all of the fifty-eight years of his life to this time within the 
borders of the coimty, John A. Wright, of Ethel, is thoroughly 
acquainted with the people here and knows all the springs of i^olitical, 
intellectual, moral and industrial life that actuate and animate them. 
He has been a busy man among them, taking a leading part in all their 
activities and helping by every means at his command to develop the 
township and county, advance the interests of their jjeople, broaden and 
intensify all the agencies for good work in their midst, and hold up the 
highest ideals of citizenship before all the world. He is therefore 
justly entitled to the universal esteem in which he is held and altogether 
worthy of the general good will that is bestowed upon him in all jjarts 
of the coimty. 

Mr. Wright is a son of David and Eliza (Ballinger) Wright, the 
former a native of Vii'ginia and the latter of Kentucky. The father 
became a resident of Missouri in 1842, making his home in Macon 
county and actively engaging in farming and raising live stock. The 
mother came to this state and county with her parents in 184.5. Here 
she made the acquaintance of the elder Mr. Wright and here they were 
married. They had two children, their sons K. D. and John A. The 
father was a Democrat in political faith but was never an active 
partisan. He died in 1852, and sometime afterward the mother was 
married to John Williams, a native of Macon county, by whom she 
became the mother of four additional children : Mary, the wife of 
Thomas Conklin of Callao ; Lucy, the wife of William Stacy of Bucklin, 
Linn county; S. P. and Nicholas. Their mother died in November 
1896 and their father in 1873. Both were respected highly by all who 
knew them. 

John A. Wright grew to manhood on his step-father and 
Tmcle's farm and obtained his elementary education at the district 
schools in the neighborhood of his home. He completed his scho- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 369 

lastic training at Old Bloomington under the tutorship of W. 0. 
Gray. He did not, however, aim at professional life or mercan- 
tile pursuits. He had a decided taste for farming, and as soon 
as he left school he turned his attention to this calling and to 
this he has adhered with unwavering fidelity ever since. He has 
not allowed his own affairs to wholly absorb his energies and time, 
though, for he has been active and serviceable in the interest of the 
township and county, and has given their affairs a considerable 
amount of his time and attention. He has been a justice of the peace 
continuously for more than twenty years and a member of the school 
board for more than ten. In 1902 he was elected county judge and 
served acceptably in that capacity for four years. In politics he is a 
pronounced Eepublican and always zealous and effective in the service 
of his party. While not an office seeker or desirous of public life, 
he consented to serve a term of two years as constable in addition to 
filling the offices already mentioned as having been held by him. 

Mr. Wright's official life has in all respects been greatly to his 
credit, and his activity in church work has also been pronounced in its 
energy and beneficial results. He is connected by membership with the 
Christian church, and during all of the last twenty-seven years has 
been one of the elders of the congregation to which he belongs, and he 
has also been the superintendent of two Sunday schools at the same 
time, and very energetic in Sunday school work. In July, 1872, he was 
married to Miss Louisa J. Eichardson, a native of this county. Of the 
seven children born to them four are living, Oscar, Otis, John Luther 
and Elmer. The parents are regarded as among the most worthy and 
estimable citizens of the county. 

B. DENNIS BRADLEY. 

Wliile the life work of a bank cashier is necessarily one of con- 
siderable routine and sameness, following the same beaten path from 
day to day and month to month without much variety in incident, it 
nevertheless affords the man who fills it in the proper spirit oppor- 
tunity for great usefulness to his community and service to its people 
in both a personal and general way. Interests of magnitude are often 
dependent for their accomplishment on the assistance of the banking- 
facilities, and private welfare is many times almost at their mercy. 
If those facilities are used wisely and judiciously they can be made to 
minister to both the general and the individual prosperity, and help 
every enterprise to good and useful development. 

B. Dennis Bradley, for some years cashier of the Citizens Bank 



370 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

of Ethel in this county, and formerly cashier of the Bank of Ethel in 
the same town, is one of those gentlemen who know how to conduct a 
banking business with a spirit of usefulness to the people among wnom 
it is carried on, while, at the same time, carefully caring for and pro- 
tecting the interests of the stockholders and depositors of the insti- 
tution. His service in these respects are highly appreciated in Ethel 
and throughout the country that is tributary to it in the way of trade, 
for they have been judicious and rendered with due regard to all the 
interests the banks he has served have had in charge and the welfare 
of the whole community. 

Mr. Bradley is a native of Macon county and was born in Wiiite 
township on September 23,1876. He obtained his preliminary scholastic 
training in the common schools and completed it at the State Normal 
School at Kirksville. In 1900 he entered the Bank of Ethel as cashier, and 
in this capacity he served it faithfully until May 18, 1905. On August 
26, 1906, he became cashier of the Citizen Bank of Ethel, and to the 
duties of that position he has ever since faithfully devoted his time, 
energies and accomplishments. He is recognized as one of the most 
capable and careful bank officials in this part of the state, and the insti- 
tution to which he gives his services is regarded as one of the most 
progressive, wisely managed and enterprising in Northeastern Mis- 
souri. The people have confidence in it, for it has demonstrated its 
soundness and the prudence with which it is conducted. The business 
community around it believes in it, for it has been liberal in accom- 
modations to business men and institutions, and at the same time, 
has taken every precaution to protect its stockholders and depositors 
from all undesirable or risky transactions. Financial circles here and 
elsewhere accord it high rank for i)rogressiveness, modern methods of 
doing business, and the employment of excellent judgTnent in the man- 
agement of its affairs. Its reputation is largely due to the intelligence 
and breadth of view wliicli Mr. Bradley has exhibited as its cashier and 
the controlling spirit in its directorate. It does a general banking 
business, including every feature of enterprising modern banking, and 
has made steady progress into more extensive operations and a larger 
volume of business from its very foundation. 

Mr. Bradley takes an earnest interest and active part in public 
affairs. He is a Democrat in politics, always zealous in the service of 
his party and judicious in his efforts to help it to success. He is at 
present town treasurer of Ethel and as such is rendering acceptable 
service to the community. Fraternally he is connected with the Order 
of Elks and the Masonic Order with the rank of a noble of the Mystic 




WILLIAM T. GILBREATH 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 371 

Shrine in the latter. He was married in 1903 to Miss Mary Phipps, a 
native of Macon county. They have four children, W. T., Helen B., 
Paul D., and Beverly R. 

WILLIAM THOMAS GILBREATH. 

Owning and operating three excellent farms, and, since May 1, 
1882, the energetic and i^rogressive president of the La Plata Savings 
Bank, William Thomas Gilbreath is one of the prominent, useful and 
influential citizens of that favored portion of this county known as 
La Plata township, and well deserves his eminence among the jjeople 
of that section. There is much in his ancestry and the record of his fam- 
ily that would account for his success in all his undertakings in the 
judgment of the antiquary or the critical inquirer into circumstances 
which determine a man's capability to meet the requirements of his 
situation in life. But observers who associate with a man from day to 
day and know him well do not have to look beyond his own manifesta- 
tions to find a sufficient basis for his actions or a full explanation of 
ihs career. Such observers have found in the case of Mr. Gilbreath 
enough in his personal character and capabilities to justify the success 
he has won and the mastery over circumstances and conditions which 
he has shown in all the relations of life. 

Nevertheless, his family history is interesting and important as 
showing inherited traits and the inspiration springing from ancestral 
examples. Mr. Gilbreath was born in La Plata township, on March 
26, 1849, and is a son of Judge John and Martha (Clayton) Gilbreath, 
the former a native of Maury county, Tennessee, and the latter of the 
state of Maryland, where the Claytons have been domesticated from 
early colonial times. John Gilbreath was a son of Hugh Gilbreath 
and a Kentucky lady whose maiden name was Hannah Conover, and 
who died in 1829, when her son, John, was but twelve years of age, he 
having been born on December 8, 1817. Hugh Gilbreath was one of the 
early settlers of Cooper county, Missouri, having migrated from his 
native state of Tennessee to that portion of Missouri with his family in 
1826. In that county he took up a tract of government land and resided 
on it until his death in 1851. He took up his land while it was a part of 
the trackless wilderness in this state, and in the quarter of a century of 
effort and skill he bestowed upon it he made it over into a productive 
farm, improved with good buildings and equipped with all the appli- 
ances of a comfortable country home of the day and locality in which 
he lived. He served in the war of 1812 and won distinction for his valor 
in the field, his endurance on the march and his readiness for every 



372 HISTOKT OF ]\L\CON COUXTY 

emergency in the service. His second wife was Miss Flora MacDuffe, 
a lady of Scotch ancestry and distinguished lineage in that country. 
Both were widely known and highly respected in Cooper county, in 
which the greater part of their activities in this state were expended. 

Their son, John Gilbreath, grew to manhood in Cooper county, 
Missouri, and was married there to Miss Martha Clayton, on February 
18, 1840. In 1841 he moved to Newton county with his young bride, 
and after a residence of less than a year in that county moved again, 
taking up his residence in Cole county. In 1841 he came to Macon county 
and bought a farm three miles south of La Plata. Making this the 
base of bis operations, he entered government land and purchased 
other tracts until he owned more than 1,000 acres, all of which he 
farmed and devoted to his kindred industry of raising live stock, and 
in botb industries he was eminently successful. 

In 1872 he was elected county judge and his service on the bencb 
was highly creditable to himself and of great benefit to the people. 
But his chief title to distinction was the fact that be was among the 
first to engage in raising sliorthorn cattle in this part of the state, 
and by that means one of the chief contributors to raising the stand- 
ard of cattle in the county, which he did with great effect in his day and 
generation, and which his son, William T. Gilbreath, has done with 
similar results in his. For many years the father raised and handled 
a large number of this superior breed of cattle, and by his example 
stimulated others to do the same. The result was that he created a 
market for his output and at the same time helped to expand the pro- 
vision for supplying it. He and his wife were the parents of six chil- 
dren : John H., who lives at La Plata ; Nancy C, who is the wife of 
George Roon of this county; William T., the immediate subject of this 
review; James C, who is a resident of the state of Colorado; and 
Charles C. and Lorenzo D., the latter of whom died in 1878. The father 
died in September, 1887, at the age of seventy years, and the mother 
on January 18, 1904, aged eighty-one years. The father was a Free 
Mason in fraternal life and a member of Missionary Baptist church in 
religious affiliation. Their son, William T. Gilbreath, is a worthy son 
of a worthy sire, and in his career has well upheld the family name and 
traditions, exemplifying all the traits of character and all the mani- 
festations of enter]5rise for which his father and grandfather were 
disting-uished. He also is distinguished as a producer of superior 
grades of cattle and hogs on a large scale, and by his zeal and enter- 
prise in this industry has very considerably awakened and fostered 
similar enterprise in his neighbors and acquaintances, and the farmers 



o 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 373 

of the county in general. In fact, his influence in this respect has worked 
weU and largely throughout the state and helped materially to bring 
Missouri into general public notice as a producer of high grade stock 
and give her output a verj high rank in Chicago and eastern markets. 
If he who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before is to 
be considered a public benefactor, how much more is the man entitled to 
public esteem who takes an ordinary product of a fruitful region and 
raises its standard to the point of commanding universal commendation 
and the highest price in the marts of commerce and trade? Mr. Gil- 
breath has very largely helped to do this for the stock industry of Mis- 
souri and is entitled to full credit for the efforts he has made in this 
behalf. He owns and cultivates 900 acres of first rate land, which he 
has brought to a high state of productiveness by the vigor and skill 
with which he cultivates it. He also has his farm improved with good 
buildings and equipped with all the necessary appliances for the suc- 
cessful development of its resources and the management of his farm- 
ing operations according to the most approved modern methods. He 
devotes the same intelligence and energy to his stock industry, and 
both that and his farming are highly successful from every point of 
view, bringing him good returns for his labor and care and stimulating- 
others to greater activity by the force of his example. 

In 1882 Mr. Gilbreath bought a large block of stock in a private 
bank of excellent repvitation, and he at once reorganized the institution 
into the present Savings Bank of La Plata, of which he has been presi- 
dent from the time of the reorganization. He has given all the affairs 
of the bank his close and careful personal attention and directed its 
wise and sound policy from the beginning. It has flourished greatly 
and continuously under his management, and the credit for its prog- 
ress is due largely to him. His study in connection with it has been 
to know and meet all the requirements of the community that such an 
institution can provide for, and kee^y its improving and developing 
resources in vigorous action and lead them to the highest and best 
results. In this aspiration he has been eminently successful, and in 
return for the good he has done the community through his bank that 
institution has reaped a rich harvest of profit from the spirit of enter- 
prise and thrift at work among the people, which it has helped to foster 
and develo]:), and the relations between it and the people have been 
reciprocal and mutually beneficial. 

On November 14, 1871, Mr. Gilbreath was united in marriage with 
Miss Sarah M. Gates, a native of this county and a daughter of one of 
its most esteemed families. They have one child, their daughter, Olive 



374 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

M., who made an extended tour of Europe in the summer of 1909, and 
after her return entered upon the important duties for which she had 
been selected as instructor of English in the State University of Kan- 
sas. She is a graduate of Wellesley College, and received the degree 
of A. M. from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. 

Mr. Gilbreath is a Democrat in liis political faith and has always 
taken an active jiart in the campaigns of his party, rendering it good 
service in both the council chamber and the field, although he has 
never consented to accept a political office for himself, either by elec- 
tion or appointment. Fraternally he has long been connected with the 
Masonic order and has climbed its mystic ladder to the height of becom- 
ing a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. His religious affiliation is with 
the Presbyterian church, and in this he finds scope for the exercise of 
liis benevolent and philanthropic tendencies and desires. Macon county 
has never had a better citizen, or one for whom the whole of her peo- 
ple have felt a more genuine regard. In all the relations of life he has 
exemplified the highest and best attributes of citizenship and upright, 
elevated and forceful manhood. 

WILLIS EZRA BEADLEY, M. D. 

Of the high character, general resourcefulness, extensive and 
accurate knowledge and skill in the application of it which distinguishes 
the professional men of Northeastern Missouri, Dr. Willis Ezi-a Brad- 
ley of Ethel, Macon county, furnishes a fine illustration. He ranks high 
in his profession because of his mastery of it in theory and practice, 
the zealous devotion he bestows upon his work, and his eminent success 
as a practitioner. He also stands high as a citizen, displaying com- 
mendable breadth of view and public spirit in reference to everything 
involving the progress and development of the township and county 
in which he lives and the enduring welfare of the people among whom 
he labors with such signal success. 

Dr. Bradley was born on August 13, 1870, in White township, 
Macon county, and is a son of R. F. and Adeline (Greenstreet) Bradley, 
who was born in Kentucky. The father came to Missouri in 1856 and 
took up his residence in this county. He followed farming from the time 
of his arrival and is still engaged in it on the tract of land on which 
he first "stuck his stake" here. This tract he redeemed from the 
waste and has made over into a very productive and valuable farm 
and a most comfortable and attractive country home. What it is now 
is the result of his energy and skill — the fruit of his systematic and 
well applied industry and ability. His wife died in 189-4. They were 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 375 

the parents of nine children all of whom grew to maturity and eight of 
whom are living: Dr. Willis E., N. W., who lives in Drake township; 
Sallie, the wife of J. S. Hayden of Rutledge, Missouri; Edwin L. ; 
Nathan E. ; Millie, the wife of Dr. Abbott of Goldsberry; and Grover 
C. and Dee M. The father has always been a Democrat in politics and 
always active in the service of his party, but he could never be induced 
to accept a political office of any kind. 

Dr. Willis E. Bradley was reared on his father's farm and secured 
the basis of his scholastic training in the country schools of the neighbor- 
hood. A prime element in his mental development, which gave him self 
knowledge and knowledge of others, was his experience of four years as 
a school teacher, which he had soon after leaving school himself. In 
1890 he began the study of medicine in Beaumont Hospital Medical 
College, which is located in St. Louis, and from which he was graduated 
with the degree of M. D. in 1893. He started the practice of his pro- 
fession at New Boston in our sister coimty of Linn, which borders 
Macon on the west, and remained there about one year. At the end 
of that period he moved to Ethel, and here he has been living ever since 
and actively engaged in a large general practice, with an increasing 
body of patients from year to year and a steady gain in the confidence 
and esteem of the people. 

The Doctor is studious and industrious in his efforts to keep 
abreast with the latest thought and discovery in his very progressive 
profession, reading all the best literature bearing on his work, and 
mingling freely and actively with the American, the Missouri State 
and the Macon county Medical associations, of each of which he is a 
zealous and valued member. He has acquired a thorough and compre- 
hensive knowledge of the theory of the medical profession and has 
shown great intelligence and skill in the practical work of his daily 
rounds among his patients. He also takes an active and helpful 
interest in other matters of importance, being a stockholder and director 
of the Citizens Bank of Ethel and connected with other institutions 
of value in the financial and industrial life of the community. He 
also owns and has been conducting since 1899 a fine drug store which 
is recognized as one of the established benefactions and vital neces- 
sities of the town. Fortune has smiled on his efforts for advancement 
to such an extent that he owns in addition a considerable body of good 
land in the state of Wyoming, and has interests of different kinds in sev- 
eral places. His personal acquisitions give evidence of the vigor of his 
management of his affairs, his thrift in conducting his operations and his 
ability in making everything count to his advantage. The same qualities 



37G HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

displayed plentifully in reference to the public affairs of the township 
and county have been of signal service to them and given him high 
rank as a public-spirited and progressive citizen, and made him pojDular 
and well esteemed in all portions of the county, and throughout much 
of the surrounding country. 

Dr. Bradley has been a life-long member of the Democratic party 
and from the dawn of his manhood an active worker for its success in 
all its campaigTis. He is averse to i^ublic life, but for the good of the 
community has served as clerk and director of the Ethel school board 
for more than fourteen years. His fraternal relations are with the 
Masonic Order, the Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, 
the Woodmen of the World and the Order of Yeomen. He has been 
a Freemason for fourteen years, and has ascended the mystic ladder 
of this noble fraternity through Blue Lodge, Eoyal Arch Chapter and 
Knights Templar Conimandery and is now a Noble of the Mystic 
Shrine. On June 12, 1895, he was united in marriage with Miss Alice 
E. Hizer, a native of La Plata, Macon county, but whose parents came 
to Missouri from Iowa. She presides over their attractive home with 
a grace and dignity entirely in keeping with their elevated position in 
the social and general life of the community. 

JOHN F. L. BRANHAM. 

Crowned with years and with the universal esteem of the people, 
and walking among them even yet with vigor and energy although he 
is ninety-one years of age, John F. L. Branham of Atlanta is one of 
^the worthy patriarchs of Macon county and is highly revered as such. 
The good opinion of the people, which is freely bestowed upon him, is 
no accidental circumstance, and is not due only to his advanced age. 
It is based on his real and sterling manhood, demonstrated for a long 
time in their midst in all the relations of life, and to his substanial 
contributions to the growth and development of the county, as witnessed 
in its educational, moral, industrial and commercial forces, in the 
building and strengthening of all of w^hieh he has borne a useful part 
and taken a very active and servicealsle interest. 

Mr. Branham was born in Scott county, Kentucky, on October 5, 
1819, and is sprung from heroic strains. His father, James Branham, 
was a native of and might have been an extensive planter in Virginia, 
and he was also a valiant soldier in the War of 1812. He has a taste 
for merchanical pursuits and gratilied it by working as a stone mason 
in connection with the management of his plantation. As a young 
man, however, he left the home of his ancestors and strode boldly into 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 37? 

the wilderness of Kentucky to make a name and establish a home for 
himself by his own capacity and industry. He became the husband of Eli- 
zabeth Landrum, a native of the state last named, and they had eight 
children all of whom they reared to maturity. Of these John P. L. is 
the only one now living. The father died in Kentucky and the mother 
in Macon county, Missouri. 

Their son John F. L. was reared on the parental homestead in 
Kentucky and secured a limited common school education in the country 
schools of the neighborhood. At an early age he took his part as a 
workman on the farm and performed his duties faithfully. After 
leaving school he began farming on his own account in his native 
county. But having inherited the adventurous spirit of his ancestors, 
in 1838, at the dawn of his manhood, he came to Missouri to look the 
country over with a view to repeating on its wide domain of undeveloped 
possibilities what his father had done on that of Kentucky. He had 
learned the trade of carpenter and for a short time he worked at it 
here, then returned to Kentucky and resumed his farming operations, 
diong sometliing at his trade in connection with them. 

But the "Western fever that liad got into his blood would not 
\neld to any other treatment than the satisfaction of its demands. In 
1849 he came again to this state and opened an establishment as a 
gunsmith in Monroe county. The next year he moved to Macon county 
and tried his hand at merchandising, which occupied him fully for 
five years. Then he passed three years as the proprietor and manager 
of a hotel in Bloomington, perhaps three years and a lialf. But the 
voice of Nature within him called him loudly to become a tiller of the 
soil, and he finally yielded to the call. He bought a farm and from 
then until 1894 he was actively engaged in general farming and raising 
live stock, succeeding finely in the undertaking and growing into con- 
sequence and influence among the people as the country developed and 
improved around him under the impulse of his spirit of progress and 
that of others like him. 

In 1894 the weight of accumulating years induced him to retire 
from active pursuits and pass the remainder of his days in the enjoy- 
ment of a well-earned rest and the beneficient use of the competency 
he had wrung from unwilling fate by his own determined energy and his 
skill and ability in the a]3plication of it. He then learned that there 
is even on this side of the grave a haven where the storms of life 
break not, or are felt only in gentle undulations of the unrippled and 
mirroring waters, and that it is a serene, a genial and hale old age, in 
which the tired traveler abandons the dusty, crowed and jostling high- 



378 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

way for a shady and but little noted by-lane in which he may enjoy 
nnharassed and with tranquillity the splendor of the sunset, the milder 
glories of late evening. 

Mr. Branham has not, however, been content to sit still and dream 
away the remaining years of his life in idleness. He is still vigorous 
and active and the fires of energy still burn within him with an ardor 
that requires exertion of some kind on his part to satisfy them. Even 
at his advanced age he is yet very fond of hunting, fishing and outdoor 
sports, and he indulges in them freely for his own enjoyment. He was 
married in 1844 to Miss Lyda Jane Hockensmith, a native of Franklin 
county, Kentucky. They had nine children and six of them are living: 
Dr. George Branham of New Mexico ; James, who lives in the new 
state of Oklahoma; and Isaac O., Katharine, Franklin and Anna, who 
are residents of Macon county. The wife died September 9, 1898. 

In politics Mr. Branham was a AVhig until near the death of the 
party. "V^^ien is was succeeded by a sectional party bent on the crea- 
tion of a sectional issue, he became a Democrat, and during the dark 
days which followed, when Civil war cast its withering lilight over 
our fair land, his sjTni^athies were with the South. He has adhered to 
the Democratic party ever since, but he has never accepted a political 
office of any kind although frequently and urgently solicited to do so. 
For seventy-two years he has been a devout and consistent member 
of the Baptist church, and since 1853 has belonged to the Masonic 
Order. No citizen of Macon county stands higher in the regard of the 
people and none is more deserving of their esteem and good will. 

ORLOFF WILLIAM HOWE. 

Although he has been for only fourteen years a resident of Mis- 
souri and for that length of time directly connected with its industries 
and a contributor to its progress and development, Orloff W. Howe of 
Walnut township, Macon county, has been all his life a resident of the 
great Middle West of this country, as it is still called, and is thoroughly 
representative of the spirit and enterprise of that portion of the Union 
and the characterictics and tendencies of its people. 

Mr. Howe was born in the state of Illinois in 1865, and is a son of 
William and Mary (Hill) Howe, the former a native of New York state, 
and the latter of Illinois. He therefore inherited from his parents the 
shrewdness, adaptability to circumstances and resourcefulness of New 
England and the all-daring sweep of enterprise characteristic of the 
Mississippi valley region, and in his career he has employed all the 
traits of both sections with great advantage to himself and pronounced 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 379 

benefit to the communities in which he has lived and operated. The 
parents came to Missouri in 1898 and took up their residence in Macon 
county, where they were actively engaged in farming and raising stock 
for a number of years. They are now living in Macon retired from 
active pursuits, but mingling serviceably in the social, intellectual and 
public life of the city, and highly esteemed by all classes of its jieople. 
Of the five children born to them four are living, Edward A., Orloff W., 
Charles L. and Ma Nettie, the wife of B. V. James of Decatur, Illinois. 

Orloff W. Howe grew to manhood on his father's farm in Illinois 
and secured his academic training at the district schools in the neigh- 
borhood. After leaving school he passed five years working at the 
carpenter trade, then turned his attention to farming in his native 
state. He cultivated the rich prairie soil of that great state with 
success and profit until 1896, when the vast domain across the Mis- 
sissippi from his former home attracted him beyond the power of 
resistance, and he became a resident of Missouri and Macon county. 
Here he has continued his activity and his success as a farmer and has 
risen to the first rank in his business in this county. He now owns 
390 acres of first rate land and carries on an extensive and profitable 
business in raising stock for the markets. All of his land that is not 
required for grazing purposes for his large and valuable herds of 
cattle and other live stock, is under advanced cultivation and yielding 
abundantly to the faith, industry and skill he bestows upon it. He is 
a progressive farmer and studies the needs of his business in this line, 
as he does also in his stock industry, and applies the results of his read- 
ing, observation and reflection intelligently to every step of every 
department of his work, aiming in all to secure the best results attain- 
able, and succeeding in doing this by keeping at all times the 
command of the situation. 

Mr. Howe is also one of the leading stockholders in the Elmer 
Creamery Company, and is connected with other enterprises of value to 
the county and its people. In their welfare he has always been deeply 
interested from his arrival in the county, and to the promotion of it 
he has devoted both intelligence in council and great energy in action. 
In political faith he adheres to the Re]3ublican party with loyal and 
unwavering devotion and is ever ready to serve his party along whole- 
some lines of development with his utmost ability and best judgment. 
He has rendered the people excellent service as a member of the school 
board for a number of years. In fraternal life he is allied with the 
Order of Modern Woodmen of America and in religious connection 
with the Missionary Baptist church. Both his lodge and his church 



380 HISTOEY OF MACON" COUNTY 

feel the force of Ms influence for good and liis active assistance, and his 
membership is highly appreciated in each. 

In 1891 Mr. Howe was united in marriage with Miss Alice M. 
Alexander, a native of Illinois. Of the ten children born to them five 
died in infancy. Those living are Harry O., Nellie, Myrl W., Forest E. 
and Opal M. an infant, all of whom are still living at home and adding 
brightness and cheer to the family circle. The home is a favorite resort 
for the hosts of friends of the family, who find it a center of refined and 
gracious hospitality and of all the courtesies and amenities of life. 
The parents are held in the highest esteem wherever they are known, 
and regarded throughout the county as fine exemplars of all that is 
strong, useful and worthy in American citizenship. 

SAMUEL GLADDEN BEATTY. 

Born and reared to the age of seven years in the great state of 
Pennsylvania, where his father's family had been domesticated for gen- 
erations, and where its members were participants in many of the 
countless industries conducted with conquering enterprise in that 
enormous bee hive, Samuel G. Beatty of Walnut township, this county, 
seems to have acquired by inheritance and absorbtion the salient char- 
acteristics of its people, as he has exhibited them on many a field of 
endeavor and in many places in other parts of the coimtry, and with 
the usual results of material advantage to himself and substantial 
benefit to the people around him. 

Mr. Beatty 's life began in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 
1860, and he is a son of Benjamin and Sarah M. (Gladden) Beatty, the 
father of the same nativity as himself and the mother born in Jetferson 
county, Ohio. They had nine children and seven of them are living: 
Edwin, who resides in Alaska; Park B., whose home is in Oregon; 
Samuel G., who has lived in several states and still has interests in at 
least two ; James W., an esteemed citizen of Montana ; Ulysses G., who 
lives in Kansas; Frank W., a prosi^erous and progressive resident of 
Oregon, and Fannie, the wife of J. J. Dye of Macon county. They are 
distributed over an enormous extent of country and engaged in a 
variety of industries, but wherever they are and whatever they are 
doing, they are exemplifying in their daily lives the lessons of thrift, 
uprightness and industry they received by precept and example around 
the parental fireside, and multiplying in their activity the fruits of 
worth and integrity, as their forefathers did for generations before 
them. Their mother died in 1905. The father is still living and has 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 381 

his home in Macon county. He is a Kepublican in politics and served 
as a justice of the peace many years. 

Samuel Gladden Beatty grew to manhood on the family homestead 
in this county and secured his academic training in its district schools. 
He then followed a course of special training in the Jacksonville Busi- 
ness College from which he was graduated. After leaving that insti- 
tution he taught in the public schools two years, and at the end of that 
period went to Colorado, where he engaged in mining for fourteen 
years, and was successful in the venture. He still owns a silver mine 
in San Juan county, that state, which is very productive, and also has 
an interest in a gold mine in another part of the state. 

At the end of his mining period he returned to this state and again 
located in Macon county. Once more he turned his attention to farm- 
ing and in this profitable but often very exacting occupation he has 
been actively at work ever since. He owns and cultivates 460 acres 
of land, and, in connection with this industry, also carries on an exten- 
sive and flourishing enterprise in general stock-raising. He takes a 
very active interest and a leading part in public affairs as a Democrat, 
being always ready to assume the harness as a wheelhorse in the 
service of his party, and although by no means desirous of the honors 
or emoluments of public office, has served as road commissioner six 
years for the good of the township. While living at Creede, Colorado, 
he served as coroner for a number of years and also as a justice of 
the peace. Fraternally he is allied with several benevolent associa- 
tions, among them the Masonic Order, the Odd Fellows, and the Modern 
Woodmen of America. He is deeply interested in the welfare of all 
his lodges and helps to promote it by every means at his command. 
Everything to which he puts his hand receives an impulse to enlarged 
activity, and in matters involving the progress and improvement of the 
township and county, and the enduring welfare of their people, he is 
particularly active, broad-minded and enterprising, giving much stimu- 
lus by the wisdom of his counsel and following that with an energy in 
action that accomplishes a great deal itself and sets in motion helpful 
forces in others by the force of its influence and example. 

Mr. Beatty was married in 1897 to Miss Ella D. Witt a native of 
Platte county, Missouri. They have one child, their son Samuel G., 
Jr., who is now eight years old. The parents stand well in social 
circles and are recognized as helpful forces in the activities of all the 
intellectual, moral and spiritual agencies at work in the community. 
They are animated by lofty ideals of citizenship and daily duty, and 
they strive to realize these in all their relations in life. The people 



38a 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 



who know them hold them in cordial regard, and the community in 
general in which their activities are employed, esteem them highly as 
fine examples of high-toned and useful American manhood and 
womanhood. 

JOHN MICHAEL SUEBECK. 

Although a native of the land of William Tell and Arnold Winkel- 
reid, and proud of its inspiring history, majestic scenery and pure 
and progressive government, John Michael Surbeck of Elmer, this 
county, is earnestly devoted to the land of his adoption and profoundly 
grateful for the opportunities it has given for the exercise of his rare 
faculites of aggression and good judgment in business and his lofty 
and exemplary characteristics as a citizen. He believes in American 
institutions and does all in his power to raise and keep them up to the 
highest standard of excellence. All of the sixty-five years of his life 
that have passed have been spent in this country, and he may therefore 
be classed almost wholly as an American product. Mr. Surbeck was 
born in Switzerland on October ll2, 1844. His parents, Jacob and Eliza- 
beth (Ochnar) Surbeck, were also natives of Switzerland, and their 
forefatliers lived in tliat country for many generations. They brought 
tlieir family to this country in 1852 and took up their residence in 
Toledo, Ohio. The father engaged in farming in that neighborhood, 
winning his way to prosperity and worldly comfort, rearing his family 
with a view to the enduring welfare of all its members, and gaining the 
confidence and respect of the people in a marked degree. He died in 
1875 and his widow passed away in 1883. She also was highly respected 
by everybody who had the benefit of acquaintance and association with 
her. They were the parents of seven children, all of whom are living: 
John C, Jacob, Elizabeth, John Michael, Barbara, George and Samuel. 

John Michael Surbeck was brought to the United States by his par- 
ents when he was eight years of age. He grew to maturity and was edu- 
cated in Toledo, Ohio, and for a time conducted profitable farming 
operations in the vicinity of that city. In 1868 he came to Missouri, 
where the ravages of the Civil war were still visible and the country 
was just beginning to show the first fruits of its rejuvenating spirit. 
He believed that with the increasing prosj)erity and growing greatness 
of the state his own fortunes might be profitablj- linked and share the 
same benefits. On his arrival in this section he located in Macon county, 
buying land near Elmer in Walnut township, and here continuing exten- 
sively the farming and stock-raising industries he had begain on a small 
scale in his former American home. He is still pushing his progress 




J. M. SURBECK 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 383 

iu these lines of production and steadily expanding his enterprise to 
larger dimensions and more considerable returns. At this time he owns 
more than 1,800 acres of good laud, tlie greater part of which is in an 
advanced state of cultivation, and is considered the most substantial 
and progressive citizen of Elmer. 

All the fiscal, industrial and economic interests of the township 
enlist his cordial attention and have his effective assistance for their 
promotion toward the highest and most fruitful development; and the 
moral, intellectual and social agencies at work in the community look 
to him for aid with confident expectations and are never disappointed. 
He was one of the founders of the Elmer Exchange Bank and has 
served as its president from the beginning of its history. Under the 
impulse of his enterprise it has thriven, steadily increased its business 
and more and more firmly established itself in the confidence and regard 
of the people. Its wise and liberal policy has made it a source of great 
benefit in the improvement of the town and township and given it an 
excellent name and a host of friends in other ])arts of the county. 

Mr. Surbeck adheres to the Republican party in political affairs 
and does yeoman service in its behalf. He is averse to official life and 
has no desire for either the honors or the emoluments of public station, 
but he believes firmly in the principles of his i^arty and feels that it is 
his duty to do all he can to help them to supremacy iu the control of the 
government, local and general. Still, he never allows partisan interests 
to darken his vision or stay or direct his hand in reference to local 
matters in which the enduring good of his community is involved, but 
looks to that alone in determining his course in connection with them. 

In June, 1868, Mr. Surbeck was united in marriage with Miss Eva 
Dorothy Sorge, a native of Ohio. They have seven children: Eliza- 
beth, Villa, Frank K., George M., H. C, Tress and John L. In their 
several localities, pursuits and stations in life they are all exemplifying 
in their daily lives the lessons given them by admonition and example 
around the family hearthstone, and doing their parts as progressive 
and productive citizens of the country. The parents are not known 
where they are not esteemed, and the number of their admiring friends 
is coextensive with that of their acquaintances. 

• J. F. GROSS, M. D. 

The life of a country physician in a new country is one of great 
privation and hardship, and its difficulties are not occasional or 
sporadic, but continuous and unavoidable. He is obliged to forego 
almost entirely his own comfort in providing for that of others, and 



384 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

dare uot give miicli consideration to the condition of the weather or 
the couveuiences of travel. Neither is a nigiit of rest vouclisafed to him 
after a day of toil with any degree of certainty. Sickness and death 
respect neither circumstances nor conditions, neither calm nor tempest, 
neither day nor night, and the physician in a sparsely settled country, 
who has the territory largely or wholly to himself, is their slave and 
must ignore all outward bearings just as they do. His life requires 
heroic qualities and constant devotion to duty, and it is greatly to the 
credit of American professional life that these qualities have seldom, 
if ever, been found wanting in this class of public benefactors. 

One of the finest illustrations of their possession and use in the 
service of a large extent of country in this part of the world is furnished 
by the professional career of Dr. J. F. Gross of Callao in this county. 
For more than forty years he has devoted himself with assiduous 
industry to the study and practice of medicine in Macon county, giving 
the people excellent professional service and exemplifying all the time 
and in all the relations of life the best attributes of a lofty, progressive 
and broad-minded American citizenship. And that his career is 
appreciated is fully shown by the high and universal esteem in which 
he is held and the unvarying respect and consideration with which he 
is treated by all classes of the people. 

"Dr. Gross was born in Eandolph county, Missouri, on April 15, 
1842, and is a son of Noah and Mary (Sears) Gross, natives of Ken- 
tucky. The father was born in the Blue Grass state in 1816 and came 
with his parents to Missouri in 1818. They were thus pioneers in two 
states, having been born and reared in the Carolinas and migrated 
from there to Kentucky in early life. They located on a farm in Ean- 
dolph county of this state and there redeemed a tract of wild land 
from the waste and made it over into a comfortable home with the aid 
of their children whom they reared to maturity on this rugged frontier. 
Their son Noah, the Doctor's father, was married in 1839, and \}e and 
his wife became the parents of eleven children. Seven of these are 
living: Dr. J. F., the immediate subject of these paragraphs; G. W. ; 
Bettie, the wife of George AV. Talbott ; Sarah, the wife of Riifus Good- 
son; J. H., T. J., and Minnie, the wife of Jesse Truitt. The father 
died in February, 1901, and the mother on January 2.3, 1904:. 

Dr. J. F. Gross grew to manhood on his father's farm and took 
an important and helpful place in the performance of the labors it 
entailed on all the members of the family. He attended in an irregular 
way for a few years, and only during the winter months, one of the 
four country schools in the county, which were at that time the only 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 885 

educational institutions of any kind it could maintain, and thus acquired 
the rudiments of an academic education. But he was diligent and 
studious, and so far succeeded in the acquisition of knowledge that when 
he left school he became a teacher and followed that occupation for 
a time. He then engaged in farming until 1861, when he joined a 
Company enrolled by Captain Hallock for service in the Civil war, 
enlisting at Macon. His company was soon at the front and served 
first year of conflict between the sections of our then distracted country 
it saw considerable active and perilous service. It took part in many 
notable battles, among them those at Carthage, Lexington, and Wilson 
Creek, and also engaged in countless skirmishes and minor contests. 

After the war the Doctor returned to Macon county and again 
engaged in farming. In 1869 he began the study of medicine under 
the direction of Dr. Josiah Gates of Laplata and a little later entered 
the Electric Medical College in St. Louis. After receiving his degree 
he began the practice of his profession in White township, Macon 
county, where he remained three years. At the end of that period he 
moved to Independence township, and during the next sixteen years was 
actively engaged in a general practice throughout the county with head- 
quarters in that portion. He then took up his residence at Goldsberry, 
and for fifteen years stood at tlie head of his profession in that region, 
leading in both his standing as a physician and in the magnitude and 
activity of his practice. 

xVs the burden of years increased on him Dr. Gross felt more and 
more a longing for the quieter life of a farmer, although it was not 
to be expected that a physician so active as he had been and so eminent 
as he had become would be allowed to retire entirely from practice. 
But he determined to make the effort to gratify his desires as fully as 
he could, and accordingly he returned to his former township and 
located on the farm there on which he is still living, continuing his 
practice in compliance with the wishes of the people and carrying on 
extensive farming operations to gratify his own. His farm comprises 
160 acres of excellent land and handsomely supports his extensive 
stock industry besides yielding to the skillful husbandry bestowed 
upon it by the Doctor and his son abundant crops of general farm 
products. It is one of the best and most desirable in the township. 

On December 24, 1863, Dr. Gross was united in marriage with 
Miss Clarissa Stedman, a native of Wisconsin whose parents moved 
from Ohio to that state. Of the eight children born of this union six 
are living: Eugene Chesterfield, who resides in the state of Wyoming; 
A. D., who is deputy sheriff of Macon county ; Nora P., who is the wife 



386 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

of H. Thurman of New Mexico ; John B., Loren E., who is also a resi- 
dent of Wyoming; and Evart E. The father has been a life-long 
Democrat in ijolitical faith and adhesion and has always taken a very 
active part in the work of his party. While not an office seeker in 
any sense or to any degree, he served three years as township clerk 
and has been a member of the school board for more than twelve. His 
interest in the welfare of the people and the development and improve- 
ment of the township and county has been constant and serviceable 
and is highly appreciated. In religious affiliation he has long been 
closely connected with the primitive Baptist church, and for many years 
has been one of the most helpful and interested members of the congre- 
gation to which he belongs. The Doctor has well nigh completed the 
three score and ten years assigned as the ordinary limit of human 
life by the sacred writer, but he seems by no means near the end of his 
vigor. He is still hale, hearty and active, and would seem to have 
many years of usefulness yet in store for him. And that he may have 
is the universal prayer of the people among whom he lives and labors, 
by all of whom he is very highly esteemed and cordially venerated. 

CLAEK HEREIN. 

Pushing his own interests with assiduous industry, good judgment 
and enterprising spirit, and looking after those of the community with 
ardor, progressiveness and fine breadth of view, Clark Herrin, one of 
the successful and prosperous farmers and stock-raisers of Liberty 
township in this county, is justly regarded as one of the county's most 
useful and representative citizens. He is, moreover, a native of the 
county and has passed all the years of his life, so far, among its people, 
mingling in their councils, taking part in their public life and contrib- 
uting to the expansion and power of their industries. In all the rela- 
tions of life he has shown that he has the best interests of the township 
and county of his home at heart and is earnestly devoted to the 
substantial and enduring welfare of all their people. 

Mr. Herrin was born in this county in 1847. His father, James 
S. Herrin, was born and reared in Kentucky and came to Missouri to 
live in 1840. His grandparents came to this country in their early 
married life from Germany and took up their residence in Kentucky 
when that state was still a part of the great undeveloped West and 
much of it yet bore on its face the rugged aspects of Nature in her 
condition of primal wildness. It was a part of their destiny to help 
to smooth that rough face and reduce that wild condition to subjection, 
to bring the rich and responsive soil to systematic productiveness and 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 387 

render it fragrant with the flowers and bounteous with the fruits of 
cultivated Hfe. They did their part with zeal and fidelity, and in his 
turn their son repeated on the virgin soil of Missouri what they had 
accomplished on that of Kentucky. Before leaving his native state he 
was united in ruarriage with one of its fair daughters, Miss Eebecca 
Truitt, who aided him greatly in planting their new home in a region 
strange to them, and gave to the duties of the household, remote from 
all their former ties and associations, the same diligent care and self- 
sacrificing devotion that he bestowed upon those of the field and stock 
range. They had ten children, three of whom are living : Melvina, the 
wife of Benjamin Williams who died in November, 1909; Millie, the 
wife of Joseph Agee; Clark, the immediate subject of this sketch; and 
Eebecca, the wife of H. B. White. The mother died on xlugust 7, 1866, 
and the father on March 2, 1876. 

Clark Herrin grew to manhood on his father's farm and took part 
in the cultivation of it from an early age. When he could be spared 
from its exacting labors, during the winter months of a few years, he 
attended the country school near his home, and in this he obtained all 
the scholastic training he had opportunity for. Soon after leaving 
school he began farming on his own account and raising live stock in 
connection with his farming operations. He has ever since been actively 
and profitably engaged in these pursuits, and it is sufficient proof that 
he has been successful to state that he started with nothing but his 
own ability and determination to win, and that he now owns and culti- 
vates over eighty acres of good land, which he has brought to a high 
state of productiveness and has improved with comfortable and com- 
modious buildings and other necessary structures; and to add that his 
stock industry has grown from a very small beginning to proportions 
of magnitude with a corresponding increase in profits and value. All 
he has he has acquired through his own industry, capacity and skill, 
without the aid of favoring circumstances or any special bounty of 
fortune. He seized his opportiinities.as they came and made the most 
of them for his own advantage, trusting nothing to chance, but doing 
his own duty fully in every particular in connection with his work. By 
this means he has risen to the first rank among the skillful and pro- 
gressive farmers of his township, and his example has been a stimuh^s 
and a help to many others. 

In the public affairs of the region in which he lives he has always 
taken a very active and helpful part for the good of the community. 
No undertaking of value in which the welfare of the ]ieople has been 
involved has been without his active aid, and all his elforts have been 



388 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

governed by intelligence, wisdom and breadth of view. He has served 
the people faithfully as a member of the school board for more than 
five years, and in many other ways has contributed to their substantial 
benefit and advancement. His political allegiance is given finnly to 
the Democratic party and he is at all times zealous and active in its 
service, doing what he can to promote its success and further the 
interests of its candidates, although he is not himself desirous of hold- 
ing oifice. In church connection he is a member of the Missionary 
Baptist church, and to that also he gives a due share of his time and 
service. In 1871 he was married to ]\liss Drusilla "White, a lady of 
Macon county nativity and parentage. They had six children three 
of whom are living, their daughter Minnie, their son Ellis and their 
daughter Margaret, who is the wife of Joseph Bealmer. The mother 
of these children died on April 3, 1 909. 

WILLIAM V. CORBIN. 

On this land of many climates, comprehensive resources and 
almost boundless possibilities, Nature has bestowed her treasures with 
unstinted prodigality and in endless variety. But she exacts her i)rice 
for them, and does not yield them up to any, however ardent their 
desire, unless they pay what she demands. This comprises industry, 
skill, endurance and the commanding might of mind. It embraces both 
technical and practical knowledge and energy in the application of 
both, with what has aptly been called "the passion of great men," 
patience in waiting for results. In the measure in which men or com- 
munities possess these attributes and place them in action she is free 
with her bounty and well pleased to dispense it. 

William V. Corbin of Independence township is one of the resolute 
and determined men of Macon county who have found the way to her 
storehouse and wrung from her a liberal share of its contents. He is 
a self-made man in the best sense of the expression, having made his 
own way in the world without the aid of favorable circumstances or 
outside aid of any kind, and in doing this has displayed the ciualities 
of head and heart that Nature has held her gifts in reservation for. 
Such men are always a credit to th^nselves and a benefit to the com- 
munities in which their activities are employed. They do things of 
value and by their influence and example they awaken and set in motion 
productive forces in others. 

Mr. Corbin was born in l\Iacon county on October 4, 1865. His par- 
ents were James and Millie (Mayhew) Corbin. The father was a 
native of Kentucky, and came from that state to Missouri in early 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 389 

life. Thej' were progressive farmers aud useful citizens here, repeat- 
ing in the soil of Missouri the serviceable performances of their fore- 
fathers on that of Kentucky. Both died in this county in 1874. They 
were the parents of six children live of whom are living: Cytha, the 
wife of J. S. Butler; AVilliam V., the immediate subject of this memoir; 
Emma, the wife of E. Posey; Lou M., and Etta, the wife of Willard 
Buster. 

William V. Corbin came into being a few months after the close 
of the Civil war and passed his boyhood amid some of the scenes of 
the desolation it wrought. The times were hard in all that section of 
the country that was just lieginning to recover from the waste of its 
resources and the paralysis of its energies occasioned by sanguinary 
sectional strife, and the bare necessaries of life were often difficult to 
obtain. There was therefore but little opportunity for more than the 
most elementary schooling for the children of the depleted border, and 
this was all that young Corbin was able to get in the way of scholastic 
training. His share of even this was small and his chance of securing 
any was of short duration. He left school early and began to earn his 
own living and aid in the support of the family by working on the 
farm. In a few years, through his industry and frugality, he got a 
start and was able to begin farming for himself. He has been engaged 
in this industry, with stock-raising as an allied business, ever since, and 
has been very successful in his efforts. He bestows on his farm work 
and his stock industry all the labor and care his energetic nature impels 
him to, and he applies his attention to them in a systematic and pro- 
gressive manner. His farm embraces 160 acres and is all under 
advanced cultivation except what is needed for grazing purposes, and 
it is also well improved with good buildings and fully equipped with the 
most approved modern appliances for the work that has to be done on 
it. It is one of the most valuable and desirable farms of its size in the 
township. 

Wliile working out his own progress Mr. Corbin has not neglected 
that of the locality in which he lives. He has been one of the foremost 
men in the energetic and practical support of every worthy enterprise 
for the improvement of the county and the benefit of its people. In 
public affairs he has at all times taken an earnest and serviceable inter- 
est, doing excellent work in behalf of the cause of public education 
for fifteen years as a member of the school board, and in many other 
ways adding the force of his influence and his inspiring example to the 
agencies at work for the general weal of the region around him. In 



390 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

politics he is a Democrat, in fraternal life an Odd Fellow, and in 
religious connection a member of the Christian church. 

Mr. Corbin has been married twice. In 1889 he was united with 
Miss Sula B. Shaver, a native of Macon county. They had two chil- 
dren, their son William H. and their daughter Vear M. The mother of 
these children died in 1896, and in 1897 the father was married to Miss 
Mealia Steele, who, also, was born and reared in this county. Three 
children have blessed their union, their son Arthur and their daughters 
Lottie and May, all of whom are members of the family circle and 
attending school. 

^ JOHN D. EPPERSON. 

Farmer, merchant and public official, and making an excellent 
record in each line of action, John D. Epperson of Independence town- 
ship well deserves the high reputation he has as a man of sterling 
worth and a citizen of pronounced progressiveness and usefulness. The 
greater part of his life to the present time has been passed in Macon 
county and in productive industry among its people. He has shown 
that he is a man of resources and ability, and he is esteemed by his 
fellow citizens accordingly. 

Mr. Epperson was born in Putnam county, Missouri, in 1857, and 
in a son of John B. and Lucy (Bunch) Epperson, natives of Kentucky, 
but long residents of this state. They were well-to-do farmers here, 
as their forefathers were in the state of their nativity, and they gave 
encouragement and active aid to every project which they deemed 
worthy for the development and improvement of the locality in which 
they lived. The father died in 1888, and the mother is still living. They 
were the parents of eleven children, nine of whom are living: James 
M., John D., Joel B., William 0., Sarah F., the wife of T. C. Doggett, 
Alonzo F., Walter D., Gilbert B. and Edith, the wife of Howard Dog- 
gett. In their several localities and lines of endeavor they are all adding 
to the wealth and importance of the country and giving estimable 
examples of good citizenship. 

The family is not without the dramatic element in its history. Mr. 
Epperson's maternal grandfather, John Bunch, was a colonel in the 
Mexican war and bore himself gallantly in many of the brilliant battles 
of that short but decisive international conflict, and, like most of the 
others of our soldiers who survived it, came home crowned with the 
plaudits of the whole American people for the manner in which they had 
vindicated the honor of our country and added to the glory of its citizen 
soldiery. 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 391 

John D. EjDperson attained his manhood on his father's farm and 
secured his education at the country schools in its vicinity. He expected 
to be a farmer all his life, and deemed it best to devote himself to his 
chosen vocation at the earliest practicable date. Therefore, if he had 
any strong desire for more extensive scholastic attainments, he put them 
resolutely aside and turned his attention to farming as soon as he 
completed the limited course of instruction available to him in the great 
"university of the people," the common schools. But he did not close 
his eyes to opportunities in other lines of iDroductive usefulness, and 
after farming and raising stock exclusively for a niunber of years he 
became a merchant, also, in 1901, locating at Ethel and handling poul- 
try and produce'. Two years later he entered upon a larger enter- 
prise in the mercantile world, engaging in general merchandising at 
Cottage. He was connected with this business there for three years 
and then returned to farming, in which he has ever since been actively 
and profitably occupied. His farm comprises sixty acres and, in connec- 
tion with its advanced cultivation, he carries on a very comfortable and 
successful business in raising live-stock for the general markets. 

Like all other good citizens who have the welfare of their country 
at heart, Mr. E]3person takes an active part in politics. He is a Demo- 
crat and a wheelhorse in the service of his party. It has found his 
services worthy of high appreciation and himself capable of reflecting 
credit on it and benefiting the public in the discharge of official duties 
of importance and responsibility. He has been deputy assessor of the 
county for over five years and a member of the school board for more 
than three. He also served as road overseer nearly four years, and was 
recently elected a justice of the peace, but declined the office. His 
fraternal connection is with the Modern Woodmen of America and his 
religious affiliation with the Primitive Baptist church. His lodge and 
the congregation to which he belongs in his church receive a due 
share of his attention and both acknowledge the value of his service in 
all their worthy undertakings. 

In November, 1875, Mr. Epperson was united in marriage with 
Miss Elizabeth King, a native of Macon county, as her parents were, 
also. By their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Epperson became the parents 
of three children, but only two of them are living, Stella B., who is the 
wife of James Enyeart, and Calla M., who is the wife of J. R. Sunder- 
land. The parents and their daughters all stand high in the regard 
of the people around them and well deserve the esteem in which they 
are held. They are public spirited and progressive in behalf of their 
townshiji and county, liberal and judicious in the support of all good 



392 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

enterprises, aud zealous in efforts to augment and intensify the power 
of all commendable agencies at work in the communities of their 
several homes. 

^ RICHARD S. MATTHEWS. 

Judge Matthews, the subject of this sketch, is a scion of one of the 
sterling pioneer families of Missouri, which fine old commonwealth 
has represented his home from the time of his nativity to the present. 
He was born on a farm in Randolph county, this state, on the 14th 
day of July, 1847, and is a son of Richard Newman Matthews and 
Minerva Grundy (Phelps) Matthews, the former of whom was born 
and reared in Fauquier county, Virginia, a member of one of the old 
and honored families of that fine old commonwealth in which was cra- 
dled so much of our national history, and the latter of whom was born 
and reared in Oldham county, in the state of Kentucky. They were 
married in Randolph county, in the state of Missouri, and made their 
home from that time in Randoli:)h county, where the father became a 
successful agriculturist and merchant and a man of prominence and 
influence in his section. Richard N. Matthews was originally a Whig 
and later a Democrat in his political allegiance, but he never desired or 
held public office. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity. He was 
born October 12, 1812, and passed the closing years of his life in Ran- 
dolph county, this state, where he died July 19, 1894, at a venerable 
age. His cherished and devoted wife was born September 22, 1822, and 
was summoned to eternal rest August 16, 1887, and their two sons sur- 
vive them, the subject of this review being the younger. Robert H. is 
a resident of Cairo, Randolj^h county, Missouri, and is engaged in 
farming. 

Richard S. Matthews, to whom this review is dedicated, gained his 
preliminary education in the schools of his native county, and in the 
furtherance of his academic training he was matriculated in jMcGee 
College at College Mound, Macon county, in which well-ordered insti- 
tution he continued a student for four years, and graduated from that 
institution. After leaving college he became a teacher in the same 
college for three years. In the meanwhile he had taken up the study 
of law, during the summer vacations, and read law under the effective 
preceptorship of Judge John W. Henry and Col. John F. Williams of 
Macon, Missouri, and in August, 1873 he demonstrated his eligibility 
for and was admitted to the bar of his native state, upon examination 
before Judge George H. Burkhart, of Randolph county. On the 1st of 
the following month he opened an office in Macon, and here he soon built 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUXTY 393 

up a satisfactory professional business. He gained a large and 
imi)ortant clientage and he today controls an enviable practice 
both as a trial lawyer and counselor. He has been a close and appreci- 
ative student and has ever given much care to the preparation of his 
cases, being fortified by broad and exact knowledge of the science of 
jurisprudence and showing marked versatility and power in the appli- 
cation of such knowledge. He has continuously given his attention to 
the active woi-k of his profession, and for thirty-six years has been 
actively engaged in the practice of law at the City of Macon, and he 
stands today as one of the able and representative members of his pro- 
fession in this section of the state, where he has ever maintained an 
inviolable hold upon j^opular confidence and esteem, having ordered 
his course according to the Inghest principles of integrity and honor. 

Judge Matthews lias been active in the promotion of the cause of the 
Democrat party and is one of its recognized leaders in his county. In 
1878 he was elected judge of probate, and he continued incumbent 
of this office for three consecutive terms, representing a period of twelve 
years. He handled the affairs of the office with great ability and dis- 
crimination and liis record in the same redounded to his credit and to 
the efficiency of service in this important branch of the County govern- 
ment. While Judge of the Probate Court he continued the practice 
of law in otlier courts. He also served twelve years as school director 
of Macon, and he has ever given his aid and influence in support of all 
that has touched the best interests of his home city and county. He is 
the owner of a considerable amount of productive land in Macon and 
Eandolph counties and gives a general supervision to his farming inter- 
ests. He is largely interested in horticulture, and has given it con- 
siderable attention. He is president of the Citizens' Bank of Macon and 
also of the Macon County Abstract Company. His material accumula- 
tions represent the tangible results of his own well directed endeavors, 
and his success has been achieved through worthy means, so that he has 
never been denied the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem 
in the community which has so long represented his home and to 
whose progress he has contrilnited his due quota. He is not a member 
of any secret order or society. Both he and his wife are members of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian ch.urch and are active in the various depart- 
ments of its work as well as liberal in the support of its collateral 
benevolences. 

On the 21st of August, 1872, was solemnized the marriage of Judge 
Matthews to Miss Martha Aimada Gilstrap, who was born and reared 
in Macon county and who is a daughter of Col. Abner Lee Gilstrap 



394 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

and Julian Ann (Cook) Gilstrap, who here continued to reside until 
her death. Her father was a prominent lawyer of the state, and filled 
a number of official positions of trust and honor. Miss Martha Armada 
Gilstrap, to whom Judge Matthews was married, went to and was a 
graduate of the same college as her husband. Judge and Mrs. Matthews 
became the parents of four children, concerning whom the following 
brief data are entered: Orlow Bertrand, who was a graduate from 
Cumberland University, in Tennessee, with the degree of A. B., and who 
had been admitted to the bar of Missouri, died soon thereafter of 
typhoid fever, on the 7th of October, 1897, at which time he was twenty- 
four years of age ; Otho P. is one of the representative younger mem- 
bers of the Macon county bar and is associated with his father in prac- 
tice, and is a graduate from the same university as his brother, Orlow 
B. He was married to Miss Mary Alby Anderson, of Palmyra, Mis- 
souri, December 25th, 1901. She is a descendant of one of the old and 
honored families of Missouri. Corinne and Eichard Lee remain at the 
parental home. Richard Lee is a young business man, with good edu- 
cation and business qualifications. After finishing his studies in the 
Macon Public School he went to Missouri Valley College, and after- 
wards attended the State University at Columbia, Missouri. Corinne, 
.after graduating from the Macon High School, completed her educa- 
tion in Monticello Seminary at Godfx'y, Illinois. 

JAMES THOMAS MATHIS. 

Although neither a pioneer himself nor the son of one, James T. 
Mathis, whose farm of over 100 acres, located in Independence town- 
ship, is one of the model country homes of Macon county, had noted pio- 
neers among his ancestors on both sides of the house, and inherited 
their spirit of endurance, self-sacrificing industry, conquest and 
improvement. He has contributed essentially and substantially to the 
development and enrichment of the region in which he has his home, 
and through its advancement to the progress and aggrandizement of 
the whole state. 

Mr. Mathis is a native of Macon county and was born on Decem- 
ber 10, 1879. His parents, John and Elizabeth (Hall) Mathis, were 
also born and reared in this county, and here they i)assed the whole 
of their married life, the father ending his days in August, 1883, amid 
the scenes of his useful labors and rich in the esteem of the whole 
people. He was a farmer and a very active man in connection with 
everythir.g in which the enduring welfare of the toAvnship and county 
were involved. His father was born and reared in North Carolina, 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUls'TY 395 

aud moved from that state to Kentucky in his early manhood. He was 
married to a Kentucky lady, whose family had been domesticated in the 
state for one or two generations before her birth. In 1890 she was 
married a second time. 

James T. Mathis was the only child of his father, and grew to man- 
hood on the parental homestead. He obtained his education in the coun- 
try schools in the neighborhood of his liome, and as soon as he left 
school began farming, for a time with his father and afterward on 
his own account, continuing his operations in this line of activity until 
1907, when he started the mercantile establishment of which he is still 
the proprietor and enterprising manager. He still owns his farm, 
however, and oversees its cultivation and also gives his personal atten- 
tion to the thriving live-stock industry conducted on it. His store 
is located in the progressive village of Cottage, and is in keeping 
with the wideawake aud enterprising, people of that neighborhood who 
patronize it. Mr. Mathis holds high rank as a very energetic and 
thoroughly up-to-date merchant, keeping his stock at all times up to the 
full requirements of the community and conducting all his dealings with 
the utmost fairness and propriety. 

The farm interests aud the mercantile engagements which require 
the attention of Mr. Mathis are extensive and exacting, aud he gives 
them all the most careful and intelligent attention, neglecting nothing 
in connection with them that good business management demands. But 
he does not allow them to wholly engross him, or put away from his 
view the interests of the community in a general way. Every under- 
taking in which the progress and elevation of the township and county 
are involved has his earnest, active and stimulating support, whether 
it be connected with the industrial, the moral, the mental or the civil 
and social life of the community. In politics he is a Democrat of firm 
convictions and is always zealous and effective in the service of his 
party. He is at this time (1910) its county committeeman for Inde- 
pendence township and his leadership in that section is recognized 
as wise and potential. As a member of the school board for over six 
years, and during most of that period its clerk, he rendered excellent 
and highly valued service to one of the most esteemed and useful public 
institutions the people have, the public school system. In fraternal life 
he is prominently connected with the INIodern Woodmen of America. 
On December 24, 1899, he was married to Miss Morah Scott, a native 
of this county, where her mother also was born, the father being a 
native of Ohio. Two daughters have blessed the union. Hazel, who 
is now eight years old, and Daphne, who is six. 



396 HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 

" CHARLES TIMOTHY SNOW. 

The interesting subject of this brief memoir belongs to a family 
whose members have borne important parts in the later history and 
development of Macon county and have met every requirement of duty 
in ijublic and private life with fidelity, capacity and breadth of view. 
They have shown ability to advance their own fortunes in a way that 
has commanded the approval and admiration of the people around 
them, and at the same time have exhibited an intelligent and broad- 
minded interest in the general welfare of the community of their home, 
which has been fruitful of good results to it and in the highest degree 
creditable to them. A short history of the family will be found in 
a sketch of Edgar Snow, which appears elsewhere in this volume. 

Charles T. Snow is a brother of Edgar Snow. He was born in 
Kalamazoo, Michigan, in July, 1863, and came with his parents to 
Missouri and Macon county in his boyhood. He obtained his academic 
training in the public schools of the village of Economy and St. James 
Academy, of Macon, and, after completing it, engaged in farming for 
a few years. Mercantile life presented many attractions to him and 
laid strong temptations in his way. In 1884 he surrendered to its 
persuasiveness and joined his brother, E. 0. Snow, in general mer- 
chandizing. The partnership lasted until December 1, 1887, when 
Charles T. sold his interests in the business and returned to the culti- 
vation of his farm. This embraces 395 acres and is well improved 
and provided with every appliance for its systematic and vigorous cul- 
tivation according to the most approved modern methods. Mr. Snow 
is unceasing in his industry, wise and prudent in his management 
and very progressive in his enterprise. And the returns from his 
husbandry are commensurate with the outlay of time, energy and intel- 
ligence he makes to secure them. In connection with his farming opera- 
tions he carries on an extensive and jDrofitable industiy in raising 
live-stock for shijiment to the Eastern markets, in which his jiroduct 
has a high rank and an excellent reputation. He is also a stockholder 
in the Atlanta State Bank and connected with other institutions of value 
to the community. 

In addition to taking a very earnest interest and a very helpful 
part in the local public affairs of the township and county, and doing all 
in his power to promote the substantial welfare of both, Mr. Snow has 
a deep and intense solicitude for the good of the whole country. He is 
a Republican in political relations and always manifests his interest in 
the success of his party by ardent and effective efforts to aid in bring- 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 397 

ing that about. He rendered the township excellent service for more 
than ten years as a member of the school board and an intelligent 
and studious devotion to the welfare of the schools. Another way in 
which he has been of signal sei'vice to the people has been as presi- 
dent and one of the promoters of the Union Telephone Company, which 
has been developed under their management to the highest degree of 
efficiency and become one of the prime necessaries of daily life to the 
business, social and domestic interests of the territory throughout which 
it operates. 

In 1884 Mr. Snow was united in marriage with Miss Laura E. 
Moody, who was born, reared and educated in Macon county. They 
have had two children, but the only one living is their son, Ra^anond 
M. Like his parents, he is well esteemed in all parts of the county, 
and, like them, he shows in his daily demeanor a coi-dial interest in the 
welfare of the region in which his lot has been cast and all the lofty 
attributes of the best American citizenship, as all other members and 
connections of the family do. In the spring of 1910 he moved to 
Atlanta, where he now makes his home. 

^ F. L. EEYNOLDS. 

From the time when he was two years old, F. L. Reynolds, now 
one of the energetic and enterprising merchants of Economy, and 
also a prominent and progressive farmer of Lyda township, has been 
a resident of this county. He was born at Galesburg, Illinois, in 1874, 
and was brought by his pai'ents to Missouri and Macon county in 1876. 
He is a son of Stephen and Mattie (Franklin) Reynolds, the former 
a native of Ohio and the latter of Illinois. They had four children 
and three of them are living, Simeon, F. L. and Sadie, the wife of H. 
Ferguson, of Iowa. The father was a Republican in his political rela- 
tions and at all times took a very active part in the campaigns and 
councils of his party. He was a blacksmith in occnjaation and for years 
conducted one of the best known shops in the county. It was located 
in Atlanta and laid a very large extent of the surrounding coimtry 
under tribute to its trade, for the proprietor was known far and wide 
as an excellent mechanic, and also as a citizen with a store of worldly 
wisdom and a cordial and helpful interest in the affairs of the whole 
region in which he was conducting his Imsiness. He died in 1899, 
having survived by seven years his wife, who passed away in 1892. 

Their son, F. L. Reynolds, was reared in Atlanta and obtained 
his education in its public schools. After leaving school he at once 
took up the struggle for advancement among men for himself, working 



398 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

out on farms in the neigliborhood of Lis home for his board and clothes 
for a few years. He was industrious and frugal, losing no time that he 
could employ usefully, and wasting no money in frivolity or pleasure. 
His progress was slow and painful for awhile, but as soon as he got 
a start he was able to put his reserve force in action and then the 
advance became more rapid, regular and productive. It has been 
steady and continuous ever since, bringing Mr. Eeynolds into greater 
and greater prominence as a man and citizen and establishing him more 
and more firmly in the regard and good will of the people all around 
him. They saw that he was a man of thrift and enterprise, and they 
soon learned that he had a strong and abiding interest in whatever 
concerned the substantial and enduring welfare of the township and 
county, or the progress and comfort of its inhabitants. 

Mr. Reynolds now owns and cultivates 110 acres of superior land 
and is extensively engaged in raising stock. He is also connected in a 
leading way with the mercantile life of the community as a produce 
and commission merchant of high rank and great activity. In his 
political faith he leans to the Republican party, but is rather inde- 
pendent. He always takes an earnest interest in political affairs and 
is an energetic worker for the side he favors ; but the good of the com- 
munity is Ids first consideration and party interests come afterward, if 
at all. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic order, the Wood- 
men of the World, and the Modern Woodmen of America. The relig- 
ious tendencies and acti\ities of the family are manifested through 
Mrs. Reynolds' membership in the Baptist church and her husband's 
liberal support of the worthy undertakings of all denominations. Her 
maiden name was Mattie Wells, and she is a native of Macon county 
and a daughter of Illinois parents. Her marriage with Mr. Eeynolds 
took place in 1899, and they have three children, Tyneth, Luran and 
Amice. All that Mr. Reynolds is as a farmer, business man and citizen 
he has made himself. Fortune never smiled on him unless he com- 
pelled her to by his spirit and enterprise, and he has never enjoyed 
political favors of any kind, for all his life he has steadfastly refused 
to accept a public office of any kind. He is, altogether, a self-made 
man and creditable to the community in which he lives. 

^ WILLIAM HENRY MILLER. 

From his early youth, William Henry Miller, who is now promi- 
nent in the industrial and public life of Economy and Lyda townships, 
in this county, has been obliged to makeliis own way in the world, and 
do it imder circumstances that for years were not only unfavorable 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 39D 

but decidedly adverse. He became an orphan in his childhood by the 
death of his father, but being the only child of his parents, it might 
have been supposed that he would have his pathway through life 
smoothed for him and receive substantial aid in his progress along its 
upward course. Fate decreed otherwise, however, and threw him on 
his own resources at an early age. It is to be said to his credit that he 
accepted her challenge and lifted her gage of battle in the spirit in 
which it was delivered. He took up the burden of life for himself 
cheerfully and has borne it vigorously, judiciously and successfully. 

Mr. Miller is a native of Monroe county, Missouri, where he was 
born on November 6, 1859. His father, William Miller, was also a 
native of that county and was making a good record as an enterprising 
and progressive farmer when death laid low his hopes and ended his 
labors when he was but twenty-five years of age. The mother, whose 
maiden name was Melinda Goodding, assumed the burden of rearing 
their only child, William Henry, with the ardor of a faithful and devoted 
spirit, but her resources were unequal to her desires in the matter, and, 
although she did the best she could under the circumstances, it was 
not enough. Her mother was a native of Macon county also, and 
before the Civil war was in comfortable circumstances, owning extensive 
property and a number of slaves. The war left her almost destitute and 
her oftsiJiing with next to nothing. The Miller household was therefore 
dependent on its own exertions and met its crisis bravely. As soon 
as the son was able he began to provide for himself, and in the meantime 
the mother was married to a second husband. 

The son secured what education he could at the free fountain of 
the public schools, and when he left school worked for a time on 
the farm and in the saw mill belonging to his stepfather. He learned 
the trade of blacksmith, and in 1885 started a shop of his own. He 
won his way from the beginning by very slow and toilsome advances 
at first, but on a smoother way and with greater progress a few years 
later. He is still carrying on his blacksmithing establishment in Econ- 
omy, and is also engaged profitably in farming, the ojierations of the 
farm being largely conducted by his young son, who, although but a 
boy, has the s]3irit of a man and has exhibited a man's capacity for 
work and management, too. 

Mr. Miller trains with the Democratic party in political affairs and 
is one of its most effective and incessant working members. He takes an 
earnest and judicious interest in the local affairs of the township and 
village of his home, and gives all the aid in his power to promote the 
interests of the people who live in them. During the last six years he 



400 HISTOEY OF MACON COUN^TY 

has been a member of the school board and part of that period its 
president. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern "Woodmen of 
America and in religious affiliation with the Baptist church. On Novem- 
ber 6, 1898, he was united in marriage with Miss Ada "Wells, who was 
boxn and reared in this county. Thej' have three children, Emmett, 
Euth and Ealph, all living at home, attending school and assisting in 
the work of the farm and the household. Among the people of Economy 
and Lyda township Mr. Miller stands high as a mechanic, a farmer and 
a citizen. In all relations he is conscientious and upright in the per- 
formance of his duties, with earnest consideration for the general weal, 
as well as for his own advancement. 

JOHNSON MORROAV. 

This gentleman, who is now serving as mayor of Callao, the office 
having sought and taken possession of him much against his will in 
April, 1909, is one of the most esteemed and influential citizens of Macon 
county. He was engaged in merchandising from his early manhood 
until a very recent date, and since leaving that department of human 
endeavor, has been cashier of one of the leading banks in this part of 
the state. In each field of labor he has exhibited fine capacity, great 
enterprise and a sterling worth that have brought him universal com- 
mendation and raised him to a position of leadership among the people. 
He has also labored for the general good while pushing his own affairs 
with success, and been one of the potential factors in promoting the 
development and improvement of the township and county. 

Mr. Morrow is a native of Callao, where he was born on October 24, 
1855. He is the son of Jefferson and ]\Iinervia (Summers) Morrow, a 
brief account of whose useful lives will be found on another page of this 
work. The son grew to manhood and obtained his education in the 
locality of his birth, and as soon as his limited schooling was completed 
began the struggle for advancement among men as a merchant at Bar- 
ryville, in this state. He was also postmaster of the town for eleven 
years. In 1899 he sold his interests at Barryville and moved to Callao, 
where he started a new mercantile enterprise under the name and 
style of Morrow, Fillers & Goodrich, of which he was the head for over 
nine years. On February 1, 1909, he sold out to his partners, Messrs. 
Fillers and Goodrich, and bought the stock of I. B. Jones in the Bank 
of Callao, of which he became the cashier on Jime 1, 1909. The bank 
has been a flourishing and progressive institution fi'om its start, and it 
is certain that its pace in business will not be slackened and its ele- 



■i? "^'l 




V 



IW 





JOHNSON MORROW 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 401 

vated tone in management will not be lowered while its affairs remain 
inider the direction of Mr. Morrow. 

In addition to the active business which occupies him in connection 
with the bank, Mr. Morrow owns and conducts the operations of a large 
farm on which he carries on a protital)le industry in general farming 
and raising high grade Jersey cattle. This enterprise has contributed 
essentially to elevating the standard of cattle in the county and helped 
to bring the industry of stock-growing, as it is carried on in this local- 
ity, into general notice and good esteem throughout a wide extent of 
the surrounding country. Mr. Morrow's herd is one of the best in the 
state and products of it are eagerly sought by purchasers from many 
widely scattered localities. 

In politics Mr. Morrow adheres steadfastly to the Democratic 
faith and shows the strength of his convictions by active service in 
behalf of his party. But he is himself very averse to official life and 
prefers to aid in advancing the cause which he defends and advocates 
from the honorable post of a private station, lighting for its welfare 
among the militant soldiery of its rank and ftle. His feelings and 
desires in tliis respect were overborne, howevei', in April, 1909, when 
against his will and over his protest, he was unanimously elected mayor 
of Callao. Taking the wishes of his fellow citizens of the town as a 
command and imperative call to duty, he accepted the office, and, by 
his wise, straightforward and enterprising administration of its affairs, 
soon fully justified the faith that was so freely and feelingly expressed 
in his election. 

His fraternal affiliations are with the Free Masons and the Knights 
of Pythias, and his religious allegiance is given to the Christian church. 
In the good work of all these organizations he is zealous and service- 
able, and in each his membership is highly appreciated. But his assist- 
ance is not given only to the organizations in which he holds member- 
ship. His hand is ojjen and his influence is freely exerted in behalf of 
every worthy enterprise in which the welfare of the people, or any 
part of them, is involved. Every commendable undertaking for the 
improvement of the community has felt the impulse of his quickening 
si)irit and known the guidance of his excellent judgment, and these 
have been bestowed freely without regard to circumstances, whenever 
the matter in hand has seemed to him worthy of his aid. In 1889 he 
was united in marriage with Miss Melissa E. Vernum, a native of Cal- 
lao and daughter of John A. and Lucy (Spicer) Vernum, both now 
deceased. Seven children have been born in the household and all of 
them are living. They are: Anna, the wife of P. E. Pease, of Callao; 



402 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Samuel F., who is also a resident of Callao ; and Charles W., Helen G., 
Paul, Vivian and Virginia, who still brighten the parental home with 
their presence and help to make it one of the pleasant and characteristic 
social centers of the town. 

^ THEOPHILUS JONES. 

Combining in his make-up the sturdy characteristics of the "Welsh 
people and the enterprise and all-daring determination of America, 
and in his experience a knowledge of the customs, habits and methods 
of thought, together with the industrial pursuits and political aspira- 
tions of the people in different parts of the country, and in his own 
special training the acquisitions gained in several pursuits of varied 
character, l^heophilus Jones came to his present location and occupa- 
tion well prepared for its exactions and capable of holding his own in 
any condition or under any requirements. In his prosperous and 
productive career he has shown that his training was not wasted on 
him, and the seeds of it fell on fruitful ground. 

Mr. Jones is a native of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, a region 
filled with strenuous industrial life and distinguished for the enter- 
prise and progressiveness of its people. He was born there on Feb- 
ruary 21, 1844, and there he grew to manhood and secured his education, 
attending tlie district schools and the university at Lewisburg, Penn- 
sylvania. He is a son of Thomas and Elenor (Williams) Jones, natives 
of Wales, the former born and reared in the southern part of that 
country and the latter in the northern part. They came to Missouri 
in 1870, and here they passed the remainder of their days. They had 
a family of seven children. Three of them are living: Edward I., 
Anna, the wife of E. G. Snow, of Atlanta, and Theophilus. The mother 
died on July 26, 1885, and the father on January 24, 1890. 

After leaving school he was engaged in the mercantile business for 
a few years, finally settled at Vienna, in Macon county, Missouri, and 
has been in the farming and stock-raising business ever since. In this 
dual pursuit in the agricultural interests of the county, he has ever 
since expended his efforts and of it he has made a very gratifying 
success. He is now the owner of about 200 acres of good land, all of 
which is under advanced cultivation, except what is devoted to grazing 
his stock, and all yielding abundant returns for the labor and intelli- 
gence bestowed upon it. 

The affairs of his township and county have greatly interested 
Mr. Jones and he has given them close and careful attention. The 
welfare of the region around liim and that of the people who inhabit it 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 403 

are prime considerations with him and at all times command his most 
earnest and energetic attention. For this reason he has not allied 
himself with any political party specifically, but has kept himself 
free to support the policies and candidates in whose success he has 
believed the best interests of the public were vitally involved. But 
this iudei^endence has not stayed his hand with reference to public 
affairs or lessened his energy in seeking to secure what he has consid- 
ered the best results in every election. He has been a justice of the 
peace since 1878 and a member of the school board more than thirty 
years. He was married in January, 1876, to Miss Edna E. Snow, a 
native of Kalamazoo, Michigan. They became the parents of three 
children, Owen W., Edith E. and Paul L., all of whom are living. Their 
mother died on August 12, 1908. 

^ FISHER H. RICE. 

Owning and cultivating 300 acres of land, excejDt what is reserved 
for grazing purposes, and carrying on his farming indiastry and his 
extensive live-stock business with an enterprise and vigor that com- 
mands success and compels large returns for his outlay of diligence 
and intelligence, Fisher H. Rice, of Independence township, is one 
of the leading agriculturists of Macon county, and both in his contribu- 
tions to its general wealth and consequence and his fine example and 
helpful influence in its public life, is justly regarded as one of its 
most worthy and representative citizens. His life to this time has 
been passed in the county, and here, also, his father lived and labored 
from his birth to his death, and his grandfather spent his best and 
wisest years. 

Mr. Rice was born in Macon county on November 13, 1873, and is 
a son of John W. and Maria (Hayden) Rice, the former of Kentucky 
and the latter of Kentucky ancestry, but both born and reared in this 
county. They had four children, Fisher H., Sadie M., the wife of James 
Montgomery, Rosie and William T. All four are living and exemplify- 
ing in good citizenship and general usefulness the lessons they received 
by admonition and example at the parental fireside. The father was a 
Democrat in his political views and always took an active interest 
in public affairs and the campaigns of his party, rendering it effective 
service and enjoying in a marked degree the confidence and esteem of 
both its leaders and its rank and file. He was a justice of the peace 
for many years, road overseer for several terms and a member of the 
school board for nearly a quarter of a century. He died in December, 



404 HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

1908. The mother is still living, and is regarded with universal venera- 
tion wherever she is known. 

Fisher H. Rice was prepared for the battle of life by careful train- 
ing at home and a limited extent of academic instruction in the country 
schools of the neighborhood. The home training included a full meas- 
ure of participation in the farm work of the homestead, and this was 
immediately useful in giving him strength and suppleness of body and 
independence and self-reliance of spirit. It was permanently service- 
able in giving him intimate practical knowledge of the lines of indus- 
try in which his life was to be spent, and so, when he left school and 
soon afterward began a farming and stock-raising industry of his 
own, he was well qualified and equipped for the undertaking. He 
farmed for a number of years and then conducted a harness-maker's 
establishment at Ethel for two years. In 1897 he sold his interest 
in the harness factory and since then has devoted his whole time and 
energy to faiTuing and his live-stock interests, except what has been 
demanded in hel]jiug to push forward the general progress of the com- 
munity and promote the general welfare of its people. In all things 
pertaining to these he has done his full part as a good citizen, and 
his efforts in their behalf have been highly appreciated by those who 
have had the benetit of them. 

In political relations Mr. Rice is anchored firmly to the Democratic 
party and he is energetic and loyal in his service to it. But he has at 
all times steadfastly refused to consider overtures to become a candi- 
date for political office himself, always preferring to serve the public 
from the honorable post of private citizenship. On August 22, 1900, 
he was married to Miss Anna M. Johnston, a native of this county. 
They have one child, their daughter. Alba, who is now (1909) eight 
years old. The parents mingle freely in the best social circles and are 
universally esteemed. 

JOHN W. THURMAN. 

From the dawn of his manhood until a year or two ago, when he 
retired from all pursuits of strenuous activity, John W. Thuvnian. of 
Independence township, was one of the most energetic and progressive 
farmers of Macon county. His operations were not as extensive as 
those of some other farmers in the county, although they were con- 
siderable, but they were of a h.igh character, advanced in method and 
fruitful in good results for him and the general progress of the region 
in which they were conducted. Mr. Tliurman is a native of Kentucky. 
He was born in 1844. and was brought to Missouri when less than a 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 405 

year old. He grew to mauhood in this portion of tlie state and has 
mingled with its people all his years to this time. He therefore began 
his farming and stock-raising industries with considerable knowledge 
of what was required to develop them to their utmost possibilities, and 
he has applied his knowledge with assiduous industry, good judgment 
and comprehensive breadtli of view. His success is, therefore, the 
logical outcome of ability and intelligence applied skilfully to cir- 
cumstances and conditions whose capabilities and requirements were 
well undei-stood from the start. 

Mr. Thurman is a son of Samuel and Emma (Lee) Thurman, 
natives of Kentucky, who came to this state in 18-15 and followed 
farming for a livelihood until death ended their labors, the mother 
passing away in 1888 and the father in 1900. They had thirteen chil- 
dren, but only three of them are living now: James T., John W. and 
Francis E. Having arrived in this part of the country while it was yet 
on or near the frontier, with all its forms of government and civil insti- 
tutions still crude and unsystematized, the father was called upon to 
take an important part in public affairs in the locality, and he won gen- 
eral esteem and approbation for the valuable services he rendered in 
this respect, and his name is held in appreciative remembrance among 
all classes of the people. 

His son, John W. Thurman, grew to manhood on the family home- 
stead and performed with ability and fidelity his full portion of the 
labor it entailed upon the household. He attended the country schools 
of the neighborhood when he had opportunity, and thereby secured 
a fair common school education. The higher walks of academic acquire- 
ment were not open to him, as he lived in a region in which the conquest 
over nature was not yet wholly won and the necessity for continuing 
the struggle with vigor and unceasing attention left small chance 
for other pursuits. But he acquired enough of mental development 
through book learning to serve his needs, and as he had already selected 
farming as his occupation for life, as soon as he left school he began 
to move towai'd an enterprise of his own in this great field of labor. 
For a few years longer he remained with his parents and assisted them 
on the family farm. Then he began oiteratious for himself, and in these 
he was successful from the start. His progress at first was, of course, 
slow and his struggles were arduous. But he was persistent and, after 
a time, the reults were larger and the advance toward comfort and 
consequence became more rapid. He now owns 239 acres of fine land 
and has his farm well improved and thoroughly equipped with the 
most approved im])lements of husbandry. His live-stock industry is 



406 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

also extensive and profitable. It is conducted with vigor and intelli- 
gence, as all Ms undertakings are, with the best results always in view 
and all efforts bent toward securing them. 

Within a short time recently Mr. Thurman has given up all strenu- 
ous activity, giving over the management of his farm and stock inter- 
ests to others while he finds occupation for his mind in looking after 
affairs in which he is interested that do not require intense physical 
activity. He is one of the stockholders and directors of the Bank of 
Atlanta and has other interests in the industrial and financial institu- 
tions of the community. In political faith he is a Democrat, and, while 
devoted to his party in loyal allegiance and faithful service, has always 
refused public office of any kind, except that for the good of the com- 
munity he consented to serve as one of the school trustees for a period 
of eight years. During the last eighteen years he has been an active 
member of the Order of Odd Fellows, and for a much longer time one 
of the zealous and energetic working forces in the Southern Methodist 
church. In March, 1874, he was married to Miss Paulina Bennett, a 
native of Schuyler county, Missouri, and a daughter of Virginia and 
North Carolina parentage. Four children blessed the union and bright- 
ened the family circle : Luvella, now the wife of J. F. Seney, Harvey, 
Ezekiel and Ira. 



• ' "^ JAMES H. ELLIOTT. 

As a representative man among the promoters of one of the leading 
industries of Macon county, James H. Elliott, of Independence town- 
ship, has an elevated and firmly fixed place in the public esteem and 
well deserves it. He is one of the leading farmers of his township and 
conducts his operations in the most progressive and enlightened way. 
They are profitable to him because by his skill and enterprise he makes 
them so ; and they are beneficial to the region around him because they 
contribute to its wealth, prosperity and influence, and also because 
the force of his stimulating example produces and quickens activity 
and progress in others. 

Mr. Elliott was born in Macon county in 1872, and is a scion of good 
old Kentucky families, whose farming operations on the fertile soil of 
the Blue Grass state helped its progress toward its present high state of 
development, commercial greatness and political influence for several 
generations prior to the advent of any of their members into the indus- 
trial life of Missouri. Mr. Elliott's father, George Elliott, accom- 
panied his parents from their Kentucky home to Missouri when he 



s 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 407 

was a boy. The family located in Macon county, and here he grew 
to manhood and became a farmer. He is still living and still actively 
engaged in tilling the soil and raising cattle and other live-stock. He 
was married to Miss Sarah Herrin, and they became the parents of 
four children, Cora, the wife of Thomas Tate, James H., George and 
Ada, all of whom are living. 

James H. Elliott has passed the whole of his life to this time in 
]\Iacou county, the boyhood and youth on his father's farm and the 
mature years on one of his own. He secured a limited education in 
tlie country schools — all that their facilities and his opportunities could 
give him — but it has served his purpose well and been of great serv- 
ice to him. It taught him the value of intelligence and how to get it, 
and the lesson has not been lost upon him. He has been a man of read- 
ing and reflection, especially in the line of his business, and has a con- 
siderable fund of general information, with special acquisitions con- 
cerning agricultural life and the live-stock industry, in both of which 
he is energetically engaged. He has a fine farm of 120 acres, not far 
from the town of Atlanta, and in its condition of advanced development, 
rich productiveness and high state of improvement it is very credit- 
able as a product of his enterprise and wisdom, good taste and breadth 
of view, and is also creditable to the township in which it is located 
as one of its representative country homes. 

Mr. Elliott is in no sense an empiric or an experimenter in any 
sentimental significance. But he has intellectual hospitality and wel- 
comes every new idea that seems commendable to him and gives it a 
chance in use to prove its value. He is progressive in his farming 
and his stock-breeding, and endeavors to keep abreast with the most 
advanced thought and discoverj^ in both lines of endeavor. He is pro- 
gressive for the community, too, as well as for himself, and omits no 
effort he is able to make in the way of promoting its welfare and prog- 
ress. As a member of the local school board he has been of great 
service to the people, and in all other ways he has looked upon their 
best interests as closely allied with his own. In politics he is an active 
working Democrat, eager for the success of his party and zealous in its 
service. In 189-1 he was married to Miss Myrtle Bealmer, a native of 
this county, but of Kentucky ancestry. They have one child, their son, 
Ernest, who is attending school. The parents stand well in social 
life, are regarded as worthy of all esteem in every attribute of their 
citizenship, and are looked upon as among the most useful of the 
township's population. 



408 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

V ANDEEW TAYLOR STILL, D. 0. 

All Macon county men who have won distinction are entitled to 
have their record set forth in any work that chums to be in any sense 
an account of the lives of the county's lorogressive men, and the 
means and efforts by which its development and progress have been 
achieved. No work of the character of this publication would be com- 
plete without some mention of Dr. A. T. Still, the founder of the oste- 
opathic school of medical treatment and now head of the American 
School of Osteopathy at Kirksville, jMissouri, which was chartered 
by the state in 1894. Like other men who broached a new theory in 
science which disturbs long established beliefs and old prejudices, Dr. 
Still was obliged to win his way to success and popular approval 
through tribulations and o]iposition that sometimes amoimted almost 
to persecution. But he felt that he had conceived something of great 
value to mankind, and he persevered in his efforts to make it known and 
established its worth in spite of all opposing forces, and he is now 
firmly fixed in iwpular esteem as the discoverer of a new system and 
one of its most accomplished and capable practitioners to be foimd in 
the whole country. 

Dr. Still was born in Lee county, Virginia, August 6, 1828, and is 
a sou of Rev. Abram Still, a Methodist minister and doctor of medicines, 
who moved his family to New ]\Iarket, Tennessee, in 1834. There 
Dr. A. T. Still became a student at Holston college, in which he con- 
tinued the scholastic training he had begun in a little log schoolhouse 
in his native state. In 1837 the father was sent by the conference to 
which he belonged as a missionary to ^Missouri and moved his family 
to this state, making the journey overland with teams and consuming 
seven weeks in the trip. He located in Macon county, where he was 
one of the first settlers. He traveled all over the country, new and 
trackless as it was, preaching the gospel to the people in his ministerial 
capacity and tending the sick as a doctor, in lioth lines of activity doing 
a great deal of good. He founded seven churches in this wild territory 
and was the pastor of all of them. He took \i]i a large track of land 
near Barnesville, in Independence township, and a few years later 
built on it a large two-story house of hewed logs, which was one of the 
most commodious and imposing in all this region at tbe time, and was so 
well built that, although it is more than sixty years old, it scarcely 
shows any signs of age or wear. 

The children of the family attended the subscription schools of the 
])ei-iod, and in them the future doctor completed his academic educa- 
tion and cpialilied himself to become a teacher himself. He taught for 




ANDREW T, STILL 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 409 

some time in a primitive log building, although a new one, about 
one mile west of Baruesville, and was successful in the work. Among 
the men who have since risen to prominence that attended his school 
is Dr. J. F. Gross of Callao, a sketch of whom will be found in this work. 
In 1849 Dr. Still was united in marriage with Miss Mary Vaughn, a 
sister of "Aunt Fannie" Edwards, who now lives in Macon. She 
died September 29, 1859 leaving one daughter, Mrs. John Cowgill now 
living in Ottawa, Kansas, and in 1852 he moved his family to Kansas, 
where he practiced medicine in company with his father, having pre- 
]iared himself for the profession while teaching school and afterward. 
He also farmed while living in Kansas and took part in everything 
of iniblic importance which occurred in the region of his home. His 
jiractice was mainly among the Shawnee Indians, with whom he was 
on very friendly terms. On Nevember 24, 1860 Dr. Still contracted a 
second marriage, the lady of this choice being Mary E. Turner. Four 
children of this union are still living, and all reside at Kirksville, 
Missouri. 

Dr. Still always had a deep and abiding interest in the welfare of 
the country, and when the Civil war broke out he promptly followed 
his i)olitical convictions to the battlefield and fought for them as 
valiantly as any soldier in the service. After the war he renewed his 
activity as a physician and farmer and also operated a saw mill some 
time and continued to grow into prominence among the people. He 
was a member of the committee ap])ointed to locate the University of 
The M. E. Church at Baldwin, Kansas, and being skillful as a car- 
penter and builder, he helped to saw the lumber and put up the buildings 
of this institution. He also served in the Kansas legislature in 1857-58. 

For a number of years before making any announcement of his the- 
ory of healing diseases without medicine, to which he gave the name of 
osteopathy, he was a diligent student of it in all its bearings. At length he 
announced it and began to teach it. He then traveled from place to 
]jlace in Alissouri, ]iracticing his theory and making many remarkable 
cures. Some of these appeared so remarkable to the people that they 
attributed supernatural power to him and became afraid to say aught 
against him lest he do them some harm. But he persevered in his 
efforts and in time overcame all opposition and gained a lai-ge number 
of followers. He established a school at Kirksville and had students 
from all parts of the country, and this finally expanded into the pre- 
sent American School of Osteopathy, the parent institution of the new 
school of medicine which he founded, and which now has zealous practi- 
tioners in every state and almost every countj^ in the United States. 



410 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

The main building of the institution is a large and well arranged 
structure which cost more than $80,000, and is well adapted to the uses 
for which it was erected, also an up-to-date hospital at a cost 
of over $75,000. The school is flourishing, and the man who 
founded it is living in comfort after so many trials, in high 
esteem after so much obloquy in a handsome residence after pass- 
ing many years of his earlier life in log cabins, many of 
which he helped to build. His life record is the old story of opposition 
to truth which has not been long established, persecution of faith which 
the world has not tested, misrepresentation and abuse for doing good 
in a manner that is new to the public. Its later chapters are, however,- 
different from those in the lives of many martyrs, for they record 
triumphant success and complete vindication from all that was ever 
said in the earlier parts, and the general acceptance of views which 
scarcely anybody would tolerate when they were first made known by the 
practical genius who thought them out. 

JOHN WESLEY WIGGANS. 

All of the forty years of life that have so far been vouchsafed to 
this very progressive and successful farmer of Independence town- 
ship, in this county, have been passed in the county and all of his activ- 
ities have been employed in the commendable work of helping to build 
up and develop it and advance the best interests of its people. He 
was born and reared in Macon county, obtained his education in its 
public schools, married one of its native daughters, and has been 
engaged all of his mature life in tilling a portion of its soil as his 
own particular and ])roductive enterprise. He has also been active 
and serviceable in its public life, and has ministered to the welfare 
of its people by ability and fidelity in a niimber of public offices. Mr. 
Wiggans is, therefore, wholly a product of the county, and is thoroughly 
imbued with the spirit, desires and aspirations of its inhabitants, and 
truly representative of the best that is in them. 

The useful life of John Wesley Wiggans began on May 1, 1869. 
His father, William Harrison AViggans, was born in Indiana and 
brought to Missouri by his parents when he was but five years old. 
He ]iassed his life as a farmer in this county, ranking well among 
its enterprising agriculturists and standing high in the regard of the 
people as a citizen. In 1846 he was married to Miss Clara Johnson, 
and by this marriage became the father of four children, but two of 
whom are living: Elizabeth, the wife of John Bennett, of ChilLicothe, 
and Matilda, the wife of John Faught, of Atlanta. Their mother 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 411 

died in 1857, and in September, 1860, the father married a second time, 
being united on this occasion with Miss Jane B. Russell. Of the sec- 
ond marriage eight children were born, and of these but three are liv- 
ing: John W. ; Nancy, the wife of Henry Collins, of Atlanta, and 
Arzella, the wife of Bert Clough. The father died on July 28, 1887, 
and his widow in 1890. 

Their son, John Wesley Wiggans, grew to manhood on his father's 
farm, assisting in its labors during his boyhood and youth, and attend- 
ing the country schools in the neighborhood when he could get a chance 
for a few weeks during the winter months at intervals. When his 
school days were over he gave his whole attention to farming, for 
awhile in the service and under the direction of his father, and then on 
his own account. He has stuck to his first choice of an occupation 
ever since, allowing no allurement, however rosy, and no temptation, 
however strong, to lead him away from it, and he has won the usual 
reward of constancy and fidelity, success in his undertakings and a 
firm hold on the regard and good will of his fellow-men. His farm 
of ninety acres, located near the town of Atlanta, with its ample 
improvements and full equipment, has risen to great value under 
his careful and intelligent management, and is one of the attractive 
and desirable country homes of the townshii). His live-stock industry 
also flourishes, giving him good returns for his labor in connection 
with it and sustaining and widening the excellent reputations he has in 
the trade for the supei'ior quality of his output. 

Mr. Wiggans is a pronounced Democrat in his political faith and 
adherence, and he is at all times earnestly serviceable to his party. He 
has helped it greatly as a soldier in the ranks for many years, and has 
reflected high credit on it by the able and conscientious performance 
of every duty in a number of different official jjositions. He has been 
township committeeman four years, a member of the school board more 
than eight, and constable for over twelve. In these several positions of 
trust and responsibility he has fully satisfied the people of the town- 
ship by the manner in which he has attended to the public business and 
the straightforwardness and strict integrity of all his official transac- 
tions. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows and warmly attached to his lodge, in the proceedings of 
which he takes a very active part. On July 28, 1897, he was united in 
marriage with Miss Ella Epperley, who was born and reared in this 
county, but whose grandparents came to this state from Kentucky, 
and whose great-grandparents emigrated to the United States from 
Germanj', where their forefathers were domesticated from time imme- 



412 HISTOEY OF MACON COUXTY 

morial. Mr. and Mrs. Wigg-ans have five children : Evert, aged eleven; 
George, aged ten; Nellie, aged eight; John D., aged five, and Ben 
Franklin, an infant of tender years. 

"^ JAMES N. GEEENSTREET. 

James N. Greenstreet, T\'ho is one of the prosperous and jjro- 
gressive farmers of Drake township, this county, with a fine farm of 
170 acres of well cultivated land lying near the village of Tullvania, 
was born in Byron county, Kentucky, in 1844, and has been a resident 
of Macon county, Missouri, fi.fty-five years, except for a short. time 
during the Civil war. His parents were Thomas and Sarah (Williams) 
Greenstreet, the former born and reared in Kentucky and the latter 
a native of Virginia. They came to Missouri in 1854 and located in this 
county. Here they were actively and profitably engaged in farming 
until death ended their labors, that of the mother occurring in 1900, 
and that of the father in 1889. They had nine children and five of them 
are living: Elizabeth, the wife of E. T. Davis; James N.;' Newton; 
Josei3h, and Mary, the wife of James Golden. The parents were 
married in 1832. 

For a cjuarter of a century after attaining his maturity tlie father 
conducted farming operations in his native state, and, although the 
appeals of the farther West became at times insistent and almost per- 
suaded him to become an element in its productive industries, he climg 
to the scenes and associations of his childhood and continued his ardu- 
ous endeavors for advancement in the locality in which he had begun 
them. At length, however, the winning smile of the region beyond 
the great "P^ather of Waters" from his home overbore all other con- 
siderations, and he became a resident of Missouri. Results proved that 
his move was a wise one, for he prospered in the new country and 
became prominent and influential in its local affairs. He was a Demo- 
ci-at in politics, and, although he would never consent to accept a 
jiolitical office, he took a great and helpful interest in his party and 
during the whole of his residence in this county was one of the zealous 
and effective workers for its success. 

His son, James N. Greenstreet, grew to manhood on his fatlier's 
farm and completed in the district schools of Linn county, in this 
state, the education he had begun in those of his native county in Ken- 
tucky. When he was seventeen years old the great Civil war began, 
and, believing firmly in the cause of the Confederacy, he enlisted in the 
Confederate army as a member of Company B, First Missouri Iiifan- 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 413 

try. He remained in the service to the close of the mighty conflict and 
took an active part in many of its sanguinary engagements, among 
them the battle of Lexington. In the shock of battle and furj' of the 
charge he never Minched, but on every field of carnage and in every 
military duty bore his part with the valor of his native state and in 
accordance with the traditions of his family. Yet he escaped serious 
disaster, and after the end of the war returned to the peaceful pursuits 
of husbandry at his Missouri home. In this domain of industry he has 
had his hand to the plow continuously ever since, with steadily increas- 
ing prosperity and widening reputation as a wise and skilful farmer. 
He now owns 170 acres of excellent land and has it all under cultiva- 
tion, except the portion which is reserved for grazing purposes in 
carrying on his extensive operations in raising live-stock. 

The interests of the township and county have been ever consid- 
ered as of the highest importance in tlie sweep of Mr. Greenstreet's 
vision, and to their advancement he has given the full share of a good 
citizen's tribute in counsel, in effort and in the stimulus furnished by 
an inspiring examjile. As a member of the local school board for more 
than twenty years he has rendered excellent service in connection with 
one of the most valued and important public institutions in the country, 
and in many other ways, also, he has contrilmted to the general ])ros- 
perity and progress of the region in which he lives. His political alle- 
giance is given to the Democratic party, and in behalf of its success 
he is at all times an ardent and energetic worker. Fraternally he is 
connected with the Masonic order, and in religious affiliation belongs 
to the Christian church. His lodge and his church receive careful 
attention and loyal support from him in counsel and in more material 
assistance, and in both he' is held in high regard as one of their most 
useful members. 

Mr. Greenstreet was married twice, in 186(5 to Miss Mary E. 
Nagel, of Linn county, Missouri. They have had nine children and 
now have five living: Eobert, "Walter, Ernest, Ralph and Lizzie. After 
the death of his first wife, in 1893, he was married to Miss Martha T. 
Johnson, of Elmer, Missouri. They have one child, Eugene. The 
father is what is called a "self-made man" in the better sense of the 
phrase, and a creditable product of his own capacity and endeavors. 
He has made his own way in the world, without the aid of Fortune's 
favors or specially favoring circumstances, and all his triumphs are 
the direct results of his own ability, industry and good judgment. In 
this respect, as in his general demeanor, his breadth of view, his enter- 



414 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

prise and his lofty ideals, he is a representative of sterling ^bnerican 
manhood and good citizenship, and as such he is held in the highest 
esteem wherever he is known. 

^ JOHN M. DENISON. 

Among the enterprising, progressive and successful farmers of 
Drake township, none stands higher in business circles, in rank as a 
skilful cultivator of the soil, or in the general estimation of the people 
as a useful and public-spirited citizen than John M. Denison, whose 
well-improved and highly valuable farm is located near the village 
of TuUvania. It is equally true that no one is more deserving of the 
esteem of the people or wears it with more modest worth. Whether 
viewed as a productive force in the industries of the township as a 
leading representative man among its residents, as an ornament and 
inspiration in social life, or as a stimulating and energetic potency in 
public affairs, or as all together, he measures up to a high standard of 
excellence, and is appreciated accordingly. 

Mr. Denison is a native of this county and was born on October 
11, 1860. He is a son of William M. and Martha J. (Turner) Denison, 
the former a native of Iowa and tlie latter of Kentucky. The father 
came to Missouri in 1846 and located in Macon county west of Bloom- 
ington. He devoted himself to farming here until the beginning of the 
Civil war, when he enlisted in the Union army as a member of Com- 
pany C, Tenth Missouri Cavalrj'^, which was under the command of 
General Wilson. Mr. Denison saw considerable active service, taking 
part in a number of leading battles and many minor engagements. He 
followed the flag of his country wherever duty led him and courageously 
faced every danger incident to the service, winning a good name for 
valor in the field, endurance on the march and commendable behavior 
under all circumstances. He escaped the trying ordeal without serious 
injury, and when the war ended returned to liis Missouri home and his 
former occupation. He was faithful and true in his military service, 
but the irregular life he lived during its continuance, and the con- 
stant change of location and duty, together with the enforced idle- 
ness and absence of restraint much of the time, did not unfit him for 
regular and systematic industry, and he took up his farming operations 
with the same spirit of enterprise and devotion he had given them before 
they were interrupted by the trumpet blast of the conflict that called 
him to arms. 

He was married in 1859 to Miss Martha J. Turner, a lady from 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 415 

Kentucky, where her ancestors lived for two or three generations. Of 
the six children born of their union four are living : John M., Felix R., 
Jose M. and Daniel H. The mother died in June, 1907. The father 
is still living and engaged in farming. He is a Republican in politics 
and active in the service of his party. In the affairs of the community 
he has always taken an earnest and helpful interest, having served as 
a member of the school board for many years and done good work 
for the advancement of the township and county in many other ways. 

John M. Denison grew to manhood in the locality of his birth and 
obtained his education in the schools of the neighborhood and at the 
Kirksville Normal school. He felt that farming was his proper life 
work and offered the best chance available to him for the most satis- 
factory and profitable employment of his faculties. After he reached 
this conclusion he lost no time in getting into the industry and doing 
all he could to make the most of it. He has applied his energy with 
wisdom and good judgment, and has been. eminently successful in all 
his undertakings. He now owns 700 acres of fine land, which he has 
improved with good buildings and other necessary structures, com- 
pletely equipped with the most approved machinery for his purjjoses 
and brought to a high degree of productiveness by his skill and diligence 
as a husbandman. He is also engaged in general stock-raising on an 
extensive scale, devoting to that industry the same energy and intelli- 
gence he applies to his farming operations, and making it likewise 
leading and successful in its line. In addition, Mr. Denison is con- 
nected with the real estate, loan and insurance business in a way, and is 
one of the stockholders and directors of the Farmers State Bank at 
New Boston. 

The public affairs of the county, state and nation in which he 
lives have always interested Mr. Denison deeply and commanded his 
earnest and thoughtful attention. He belongs to the Republican party 
in national polities and supports it with earnestness and zeal at all 
tunes. With reference to local atfairs he looks first to the substantial 
welfare of the people and the promotion of their interests, with partisan 
claims as a secondary consideration. During the last twelve years he 
has been the county committeeman of his party for Drake township, 
and for many years has given the public excellent service as a justice 
of the peace. In religious matters he has no decided bias. He sees 
good in all the churches and helps all with judicious and well-applied 
liberality, as he does every enterprise which he deems worthy and 
conducive to the general weal of the community. Drake township has 



41G HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

no better citizen and none wliom the people esteem more highly or with 
greater reason. 

'' CHARLEY A. AVOLF. 

Inheriting from a sturdy German ancestry the characteristics 
of self-reliance and industry, together with the frugality and thrift, 
for which the German people are everywhere distinguished, and trained 
in their use by the spirit of enter^jrise and progressiveness that marks 
all phases of American life, Charley A. Wolf, of Gifford, has conducted 
his business and develoi^ed his career in a manner that is creditable 
alike to the land of his forefathers and that of his nativity. He 
was the first inhabitant of what is now the thriving and progressive 
toAvn of Gilford, and largely through his efforts he has seen it spring 
into being and grow to its present state of development, influence and 
industrial and commercial promise. 

Mr. "VVolf was born in this county on January 28, 1881, and is a son 
of Gottfried and Antoinette (Shiunaman) Wolf, natives of the Father- 
land, the former born in Hamburg and the latter in Bremen. The 
father came to the United States in 18-i3 and, heeding the voice of what 
was the distant and undeveloped West, became a volunteer in her army 
enlisted in the conquest of the wilderness and the founding of a new 
empire in a region comparatively unknown to the residents of the older 
portions of the country. He journeyed from the Atlantic coast to the 
farther side of the Mississippi and located in Macon county, Missouri. 
His occupation was that of a farmer, and in this new region he found 
everything ready for his industry and enterprise. True, the land was 
not yet reduced to systematic productiveness througTlout the region 
and much of it was in its primeval state of wildness. But it was ready 
for the studious application of mental force and j^hysical industry, and 
he was well equipped by nature and desire to make the application. 
He worked with ardor and fidelit.y, and all-responsive Nature yielded 
him a living in return for his arduous labors, and with relenting 
generosity increased his store from year to year. 

In 1872 he was united in marriage with Miss Antoinette Shin- 
naman, who was, like himself, far from her native land, but well pleased 
with the opportunities for advancement furnished by that of her adop- 
tion. They became the parents of seven children, and they are all 
living and he]])ing to promote the welfare, quicken the progress and 
magnify the importance of this part of the country. They are: Fred- 
erick W., Mary S., Henry E., Caroline, Charley A., George A. and 
Florence. In 2iolitics the father is a Democrat, but he has never taken 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY iir 

a very active part in public affairs. He is now living retired from 
active pursuits and he and liis wife are enjoying the rest they have 
so richly earned and the competence which is the result of their 
labors. 

Their son, Charley A., was reared on the family homestead, which 
during boyhood and youth he helped to improve and cultivate. He 
attended, when he could be spared from the exactions of the farm, the 
district school near his home, acquiring in its humble and unpretentious 
course of study the foundation of his education. He completed his 
academic training at the Kirksville Normal school, and after leaving 
that institution passed six years as a teacher in the public schools. 
In 1904 he started an enterprise in mercantile life in which he is still 
actively and extensively interested. He also trains with the Democratic 
party in political atf airs, and in a quiet way is serviceable to his party. 
In April, 1905, he was appointed postmaster of Gitford, and he has 
held the ofQce continuously from that time to the present. It is a high 
tribute to his ability and fidelity in the performance of his official 
duties that, although he has been serving under administrations with 
which he is not allied politically during his whole tenure of this import- 
ant office, with which all the people in the community have a direct 
and intimate connection, his retention in it has been generally approved 
and his management of it has given general satisfaction. 

In religious connection Mr. "VVolf is a Baptist and devoted to the 
welfare of the congregation to which he belongs. But he is not narrow 
in his creed any more than he is in his politics, and aids liberally in 
the support of all denominations. His fraternal affiliation is with the 
Order of Woodmen, and his camp in this also has his loyal support and 
energetic efforts for its advancement. He was married on December 
20, 1904, to Miss Delia B. Hayden, a native of Macon county and a 
daughter of parents who came to this state from Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wolf have no children, but the head of the house feels a sort of paternity 
toward the town he started and has aided so materially to build and 
improve. Its progress in every material, mental and moral way has 
ever been an object of prime importance to him, and no one of its cit- 
izens has labored more earnestly or with greater intelligence, public 
spirit and breadth of view for its permanent and most substantial 
improvement than he has. It can be truthfully added that the services 
of no other citizen in its behalf have been more highly appreciated than 
his own, and none of its people is held in higher or more general esteem 
than he enjoys. 



418 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

"^ HON. ALBERT D. NOETONI. 

This eminent lawyer and jurist, whose name is as familiar as a 
household word throughout Missouri, and whom the people of the state 
look upon as having dignified and adorned every walk in life which he 
has pursued, was born at New Cambria, Macon county, on January 26, 
1867. He is a son of Dr. Edward Warren Nortoni, who was born and 
reared at Hebron, Connecticut, and came to Missouri in 1866. The 
doctor located in New Cambria when he arrived in this state and had 
his residence on the lot in that town on which his son's law office now 
stands and on the very site of that building. It was in this dwelling 
that the son was born. His mother, whose maiden name was Hannah 
T. Howell, was a native of Newark in the state of New Jersey, and there 
she was reared to maturity and obtained her education. There, also, 
she was married to the doctor about the year 1858. 

When the present Judge Nortoni was about twelve years old his 
father rented forty acres of land adjoining New Cambria and put him 
to work as a farmer of that land. The discipline was severe and the 
responsibility seemed weighty, but the youth was courageous, self- 
reliant and determined, and he, with the help he had, made a good 
crop the first year. The next spring the whole family moved to a 
farm near Bynumville in Chariton county, and in that neighborhood it 
resided about two years, the son working on the farm in summer and 
attending the district school in the winter. In April, 1882, the family 
took another flight within the state and moved to Benton county, locat- 
ing in the Ozarks on what is known as the Buffalo road, about ten miles 
southeast of Warsaw, the county seat. The future jurist remained on 
the farm thus selected as the parental home until late in 1886, pursuing 
his general studies under the direction of his father and preparing him- 
self to enter upon the study of his chosen profession of the law. 

The early years of the useful life briefly recounted in these para- 
graphs has been dwelt on to this extent because it was the formative 
period of the character that has so signally exemplified a high type of 
Missouri manhood and given the chronicles of the state a name that 
will ever be high on the roll of its distinguished men. In the latter part 
of 1886 the young man went to Liuueus and at once began the study of 
law under the direction of Edward W. Smith, Esq;, one of the leading 
lawyers of Linn county at that time. A few months later he was 
employed as an assistant in the ofiSce of the clerk of the circuit court, 
where he remained several years, aiding in keeping the records and 
doing other work, and thereby gaining a valuable practical knowledge 






/ 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 419 

of the legal profession which he could scarcely have had a better oppor- 
tunity to get. He also continued the study of law while acting as 
deputy circuit clerk, and in his studies had the valuable advice and 
direction of Judge G. D. Burgess, now of the supreme court, and Judge 
Carlos Boardman. In February, 1888,. he was admitted to the bar in 
the circuit court of Linn county at Brookfield, Judge Burgess jDresiding, 
but he continued to work in the circuit clerk's ofBce until about January 
1, 1889. In April of that year he located at Brookfield and began the 
practice of his profession, but on August 10, 1891, he removed to New 
Cambria because his parents had sold their farm in the Ozarks and 
returned to New Cambria to live, his father being in very poor health. 
He remained in the town of his birth until about January 1, 1903, when 
he removed to St. Louis, where he has ever since resided. 

During his residence at New Cambria he was very useful to the 
community, serving as town attorney in 1892 and 1893, revising the 
ordinances for the town council and in a way reorganizing the town 
government. He also sei'ved a term of three years as a member of the 
school board in that town. On December 22, 1892, he was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Maggie Lina Francis of Bevier, Missouri. She died 
on September 30, 1894, and the judge then closed his office and aban- 
doned the practice of law for a period of nearly three years. During 
the latter part of 1895 and a portion of 1896 he served as private 
secretary to Hon. Charles N. Clark, member of Congress for the First 
congressional district of Missouri, and during that time was a resident of 
Washington, D. C. In the summer of 1896 he was nominated by the 
Eepublicans of the Ninth senatorial district as their candiate for state 
senator. He accepted the nomination although he knew the race would 
be hopeless, as the district was overwhelmingly Democratic, and made 
a gallant fight which ended in his defeat. But the contest gave the 
peo^jle a better knowledge of his ability and spirit than they had before, 
for he made speeches all over the district, which included the counties 
of Macon, Eandoljoh and Boone. 

In 1897 the judge opened his law office at New Cambria and again 
began practicing. But he was not long left undisturbed to enjoy it. 
In 1898 he was made the Eepublican nominee for judge of the Circuit 
Court in the Second judicial district, consisting of the counties of Macon, 
Adair, Shelby, Schuyler and Putman. This was also a hopeless race 
in a strong Democratic district and ended in defeat, as he knew at the 
beginning it must. His opponent on the Democratic ticket was Judge 
Nat. M. Shelton. During the next three years Judge Nortoni practiced 
law at New Cambria, continuing until December 26, 1902, when he was 



4-20 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

appointed assistant United States district attorney for tlie eastern 
district of Missouri under Col. D. P. Dyer, now judge of the United 
States district court. The appointment took effect on January 1, 1903, 
and the judge then moved to St. Louis and entered upon the discharge 
of his important official duties. His tirst work in the office was to make 
an investigation of what were called ' ' the naturalization frauds, ' ' and 
his activity in this connection resulted in the conviction and imprison- 
ment of a number of important politicians on the Democratic side. Tliey 
appealed to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, hut the judg- 
ment of the lower court was affirmed and they were all finally landed in 
l^enal institutions for terms ranging from two to five years. 

During Judge Nortoni's term as assistant United States district 
attorney he also took part in the first trial of United States Senator 
Joseph Ealjih Burton of Kansas, who was charged with having vio- 
lated the federal statutes by using his office as senator in the service 
of a crooked grain company in St. Louis by trying to prevent the 
issuance of a fraud order against it by the United States postoffice 
department and the exclusion of its fraudulent correspondence and 
literature froai the mails, and receiving pay from the company for his 
work in this behalf. The senator was convicted at the trial but the 
United States supreme court reversed the decision of the lower court, 
and he was again convicted on a second trial in which Judge Nortoni 
took no part, as it occurred after his election to the St. Louis court of 
appeals. Senator Burton was sentenced to six months' confinement 
in the Iron county jail and served his sentence. He was also sentenced 
to pay a fine of $2,500. 

In August, 1904, Judge Nortoni was nominated by the Eepublican 
judical convention assembled at Jefferson City as its candiate for 
judge of the St. Louis court of appeals, and in the election which fol- 
lowed he was triumphant, securing a plurality of nearly ten thousand 
over his principle opponent. Judge Valle Reyburu, a member of the 
court and the Democratic candidate for re-election. Judge Reyburn was 
a most estimable man and an excellent judge, but the tide was against 
his party, and Judge Nortoni's record in the district attorney's office 
gave him great strength before the people. He was elected for a term 
of twelve years, which will expire in January, 1917, it having begun on 
January 1, 1905. 

The most important cases in Macon county with which Judge Nor- 
toni was connected were the Kennedy murder case, the Ethel fire cases, 
twenty in number and involving about $40,000, the case of the State of 
Missouri against Cornelius O'Brien and the Hawk-Summers hog-steal- 



HISTORY OP MACOJ^ COUNTY 431 

ing case. The Kennedy murder case arose out of the killing of Corne- 
lius Collins by Simon Kennedy at New Cambria on December 23, 1893. 
Judge Nortoni emjjloyed Captain Guthrie and Hon. Ben Franklin to 
assist him in the defense of Kennedy and he was acquitted. Nineteen of 
the Ethel fire cases were tried in the state courts, and one more impor- 
tant than the others, known as the W. E. Phipps case, and involving 
$16,000, in the federal court. The case against 'Brien was for poison- 
ing Jack Mohaney's well, pond and cattle. He was convicted and sen- 
tenced to serve two years in the penitentiary, and was the only man the 
judge ever defended who served time. 

Of Judge Nortoni 's record on the bench it is enough to say that he 
has fully met all the high expectations raised by his election, and has 
shown himself to be a man of fine judicial attainments, the most unserv- 
ing integrity and eminent fairness and impartiality. He is also inde- 
fatigable in his industry in connection with his official duties, suffering- 
no cause to be delayed longer than absolutely necessary when it is 
assigned to him for an opinion and making no expense for litigants that 
can possibly be avoided. He is a source of strenglh and an ornament to 
the bench as he is to the citizenship and manhood of the state, — an 
illustration of the highest attributes of life known among its people. He 
is everywhere revered and accounted in the first rank as a jurist and a 
man. On July 3, 1906, he bowed a second time beueath the flowery yoke 
of Eros, being united in marriage with Miss Emma T. Belcher, a native 
of Boone county, Missouri, who still abides with him and gives grace 
to the social life and cordiality and dignity to the hospitality of their 
attractive home, which is a social center of distinction and a popular 
resort of the most cultivated people in the state. 

^ ISAAC HARBISON VEETEEES. 

The really strong elements of character in American manhood 
which have given it complete success over every form of difficulty in 
the conquest of nature, in political progress, in industrial achievement, 
in adapting means to ends without regard to obstructions, and even in 
social life — which have formed its vigor at home and won it distinction 
abroad — are oftenest to be found in the men of sturdy independence 
and self-reliance, who have been obliged to make their own way in the 
world and have been in all essential particulars the architects of their 
own fortunes. One of these among the progressive and enterpi-ising 
rural population of Macon county who must always challenge atten- 
tion by his success and ability in his chosen lines of endeavor, and who 
has won universal esteem by his worth as a man and his usefulness 



433 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

as a citizen, is Isaac Harrison Vertrees, of Easeley township, near 
Elmer, where he has passed almost all the years of his life to this 
time (1909). 

Mr. Vertrees was born in Illinois in 1854 and came with his par- 
ents to Missouri when he was but two years old. He is a son of ^Vill- 
iam B. and Elizabeth (Mossberger) Vertrees, the former a native of 
Kentucky and the latter also of Kentuck^^ They were the parents of 
six children, but all of them are dead but the interesting subject of these 
paragraphs. The father enlisted in the army in 1861 for the term of the 
Civil war and served valiantly in that memorable sectional conflict. He 
faced death without flinching on a well-fought field, and was commended 
by his comrades and superiors for his bravery and unwavering gal- 
lantry. His service in the army was short, as brain fever caused his 
death shortly after enlisting. After his death his widow was married 
to the late Judge Easeley, whom she still survives. She now has her 
home with her son. 

Isaac H. Vertrees passed his boyhood and youth under the terrible 
shadow of the Civil war and the disasters it wrought. His opportunities 
for academic acquirements were therefore limited and confined wholly 
to the facilities afforded for the purjDOse by the public schools, and 
even these he was able to attend only at irregular intervals in the 
winter mouths for a few years. The needs of the family were such 
that he was comi^elled to aid in providing for them, his own training 
in special lines for the battle of life, and his own advancement being 
secondary considerations. But he made the best use he could of the 
chances he had and laid a good foundation for the fund of general 
information he has since gathered in the stern school of experience and 
from reading, observation and reflection. 

After leaving school Mr. Vertrees worked at various occupations 
for a time, doing whatever his hand found to do and doing all with 
enterprise, skill and a view to his elevation to higher functions in life. 
At the age of nineteen he turned his attention to farming for himself, 
and to this exhilarating but exacting and often exhausting calling 
he has ever since devoted himself. He now owns and fanns 182 acres 
of excellent land and also carries on an extensive industry in raising 
cattle and other live-stock. He has made his farm a model country 
home, both in the manner in which he has cultivated and improved it 
and the liberality with which he has provided it with the necessary 
appliances for advanced modern farming and stock-raising and the 
comforts and attractions of domestic life. In addition, he is a stock- 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 423 

holder and director of the Farmers Exchange Bank of Gifford and 
extensively interested in real estate transactions of magnitude. 

The varied interests which Mr. Vertrees controls and manages are 
many and engrossing, but they have not obscured his vision as to pub- 
lic affairs or diminished his zeal in helping to promote the substantial 
and enduring welfare of the township and county in which he lives. To 
every commendable project for their advancement he has given willing 
and serviceable assistance, and, in connection with the progress of the 
region, he is accounted one of the useful and reliable forces. He has 
been a valued member of the school board more than ten years, and 
all the schools have felt the impulse of his ciuickening spirit and the 
guidance of his strong practical mind. In politics he is a Eepublican, 
always interested in the success of his party and energetic in helping 
to bi-ing it about. His religious alliance is with the Baptist church, 
and in its welfare he has shown an abiding and helpful interest. In 
fraternal affiliation he belongs to the Order of Fraternal Yeomen and 
to his lodge in the order he also gives a due share of his attention 
and enterprise. 

In 1876 Mr. Yertrees was united in marriage with Miss Nancy 
Mason, a native of Indiana. Of the seven children born to them six 
are living: Martha Elizabeth, the wife of Edward Wolfe; Electa 
Belle, the wife of Douglas Thompson; Sarah Anne, the wife of Burr 
Boring; Eosa Etta, the wife of E. B. Seamon; Alfleeta Ellen and 
Maude Emiline. The influence of the family on the social and business 
life of the community has been potent for good, and its aid in building 
up the moral and mental forces at work among the people has been felt 
and appreciated. Wherever they live and whatever line of action 
they are engaged- in the members of the household are esteemed as 
persons of great worth and radiating centers of wholesome and produc- 
tive stimulus for everything that is good in the locality of their homes. 

v WILLIAM HENRY MANGUS. 

Nature bestowed on William Henry Mangus, one of the prominent 
and successful farmers and stockmen of Easley township, in this 
county, an energetic and persistent disposition, however niggardly 
she may have been in her other gifts to him and grudging in tlie cir- 
cumstances in which she placed him. He accepted her endowment at 
its full value and has made the utmost of his opportunities in the use 
of it. He was born in Adair county, Missouri, in May, 1867, and his 
boyhood was passed there at a period when the state was still suffering 
from the devastation of the Civil war, and the path to wealth and dis- 



424 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

tinction for boys of moderate means was a narrow and thorny one. 
But lie took the road as he found it, and made his way over it with 
steady advances, even though his progress was for a time slow and 
painful. His goal was, however, constantly in his vision, and no obstacle 
discouraged him from pressing onward toward it. His conquests in life 
are therefore all his own. 

Mr. Mangus is a son of Jacob and Sarah (Kreps) Mangus, the 
former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Pennsylvania par- 
entage, although born in Ohio. The father came with his parents 
from their Pennsylvania home to Missouri when he was ten years old. 
He was a farmer most of his life, and also took an active part in the 
public affairs of the locality in which he lived, always working with force 
'and effect for the success of the Eepublican party and serving for a 
number of years as a member of the local school board. When the 
Civil war broke out he enlisted in the Union army in Company I, Sev- 
enth Missouri Cavalry, which was in service to the end of the conflict. 
Mr. Mangus took part in many battles and skirmishes, one of the most 
notable being the sanguinary contest of Perry Grove. Both he and his 
wife are still living and have their home at Gifford. They have had four 
children. Only two of the four are living, William H. and his sister. 
Airy Fritz. The latter is a resident of New Mexico. 

William H. Mangus was reared to the life of a farmer and he has 
followed it all his years. His education was secured at the public 
schools near the family homestead, and he assisted his father in cul- 
tivating that while attending school and after he left school until 1888. 
He was then twenty-one years old and eager to begin operations on his 
own account. He therefore found or made a way for the gratifica- 
tion of his desire and began the career as a farmer, which he is still 
expanding and rendering more successful and impressive, and which 
he has been extending steadily from the start. His farm comi^rises 
320 acres and the laud is nearly all under cultivation except the grazing 
ground necessary as pasturage and a range for the large number of 
cattle and other stock he raises, feeds and ships every year. He is also 
a stockholder in the Farmers Exchange Bank of Gifford. 

In politics Mr. Mangus is a Republican and a zealous worker for 
his party. He has served on the local school board nine years and is 
now president of it. His interest in the schools has been earnest and 
broad-minded, and he has aided them to great progress in elevating 
their standard and widening their usefulness in the most practical ways, 
making them more and more helpful to the pupils in lines of the great- 
est need. In 1893 he was married to Miss Bina Day, whose p^ents 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 425 

came to Missouri from Illinois, but who was born in Knox county of 
this state. They have five children, Nellie, Chester, Paul, Harry and 
Day. They are all living at home and still adding to the brightness and 
cheer of the family circle. 

HENRY D. ROBINSON. 

Some men are born prosperous, some achieve prosperity, and some 
have prosperity thrust upon them. In this paraphrase of Bacon's 
renowned apothegm, the class to which Henry D. Robinson, of Gifford, 
belongs is noted second. He is very pi'osperous and a man of consid- 
erable worldly wealth, but all his acquisitions are the results of his own 
efforts and ability, and every element in the make-up of Ids successful 
and inspiring career has been brought into play by his own hand. 
Throughout his mature life he has been quick to see and alert to seize 
his ojiportunities, and then he has shown great enterprise and breadth 
of view in making the most of them for his own advantage and the 
benefit of the locality in which he lives. 

Mr. Robinson was born in tliis county in 1861. His father. Creed 
W. Robinson, was a native of Virginia and came to Missouri to grow 
up with the country in 1836. For the state was then practically in its 
youth, although even as it was it had already, by its lusty demands 
for recognition, greatly disturbed the political waters of the country 
and centered all eyes in public life upon its strength and promise of 
future greatness. Mr. Robinson took his place in the leading industry 
of the region in which he settled, and during the remainder of his 
life was one of Macon county's progressive and influential farmers. 
He was married in 1851 to Miss Wilhelmina Schmidt, a native of Ger- 
many. They had nine children and reared six of them to maturity. 
Five are still living: Lucy E., the wife of Joseph Eitel, of Ethel; 
Alexander W. ; Henry D. ; Minnie, the wife of William Severs, of 
Elmer, and William N. When the Civil war broke out the father 
enlisted, but the command to which he belonged was never called into 
active service. His father was born in Ireland and his mother in 
England. 

Henry D. Robinson's mother died on July 22, 1906, and his father 
on March 12, 1909. The son was reared as nearly all the boys around 
him were. He grew to manhood on his father's farm and attended 
the public school in the neighborhood when he had opportunity. His 
schooling was necessarily limited and irregular, for the demands of the 
farm work were exacting and insistent, and everything else had to give 
way to them. After leaving school he turned his attention to farming 



426 HISTOEY OF MACOIT COUNTY 

and raising live stock, and having put his hand to the plow in these lines 
of effort, he has never looked back, but has steadily pursued his chosen 
way. His devotion to his calling made him attentive to all its require- 
ments, and this persistent watchfulness brought its due reward in 
great success and rapidly increasing prosperity. His home farm now 
contains 321 acres, and the whole tract is rich in its annual yield, all 
of it being under vigorous and skillful cultivation except the portion 
needed for grazing purposes. In addition to this, which is one of the 
most valuable farms in the township of Easley, Mr. Eobinson owns a 
considerable amount of fine real estate, including both town and 
country properties. He is also one of the stockholders and directors 
of the Bank of Gifford, and holds the same relation to the Gifford 
Tile and Brick Manufacturing Company. 

Mr. Eobinson 's allegiance in political affairs is given to the Demo- 
cratic party, and while he neither seeks nor desires public office for 
himself, he renders his party loyal and effective service in all its cam- 
paigns. The only official station from which he has sought to serve 
the public is that of membership on the local school board, and this he 
has held during the last eight years, accepting the office and performing 
its duties solely for the good of the community, and with the desire 
to make the schools as effective and useful as possible. His fraternal 
relations are with the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of 
America. He takes great interest in these fraternities and aids 
materially in the effort to extend their usefulness to the widest bounds 
and raise them to the highest standard of excellence and develop them 
to the fullest state of vigor and prosperity attainable. 

Mr. Eobinson was married in 1901 to Miss Lydia Eosella Buck, 
a native of Macon county and the daughter of Sylvester and Mary J. 
Buck who came to this state from Ohio. They have two children, their 
son Henry Manford and their daughter Eosetta Marie. The parents 
are well esteemed as representatives of the highest social life and most 
elevated citizenship in the community, and as exemplifying in every 
way the best attributes of exalted American manhood and womanhood. 

^ GEOEGE WASHINGTON BAILEY. 

Although he has a disting-uished name, and one that stands for all 
that is pure, heroic and lofty in manhood, George Washington Bailey 
of Easley township in this county has borne it worthily during the 
fortj^ years of his life to this time, and has shown in his quiet but 
successful career some of the elements of manhood which the mention 
of it inevitably suggests. He has not been called into the limelight of 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 427 

public notice, or contended -with opposing- forces on any field of historic 
renown, but in the faithful and unostentatious discharge of daily- 
duties, and in the way of making the most of his opportunities, he has 
so conducted himself and his affairs that the great soldier of the Eevo- 
lution would commend his course with approval and feel that his name 
has not been discredited by this man of our day. 

Mr. Bailey is a native of the township in which he now lives, where 
his life began in 1869. His father, George Bailey, was born in Virginiai 
and became a resident of Missouri in 1832. He saw much of frontier 
existence, with its trials and perils, its arduous labors and pinching" 
privations. But he also witnessed its subsequent triumphs, and 
shared in their enjoyments as he had done in the struggle to win them. 
He was married in 1856 to Miss Anne j\Iariah Swalley, who was born in 
Ohio, where her parents settled when they moved West from their 
native state of Pennsylvania. Her grandfather was also a Virginian 
by birth. She and her husband passed their years of residence in this 
state, after their marriage, in farming with industry and ability, and 
reared eight of their nine children to maturity. The seven of them 
now living are: Mary Elizabeth, the wife of J. E. Miller of Oklahoma; 
Byron C. ; James W. ; Emma Eebeeca, the wife of William Griffith of 
California; and George W. ; Joseph and Charles. The father was 
obliged to hew out his own way in the world without favoring circum- 
stances or any of the bounties of Fortune except such as he wrested 
from her reluctant grasp. In his day and generation he achieved a 
worthy success, but the divison of his estate gave a very small allowance 
to each of his children, and they in turn found themselves almost 
wholly dependent on their own exertions for advancement, just as he 
had been. 

George W. Bailey accepted his destiny with cheerfulness and 
entered upon his life work, when the hour came, with alacrity. He, 
grew to manhood on the parental homestead and took his part in its 
laborious cultivation. When he could be spared from this he attended 
the country school near by during the winter months of a few years, 
then took up the burden of life for himself by working as a hired hand 
on farms in the neighborhood of his home. At the age of twenty-two 
he started his own career as a farmer and stock-breeder, and to this he 
has given almost his whole attention during all the subsequent years. 
He has lost no time, and his industry and good management have 
brought him a large measure of success. He now owns 499 acres of good 
land, with the whole tract well cultivated and prolific in returns except 
the portion necessary for grazing his stock. He is also a stockholder 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 439 

native of England, where he was reared and educated, and as a young 
man he severed the home ties and set forth to seek his fortunes in 
America. From his place of disembarkation on the Atlantic seaboard 
he made his way westward and located in the state of Illinois, whence 
he later removed to Missouri and located in Bevier, Macon county, to 
which place he returned after a few years' residence in the state of 
Wyoming, of which commonwealth he was a pioneer settler. His wife, 
whose maiden name was Emma Roberts, was a native of Missouri, 
and they are survived by three children, of whom the subject of this 
review is the third in order of birth ; Thomas S. is a resident of Bevier, 
and Mary is the wife of Marion Shoop, of Novinger, Missouri. 

After the death of his father the widowed mother removed with her 
family to Bevier, where her death occurred, and here Charles A. was 
reared to maturity, being afforded the advantages of the public schools 
and of St. James Academy, an excellent local institution conducted 
imder the auspices of St. James' church, Protestant Episcopal, and 
later he completed a course in a business college at Quincy, Illinois, so 
that he faced the battles of life with adequate equipment in an educa- 
tional way as well as in sturdy personal attributes of character. 

In 1891, when twenty-two years of age, Mr. Wardell engaged in 
the general merchandise business at Pittsburg, Kansas, where he became 
associated with John S. Sharp, under the firm name of Wardell & 
Sharp. The firm built up an excellent trade and the business was 
continued until 1893, when it was sold to a merchantile firm in Fort 
Scott, that state. After thus disposing of his interests in the Sun- 
flower state Mr. Wardell returned to Macon, where he initiated his 
career in connection with the banking business. He assumed a very 
subordinate position in the State Exchange Bank, and by his ability 
and careful attention to the duties assigned to him he gained succes- 
sive promotions until he was finally elected to the office of cashier, of 
which he has been incumbent since 1908. For fourteen years was assis- 
tant cashier prior to his election and in which he has shown marked 
discrimination and judgment in handling the executive affairs of the 
institution. No citizen of Macon has a stronger hold upon popular con- 
fidence and regard, and this fact has inured greatly to the success of 
the bank with which he is identified and in which he has won advance- 
ment through fidelity and effective service. He is a stockholder and 
director of the institution, which is one of the solid and popular banks 
of this section of the state, the same basing its operations upon a 
capital stock of .$100,000 and enlisting the capitalistic and adminis- 
trative co-operation of leading citizens of Macon county. 



430 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Progressive and public-spirited as a citizen, Mr. Wardell takes a 
loyal interest in all that tends to conserve the advancement and stable 
prosperity of his home city and county, and he gives his support to all 
that makes for good government in a local and generic way. His 
political allegiance is given to the Democratic party but to him public 
office has shown forth no allurement. He and his wife are commun- 
icants of St. James church. Protestant Episcopal, and in a fraternal 
way he is identified with Macon Lodge, Benevolent & Protective Order 
of Elks. 

On the 15th of June, 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. War- 
dell to Miss Elizabeth Sauvinet, who was born and reared in Macon 
and who is the daughter of that prominent and influential citizen, 
Gustave Sauvinet, of Macon, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Wardell have one 
child, Thomas E., who was born on the 1st of September, 1902. 

^ CHARLES C. NEET. 

This enterprising and successful farmer and stock-breeder of 
Easley township, Macon county, was born on Christmas day, 1875, on 
the farm on which he now lives and on which he has passed the whole 
of his life to this time (1909). He is a son of James N. and Sarah 
(McClanahan) Neet, the former born and reared in Sullivan county 
and the latter in Macon county. The father came to this county about 
1871 and purchased a farm. A little later he moved to Harrison county 
and remained three years. He then returned to Macon county, and 
here he lived until 1898, when he retired from active work and took up 
his residence at Browning in Linn county. He owns 1,000 acres of land, 
all of which are devoted to his extensive cattle and other live stock 
interests. 

The career of this enterprising man, the father of Charles C. Neet, 
furnishes an inspiring example of industry and thrift employed under 
the direction of natural shrewdness and business capacity, and shows 
in a luminous way what those traits and that system of operation can 
accomplish in this portion of a land of great opportunities in almost 
every part, and of almost boundless possibilities in some. Mr. Neet 
began life as a poor boy, with no capital but his ability, good health 
and indomitable determination to win success in his chosen line of 
endeavor. He has triumphed even beyond his expectations, and the 
triumph is all his own. His parents came to this state from Illinois 
and bore the brunt of a hardy pioneer existence, which never brought 
them a fortune in a worldly way, but which gained them the esteem of 
the people who knew them, and gave them vigor of body and inde- 



HISTOEY OF MACOjST COUNTY 431 

peudence and self-reliance of spirit, qualities which descended to their 
posterity by heredity and were intensified in their children by the 
training those children received at the family fireside. They have been 
nobly exemplified in the career of James N. Neet, and his son Charles, 
the immediate subject of this writing is also distinguished for them. 

Charles C. Neet was educated in the common schools of his native 
township and a high school conducted in connection with them. He 
made choice of his occupation early in life, and he has never varied 
from his first decision. As soon as he left school he took charge of a 
considerable portion of his father's interests in the agricultural and 
live stock lines, and he has been wholly given up to those pursuits ever 
since, carrying on the operations of the homestead in the same pro- 
gressive and masterly way that his father inaugurated in its manage- 
ment, and adding to his system whatever modern investigation and 
discovery have proven worthy of adoption. He, too, has succeeded 
well and won a considerable estate. In addition, by his devotion to 
the welfare of his township and county, and his active efforts in hehalf 
of their advancement and improvement, he has won the regard and 
good will of the people as one of their most progressive and helpful 
citizens and a representative of the lofty spirit of enterprise that 
animates them. In political affairs he is rather indeijendent with 
leanings to the Eepublican party, of which his father has long been 
a loyal but quiet and unostentatious member. He is also a member of 
the Order of Odd Fellows and the Order of Modern Woodmen. In 
religious affiliations he is connected with the Universalist church, as are 
also the members of his family. On February 15, 1899, he was married 
to Miss Amy L. Eoss, who was born in Knox county, Missouri, in 1877. 
They have two children, their daughters Bernice L. and Thelka M. 

DE. NAT. L. JOHNSON. 

Although belonging to a comparatively new school in the science 
of medicine, and having allied with that an additional potency of exten- 
sive api^lication covering only the last few years in general practice, 
Dr. Nat. L. Johnson of Gifford has won his way in popular esteem as 
a physician of ability and resourcefulness in his profession, and has 
given his line of practice good standing in the community nothwith- 
standing the prejudices it was obliged to overcome and the hesitation 
of the general public to accept a new departure fi-om the established 
usages of centuries. 

The Doctor was born in Schuyler county, Missouri, in 18G4, and is 
a son of Nathaniel L. and Amanda (Capps) Johnson, the former, the 



432 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

a native of Indiana and the latter of Kentucky. The father came to 
Missouri in 1832 and was engaged actively and prosperously in farm- 
ing until his death, which was due to an accident that ended his life 
in 1865. He was married twice, his first wife having been a Miss Hub- 
bell, who left five children at her death. The only offspring of the 
second marriage, which was with Miss Amanda Capps, who came to 
this state in infancy, was Dr. Nat. L., the interesting subject of these 
paragraphs. After the death of the father the mother married again 
and is now the widow of William Stokesberry. The Doctor's paternal 
grandfather, whose name was Frederick Johnson, was born and reared 
in Pennsylvania, and was one of the pioneers of Indiana. 

Dr. Nat. L. Johnson obtained his scholastic training in the public 
schools and at Avalon College. He taught school for a few years after 
finishing his own education, and then for a few more occupied himself 
with various lines of eti'ort. He began the study of medicine in 1897, 
matriculating for the purpose at the Osteopathic College in Kirksville, 
from which he was graduated in 1899. He at once entered upon the 
practice of his profession, and as time passed he realized the therapeutic 
value of medicine in human ailments, and with characteristic energy 
he devoted himself to a systematic study of it. In this effort to 
enlarge his information and increase his power as a doctor, he did not 
depend on i^rivate reading and investigation for his acquisitions. He 
l^ursued a regular course of instruction in a good eclectic institution 
devoted to this branch of medical training, and was graduated from 
that institution in 1908. He also went through a complete post-graduate 
course. 

After this thorough preparation Dr. Johnson resumed his practice, 
locating in one part of Adair county for a year, then moving to Nov- 
inger in the same county. From Novinger he came to South Gifford 
to practice and also to engage in the drug trade. He has considerable 
professional practice and the business done by his drug store is large 
and profitable. In addition he is a stockholder and director of the 
Gazette Printing Company. This also gives increase to his influence 
and popularity in the community, and extends his power to serve the 
people in every way that ministers to their enduring welfare. 

Political affairs and fraternal interests have engaged the Doctor's 
attention in a leading way and he has risen to consequence and influence 
in them also. He is a Democrat in political faith, and while neither 
seeking nor desiring public ofiSce for himself, he is always at the front 
with valuable and appreciated service for his party. His fraternal 
connections are with the Masonic Order, the Order of Odd Fellows and 



• HISTOKY OP MACON COUNTY 433 

its adjunct, the Order of Daugliters of Rebecca, the Kuights of Pythias 
and the Knights of the Maccabees. He is devoted in his attention to 
all his lodges and zealous in his eft'orts to advance them to the highest 
development and most extensive usefulness, with a view to the welfare 
of their members and the community in general, and looking to the 
public good, local and general. ^ 

In 1884 Dr. Johnson was united in marriage with Miss Lou Walker, 
a native of Schuyler county, this state. They have two children, their 
daughter Ethel, the wife of S. J. Hopper, and their daughter Ursula, 
the wife of J. C. Salisbury. In the town of Gifford, throughout Easley 
township and in all parts of the surrounding country for a wide extent 
the members of the family are highly esteemed as most worthy and 
estimable persons and first rate citizens. And their past records and 
present daily lives fully justify the good will and cordial regard 
bestowed upon them. 

A. C. GOODDING. 

Scion of a house that was prominent in the very early history of 
Macon county, which his grandfather, Abraham Goodding, helped to 
divide into sections, and to whose progress and development his father*, 
Andrew L. Goodding, contributed for more than forty years, A. C. 
Goodding of Atlanta has had the stimulus of luminous examples in his 
forefathers for his own activity in industrial life and useful citizenship 
in all respects, and nobly has he followed them. The growth and 
improvement of the county were matters of i^ride and pleasure with 
two generations of his family before him, and the duty of striving to 
help in furthering its interests in every way possible, which descended 
to him as a heritage, has been with him a labor of love also. And, while 
his efforts have been fruitful in good to the region on which they have 
been bestowed, they have also resulted in substanial and enduring 
benefit to him. 

Mr. Goodding was born in this county on May 26, 1857, and is a 
son of Andrew L. and Mary Jane (Dameron) Goodding, the former 
a native of Kentucky and the latter of Tennessee. They were married 
in 1844 and had three children. Two of them are living, J. B. of La 
Plata and A. C. of Atlanta. The father came to this county with his 
parents in 1818. At that time this whole region was an almost unbroken 
expanse of wilderness, in which the wild beasts of the forest and 
the wild men of the plains held undisputed sway and roamed at will. 
The dawn of civilization in it was just beginning to break and the 
slumbering world, which felt the light although it saw it not as yet. was 



434 HISTOEY OF MACOiSr COUNTY 

disturbed in its long sleep of ages with premonitions of the voice of its 
coming master who would awaken it to action and start it in its benefi- 
cent career of progress and fruitfulness. What mattered it to the 
hardy adventurers of that day that wild beast and still more savage 
men opposed their coming and endangered their lives! What recked 
they that even Nature herself seemed in league with their foes for their 
extermination! What if she did resist all their wooings and per- 
suasions, and had to be compelled with force to yield to their will! 
There was an empire at stake and they were determined to win it for 
their posterity and lay broad and deep its foundations for themselves. 
After a foothold was gained and firmly planted in the new region it 
was necessary that the country be divided into sections of land and that 
a sufficient form of civil government be established. In this work 
Mr. Gooddiug's grandfather was one of the leading spirits, and well 
he did his part. His son, the father of A. C, was a farmer and gave 
energetic and profitable attention to his work until his death, which 
occurred in 1859. That of the mother came just thirty years later, in 
January, 1889. 

A. C. Goodding passed his boyhood and youth on his father's 
farm and attended the district schools near by when he had opportunity. 
His experience was not unlike that of most other boys in his situation. 
He worked on the farm when there was work that required his attention, 
and went to school when he could. His education was necessarily 
limited, so far as book learning was concerned, but the long schooling 
of every day experience was not lost upon him, and this broadened his 
nature and enlarged his information. As soon as he quit school he 
began life for himself as a farmer and farming has been his chief 
occupation ever since, with general stock-raising as g, side issue, and 
in both he has been very successful. He now owns 370 acres of land, 
good in quality, well located for his purposes, and developed to a high 
degree of improvement and productiveness by the skill and vigor with 
which he has cultivated it. 

Mr. Goodding's farm work and stock industry have been exacting 
and required a great deal of attention. But he has found time to exer- 
cise his disposition to help all worthy interests in the township and 
county for their betterment and the welfare of their people. He was 
one of the founders of the Atlanta State Bank and has been one of its 
stockholders and directors and its president from the beginning of its 
history in 1888. He is also vice-president of the Farmers Mutual 
Insurance Company of Macon. As one of the ruling spirits in these 
institutions he has aided in giving them high standing in the business 




ASA W. McDAVITT 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 435 

•world and a firm establishment in the confidence and regard of the 
people. Other institutions with which he is connected have also felt 
the impulse of his skillful guidance and energetic nature. For he 
makes everything go that he puts his hand to, and makes all go right, 
as far as he can control the movement. 

In political relations Mr. Goodding is a Democrat of firm con- 
victions and great activity. The affairs of his party always command 
his attention and its interests always have his effective support. For 
more than a quarter of a century he served diligently and energetically 
as a member of the local school board, and the schools were greatly 
benefited by the attention he gave them. He is a Freemason in fra- 
ternal relations and a member of the Presbyterian church in religious 
connections. Both church and lodge get their full share of his aid in 
all their worthy undertakings. In 1881 he was married to Miss Emma 
Dunnington, who was born and reared in this county, but whose father 
was a native of Virginia. They have three children, Eoy H., Buella, 
the wife of J. W. Tyler of Enid, Oklahoma, and Walter. The family 
is one of the leading ones in the township and deserves its prominence. 

' ASA W. McDAVITT. 

Following lofty ideas of citizenship in all the relations of life and 
faithful to every duty, whether in the productive pursuits of peaceful 
industry or on the field of carnage in the front of unrolling columns bent 
on the death and destruction of their opponents, Asa W. McDavitt of 
Eichland township in this county, has given a good example to all observ- 
ers and justified the faith his fellow men have in his integrity and the 
esteem in which they hold him for his enterprise and usefulness. He 
is a native of Randolph county, Missouri, born on August 13, 1845. but 
has lived in Macon county many years, the greater part of his life, in 
fact, except ten years, during which he was farming in the state of 
Nebraska. 

Mr. McDavitt is a son of Leo and Araminta (Kerbie) McDavitt, 
the former a native of Woodford county, Kentucky, and the latter born' 
in Virginia. The father remained in his native county until 1825, then 
moved to Missouri and located in Randolph county, where he followed 
farming and raising stock for a number of years. Macon county seemed 
more to his taste than Randolph and he changed his residence to this 
locality, and here he passed the remainder of his life, which ended on 
February 16, 1882. He was a pronounced Republican in politics and a 
zealous member of the Universalist church in- religious alliance. His 



436 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

marriage to Miss Kerbie occurred in Eandolph county, Missouri, and by 
it he became the father of nine children, six of whom are living: Sarah, 
the wife of Louis Dale of Elmer in this county ; Ellen, the wife of Simeon 
Broyles of Harrison county, Missouri; Mary, the wife of Jasper N. 
Patrick, whose home is also in Elmer; Dr. B. C. McDavitt of La Plata; 
Asa W., whom these paragraphs chiefly concern, and "William H., who 
is also a resident of Macon county. 

Asa W. McDavitt obtained his education in the district schools of 
Macon countj', but owing to the state of the country and the circum- 
stances of the family, it was necessarily very limited. The schools were 
primitive, as they always are in a new country, and he could not attend 
them regTilarly or for any lengthy period. His services were needed 
on the farm as soon as he was able to work, and everything else had to 
give waj' before this necessity. He helped to improve the home place 
and generally assisted the family until 1864. He then enlisted in the 
Federal army in Company H, Fortj^-second Missouri infantry, under 
command of Captain Vail, and was soon assigned to the division 
of the army commanded by General Thomas. He took part in the bat- 
tle of Nashville and was mustered out of the service in that city in the 
spring of 1865. 

At the close of his military service Mr. McDavitt returned to his 
Macon county home and bought 100 acres of his present farm. He at 
once began farming and raising stock, and in these interesting and 
profitable jsursuits he has ever since been engaged, enlarging his fann 
to 290 acres and expanding his business as his prosperity increased. He 
has been very successful and at one time owned 475 acres of land, but as 
each of his sons came of age he gave the new man in the family a farm 
as a start in life. 

On July 19, 1868, Mr. McDavitt was joined in wedlock with Miss 
Mary M. Murry, a daughter of Fielding and Catherine (Dale) Murry, 
long residents in Macon county, where Mrs. McDavitt was born and 
reared, and where she and her parents stand well in the regard of the 
whole peo]ile. Of the seven children liorn to her and her husband only 
three are living: Fred N., a rising man in this comity; Arthur, now a 
minister of the Universalist church who resides in Marseilles, Illinois, 
and La Verne, who is connected with the State University at Lincoln, 
Nebraska. The sons, like their father, are excellent citizens and faith- 
ful to every duty, and are highly esteemed. The father is a Republican 
and a member of the Grand Army of the Repulilic, and he and his wife 
are zealous working adherents of the Universalist church. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COIjyTY 437 

EDGAE G. SNOW. 

" 'Tis not in mortal to command success, but they can do more — 
they can deserve it." So sang many years ago a i)oet with clear 
insight into all the comedy and tragedy of human life, and all human 
experience before and since his time sustains the truth of his aphorism. 
Edgar G. Snow of Lyda township in this county, whose extensive farm- 
ing and stock-raising industry is located near the town of Atlanta, has 
both deserved and commanded success, and is esteemed as one of the 
leading citizens of the township because of the qualities of mind and 
body with which he has won it and the manly and public spirited way 
in which he has used it in promoting the best interests of the region 
around him and the people who inhabit it. 

Mr. Snow is a native of Michigan, born in the city of Kalamazoo 
in 1849. His father, Orson Snow, was born and reared in Oswego, 
New York, and from there moved to Kalamazoo. He was married in 
1847 to Miss Eosella Ward, a native of Ohio, and moved his family to 
Missouri in 1866, located in Macon county and Lyda township. The 
six children born to him of his first marriage all grew to maturity and 
four of them are still living. They are : Edgar G. ; Julia, the wife of 
Eichard Butler; Stella, the wife of H. Goodding, and Charles. Their 
mother died in 1880 and in 1886 the father married Miss Ida Woodford, 
who was born in Niles, Michigan. He died on February 26, 1909. His 
widow is now living at Atlanta, Missouri. 

Edgar G. Snow grew to the age of seventeen in Kalamazoo and 
obtained his education in the i)ublic schools and the Baptist College 
in that city. After he came to Missouri with his parents he did not 
again go to school, but entered at once on his career as a farmer and 
stock dealer, and in extending and improving this he has ever since 
been engaged. It might be said that he was bred to the line of activity 
in which he is engaged. His father was a farmer, and although the 
son passed his boyhood and early youth in a busy, bustling manu- 
facturing city, the whole period was connected with the operation of 
the farm in the work of which he bore his full part. In his own enter- 
prise he has been eminently successful and his success is the logical 
result of the vigor and skill with which he has carried on his business 
and the capacity and industry he has exercised in the management of 
it. He now owns over 400 acres of land, the greater part of which is 
under cultivation and yielding rich harvests, and also conducts exten- 
sive operations in raising live stock. 

Politically Mr. Snow is a Eepublican and one of the energetic work- 



438 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

ing members of liis party. In the general affairs of tlie township lie 
takes an earnest and serviceable interest and a leading part. He has 
been one of the school directors and president of the board for more 
than ten years, and has also served as road commissioner six. In these 
responsible and trjdng offices he has rendered good service to the people 
and has the satisfaction of knowing that his efforts to promote their 
welfare are highly appreciated. In fraternal life he is connected with 
the Masonic Order and in religious affiliation with the Universalist 
church. His lodge and his church have been objects of constant care 
and interest to him. He has received benefits of magnitude from them 
and found great enjojTnent in their works of benevolence. And they, 
in turn, have been substantially aided by his membership and activity 
in their behalf. In 1873 he was united in marriage with Miss Anna 
Jones, a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania. They have three children, 
their daughters Nellie, Grace and Katherine. All the members of the 
family enjoy in a marked degree the esteem of all who know them and 
are worthy of it. 

JACOB N. BRUCE. 

(Deceased.) 

This prominent farmer and stock-breeder of Macon county, whose 
industry was located in Bichland township near the village of La 
Crosse, was born in Macon county on April 4, 1860, and moved with his 
parents soon afterward to the state of Minnesota. He is a son of 
Alfred and Diantha (Meechum) Bruce, the former a native of New York 
state and the latter of Ohio. The father came to Missouri to live in 
1859, but did not tarry long, as has been stated. He was married four 
times. During the Civil war he enlisted in the First Minnesota battery 
of artillery and served through three terrible years of that memorable 
conflict. The mother died in 1866, and the next year the son returned 
to Macon county, where he lived until his death December 31, 1909, a 
period of forty-two years. His mother's death occurred in Minnesota, 
and his father's at La Plata, the latter on October 22, 1891. 

Jacob N. Bruce was not favored by Fortune, nor did the goddess 
of circumstances open her cornucopia for his benefit. His course 
through life was rough and thorny, and hewed out by his own ])er- 
sistent industry, ability and self-reliant energj'. He obtained a limited 
education at the public schools, and at an early age began the career 
in farming and raising stock which he made successful and conducted 
with a spirit and enterprise that have left room for no other 
result. He owned 130 acres of good land, all of which, except what 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 439 

is required for grazing inirposes, is under vigorous and skillful culti- 
vation, and yields abundant returns for the labor and intelligence 
bestowed upon it. The stock industry was an extensive and active one, 
and resulted in considerable profit for Mr. Bruce in a financial way, 
and also gave him a high standing and a wide reputation as an 
enterprising, far-seeing and reliable stock man. 

In the political affairs of the country Mr. Bruce always took an 
active and serviceable part, feeling that it was a good citizen's duty 
to do so, and being unwilling to neglect any part of what beionged to him 
as such. lie belonged to the Republican party and was faithful and 
energetic in working for it. He served well and with general approval 
as road overseer of Richland township for four years, and was a mem- 
ber of the local scliool board for over fifteen years. His work in 
connection with these two elements of general public convenience and 
progress was of an elevated character, and the results were shown in 
the high standard of excellence exhibited by both roads and schools 
while under his management and received the benefit of his intelligent 
and vigorous supervision. He performed his duties in connection with 
them faithfully and his fidelity was the high appreciation of all the 
people. 

On December 10, 1884, Mr. Bruce was married to Miss Elizabeth 
A. Simms, who is, like himself, a native of Macon county. They had 
no children of their own, but are rearing two adopted children, their 
daughter Minnie and their son Lester. It is in keeping with the 
generosity of their natures that they wished to share their prosiDerity 
with others, and in the children they have taken under their care they 
have secured worthy objects of their liberality. For the children 
reward their care and attention with obedience to their wishes and a 
studious effort to exemplify in their daily lives the lessons bestowed 
upon them by admonition and example at the family hearth-stone. Mr. 
and Mrs. Bruce are highly respected by all who know them, and are 
fully worthy of the high position they have in general public regard. 
Mr. Bruce was a member of the Knights of Pythias and the United 
Brethren church. 

/' ALBERT F. SMITH. 

Unlike many of the young men born and reared in this section of 
the coimtry who devote a considerable portion of their time in their 
earlier manhood to physical labor, Albert F. Smith of Elmer has been 
occupied mainly in intellectual work from the time when he left the 
academic shades amid which he completed his education. And while 



440 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

his engagements have involved a certain amount of bodily exertion, 
as all intellectual pursuits do, that part of his activity has been merely 
incidental, matters requiring mental effort forming the principal burden 
of his daily toil. That he has met his responsibilities in a masterly 
way and performed all the duties required of him with fidelity and 
ability is proven by his success in his career and the universal esteem 
with which he is regarded by the people of Macon county and the 
adjacent country. 

Mr. Smith was born on January 2, 1880, at Clarence, Shelby 
county, Missouri, and is a son of B. F. and Beatrice (McAfee) Smith, 
the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Shelby county in this 
state. The father left his native state and came to Missouri in 1866. 
At that time the Old Dominion was a badly wounded giant, lying prone 
on the battlefield of the Civil war, with every energy prostrated and all 
strength for the time exhausted. Its once rich plantations were largely 
in ruin, its industries were paralyzed, and all its civil and social insti- 
tutions were agonizing under the iron heel of a military despotism. But 
its fine spirit was only dethroned and as much as ever unconquerable. 
The subsequent history of the grand old state has given abundant 
evidence of its recuperative powers, and commanded the admiration of 
the world by the rapidity, vigor and excellence of their work. Still 
the process of rebuilding was a painful and exacting one, and had to 
be conducted in the face and in spite of the prejudices and obstacles 
born of the war, which levied heavy tribute on the depleted resources 
of the region for the evils which existed in addition to the cost of curing 
them. Under these circumstances Albert Smith's father believed his 
chances for advancement would be better in a country presenting 
fewer difficulties in the way of development. He therefore came to 
Missouri and located in Shelby county. This section, also, was wasted 
by the fraternal strife and had the i)rejudices incident to the contest. 
But its disasters had been neither so general nor so extensive, and it 
was comparatively a new country, with almost boundless resources 
which had not yet been developed. Missouri was not a towering 
giant of full maturity thrown down and crushed by superior force, 
but a young giant moving toward maturity with its progress temporarily 
checked by a passing storm. 

The elder Mr. Smith chose wisely for himself and his offspring by 
enlisting imder the banner of this growing potency. In the service 
and store-house of opportunity of the newer state he throve and 
flourished, working at his trade as a cooper, and through it becoming 
more than a mechanic working at a trade. He raised his business to- 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 441 

the proportions and dignity of a manufactory, and by this means was 
of material service to the community of his home in supplying a 
portion of its wants. He was married in 1874 to Miss Beatrice McAfee, 
and by this marriage became the father of three children. His son 
Albert F. is the only one of the three who is living. His mother died 
in 1885, when he was a child of five years. B. F. Smith broke up 
house-keeping at this time and Albert F. was taken by his grandfather 
A. S. McAfee at Clarence, Missouri with whom he made his home until 
May 1890, when Mrs. McAfee died leaving him again without a home. 
In June 1890, he found a temporary home with W. L. Thompson, near 
Anabel, one of the most extensive dealers of live stock in Macon county. 
Mr. Thompson became attached to the boy and decided to give him a 
home as long as he wanted it, also to give him as good an education as 
he could, sending him to the rural schools and one year each at Clarence 
High School and the State Normal. 

At the age of eighteen Albert F. Smith began his career for him- 
self still claiming Mr. Thompson's home as his home and always 
staying there when he was not employed. 

In his own words : " It was the help and advice and fatherly interest 
manifested by Mr. Thompson that has enabled me to become what I 
am, and I certainly appreciate it." 

Albert F. Smith began his education in the district schools of 
Macon county, continued it at a high school in Clarence and completed 
it at the Kirksville Norman school. 

After leaving the institution last named at the end of a three years' 
course, he taught in the public schools for a period of seven years, 
passing two of them as principal of the schools in Elmer. In 1907 
he became a stockholder and director of the Elmer Exchange Bank 
and was elected its cashier. This position he is still filling with great 
acceptability to the patrons and friends of the bank and to the entire 
satisfaction of its other officers. He is also secretary and treasurer 
of the Elmer Creamery Company, a member of the school board, and 
treasurer of the consolidated school district. 

Mr. Smith's political faith is that of the Democratic jiarty in 
whose affairs he takes an active interest and in whose behalf he is a 
faithful and appreciated worker. His fraternal connection is with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, to which he renders good and 
loyal service as secretary of his lodge, and with the Modern Woodmen 
of America. He is also a zealous member of the Christian church, and 
its interests received his careful and helpful attention. In 1904 he was 
married to Miss Dora Salyer of this county. They have one child. 



442 HISTORY OP MACON COUNTY 

their daughter Bertha. He and his wife are prominent in the social 
circles of the community and are looked upon as excellent citizens, 
warmly interested in everything involving the welfare of the community 
and willing at all times to do all in their power to promote it and add 
to the conveniences and comfort of its people. 

•^ EDWIN I. DUNHAM. 

Like Freedom's battle in human history, when once begun and 
' ' bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, though baffled oft is ever won, ' ' 
the course of the empire in this country, through the onward surge of 
the pioneer wave, has made steady progress by the successive advances 
of one generation after another, until it has redeemed our whole wilder- 
ness from the waste and covered our whole wide expanse with thrifty, 
progressive and prosperous people. This continued migration of 
hardy adventurers with the progress of the sun, from the Atlantic sea- 
board toward the Pacific coast, forms one of the most inspiring and 
spectacular images of all our chronicles. Almost within the memory 
of men yet living it was checked by the Ohio; then by the Mississippi; 
then by the Missouri, over whose triple source the Eocky mountains 
frowned with forbidding severity. But the army of axmen and plow- 
men kept pushing their progress fast on the heels of the flying buffalo, 
the sons taking up the march where the fathers laid it down, until 
having overspread the country, and thus accomplished its mission, it 
passed into history and became but a memory, yet a vivid one, and kept 
alive and green by the triumphs of civilization and mighty achievements 
for which it blazed the way. 

The family to which Edwin I. Dunham of Elmer in this county 
belongs, and of which he is a worthy representative, embodies in its 
own an epitome of our country's story in this respect. Its American 
progenitors settled in New Jersey in 1680, emigrating to that state 
from Northumberland county, England. They flourished there as 
conquering frontiersmen, as the first generation of their descendants 
did in southeastern New York, and the next in the wild luxuriance of 
the Mohawk valley. Western Pennsylvania bowed in sulijugatiou and 
yielded trilmte to the third generation, and the unbroken prairies of 
Indiana to the fourth, as did those of Iowa a little later, to the fifth. 
In all these localities the Dunhams were pioneers and well-to-do 
farmers, helping to build into beauty and systematic productiveness 
the region in which they camped and afterward dwelt in comfort. 

Edwin I. Dunham, however, was a pioneer, but never sought the 
kind of conquest his forefathers made illusti'ious in the earlier history 



I 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 443 

of the family. By the time he came upon the scene of action we no 
longer had a frontier, and he took his place in the work of developing 
and improving the country those before him had opened to settlement. 
He was born on January 24, 1866, in Louisa county, Iowa, a son of 
Sylvanus and Mattie (Jamison) Dunham, the former a native of 
Indiana, born in 1822, and the latter of Ohio and of North of Ireland 
ancestry. The mother was a daughter of William and Elizabeth Jami- 
son, who, also, were born and reared in Ohio. The Dunhams were 
married in January, 1865, and had nine children, two of whom died in 
infancy. Those living are : Edwin I. ; William W., of Fredonia, Kansas ; 
Harry A., of Wapello, Iowa; Sylvanus V., of Montevista, Colorado; 
Nellie Ursula, the wife of Frank G. Colburn, of Oskaloosa, Iowa ; and 
Elmer R. and Fred, who also live in Iowa, the latter at Wapello. 

The father moved from Indiana to Louisa county, Iowa, in 1837, 
when he was but fifteen years of age. He was industrious and thrifty, 
and had a great deal of enterprise and business capacity. He became 
in time the owner of over 3,000 acres of land and one of the leading 
stock men of his day in the Northwest. Owing to his extensive oper- 
ations in raising and dealing in live stock, and his general ability and 
high character, he rose to consequence in his section of the state, 
becoming, in fact, the most prominent citizen in the portion he lived 
in. He died on September 4, 1902. His widow is still living and is 
now (1909) sixty-eight years old and has her home at Wapello, Iowa. 

Edwin I. Dunham attended the district schools in his native county, 
and on completing their course of instruction, entered a good high 
school. After the completion of his scholastic training he taught school 
for a period of three years, then followed contracting and building for 
awhile in Salt Lake City. In 1890 he returned to Iowa and took up his 
residence at Oakville in the county of his nativity. There he dealt in 
cattle until 1896, when he became a retail druggist. In compliance with 
the state law he made a special study of his business in technical and 
practical training, taking his instructions from a private tutor and 
securing his registry in 1900. He found his new mercantile connection 
agreeable and full of stimulus for him, and stuck to it faithfully until 
1905, when the utter failure of his health compelled him to give it up, 
and seek a more congenial climate and an out-door life. He then came 
to Missouri and located at Elmer in this county. Since his arrival 
in this locality he has been energetically and extensively engaged in 
farming and raising stock, and has been very successful in both. 

Mr. Dunham now owns 500 acres of choice land and cultivates all 
of it except what is required for grazing purposes. He feeds and 



Ui HISTORY OP MACON COUNTY 

ships large numbers of cattle every year, and prepares liis output from 
the very beginning of his work on it with the greatest care and intelli- 
gence. For this he has ample reward in the rank his shipments have 
in the markets and the high prices they bring. His business is large 
and makes exacting claims on his time and energies. But he does 
not allow it to wholly absorb him or lessen his interest in -the affairs 
of the township and county. In everything pertaining to their wel- 
fare he takes an earnest interest, and in all worthy projects for. 
promoting that he bears an active and serviceable part. He was 
reared in the Eepublican school of political thought. For, although 
his father was not an active partisan and mingled but little with politi- 
cal affairs, he was a loyal Republican. His son's convictions, started 
by the father's views and opinions, have been strengthened by his own 
reading, observation and reflection, and he is as active in the service 
of his party as his father was loyal and firm in his faith in it. His 
prominence in its councils and zeal in working for its success have 
brought him prominently before the public, and in 1908 he was a drafted 
candidate for membership in the lower house of the state legislature. 
In 190.3 he was made president of the school board and served with 
great energy and intelligence in that capacity for three years. The 
value of his services is shown in the efficiency of the schools and 
acknowledged by the tmiversal esteem in which the people hold them 
and him. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic Order, the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, 
and is active in his service of each. In 1896 he was united in marriage 
with Miss Melissa Miller, a native of Iowa and daughter of Jonas and 
Mary Magdalene (Fry) Miller. Two children have blessed their 
union, their daughter Ursula and their son Robert, both of whom are 
attending school. The parents are social favorites wherever they are 
known, warmly welcomed in the best circles of society and brightening 
and warming them with their genial natures, cultivated manners and 
broad general intelligence. In connection with local progress and 
improvement they are considered as among the most useful citizens of 
the township, and in all the relations of life they stand in the front 
rank in general poi)ular estimation. 

"' JOHN P. FOSTER, M. D. 

Active in the practice of one of the noblest and most beneficent of 
all the professions, with a large and loyal body of patrons, connected 
with a number of the financial and industrial interests of the county 
in a leading way, prominent in the fraternal life of his community and 




JOHN P. FOSTER, M. D. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 445 

energetic and influential in local public affairs, Dr. John P. Poster of 
La Crosse, Richland township, in this county, is deservedly regarded 
as one of the most useful and representative citizens of this portion of 
the state, and as a man is well worthy in every way of the high regard 
the people feel for him. 

Dr. Foster was born on May 9, 1866, in Kirksville, Adair county, 
Missouri, which is known as an educational center of prominence all 
over the country because of the excellent normal school which is located 
there. He is a son of Hiram B. and Martha J. (Ferguson) Foster, the 
former a Kentuckian and the latter an Indianian by nativity. Of the 
eight children born of their marriage four are living: James M., a resi- 
dent of La Crosse; Dr. John P. Jeannette, the wife of John T. Farmer; 
and Emmett 0., whose home is also at La Crosse. The parents were 
married in 1861, and the father died on March 30, 1904. The mother is 
still living and has her home at La Crosse. 

The father moved to Missouri in 1852 and was engaged in mer- 
chandising until the beginning of the Civil war. Being warmly attached 
to the Union, and abhorred at the possibility of its dismemberment, he 
deemed it his duty to aid in saving it at any hazard, and with him to be 
convinced was to act. He enlisted in the Twenty-second regiment of 
Missouri infantry and was made lieutenant of his command. This 
was soon after its enrollment at the front and during the memorable 
conflict saw considerable active and dangerous service. Mr. Foster took 
part in the battles of ^"icksburg, Nashville and other places where 
tragic history was written in blood, and also in many minor engage- 
ments. After the war he located in this county, coming here in 1866. 
He did not, however, return to mercantile life, but gave his attention 
to farming, and also practiced law. He attained good standing as a 
professional man and considerable influence as a citizen, using all his 
opportunities and powers in promoting the welfare of the region in 
which he lived and advancing the interests of its people. 

The Doctor was reared in his native town and began his education 
in its public schools. His academic training was completed at the 
Kirksville Normal school, and his ]irofessional preparation was made 
by private reading and a thorough course of instruction at the Marion 
Simms Medical College, from which he was graduated on March 23, 
1893. He at once began his creditable professional career at La Crosse, 
among the people who know him well and esteem him highly, and 
he has found them so fruitful in benefits to him and so appreciative of 
his services to them that he has remained with them ever since. Their 
interests have been dear to him and he lias sought in every way avail- 



446 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

able to him to promote them. He is vice-president of the Bank of 
Gifford and also a stockholder and directer of the Gifford Brick and 
Tile company. In addition to these, other institutions of value to the 
locality have the benefit of his active interest and helpful counsel and 
assis^tance. He also serves both the govermnent and the people as 
United States pension examiner. 

In politics he is an ardent and active working Republican, prom- 
inent in the councils of his party and zealous in advancing its interests. 
For a number of years he has been a member of its county central and 
executive committees. Yet, although his loyalty to his party never 
wanes and his efforts in its service never cease, he has never consented 
to accept a political office for himself, and has resolutely put aside all 
appeals to him to become a candidate for one. Several times he has 
been requested urgently to accept a nomination for representative in 
the lower house of the state legislature, but has always declined 
positively and promptly. 

Before he began the study of medicine Dr. Foster taught in the 
public schools several years. This experience gave him intimate 
knowledge of the people and of himself, and has been valuable to him 
in all his subsequent career, professional and in other lines of action. 
He is prominently connected with the fraternal life of the community 
as a member of the Masonic Order, the Modern Woodmen of America, 
and the American Mutual Benevolent Association, and in his i)rofes- 
sional work and studies is ably and extensively assisted by active mem- 
bership in the National, State and County Medical Associations. He 
was married on October 1, 1896, to Miss Claribel Gilleland, a native of 
this county, and one of the cultured and popular ladies of this portion 
of the state. She presides over his home with grace and dignity and 
gives great animation and brilliancy to the social life of which it is a 
hospitable and refined center. Like the Doctor, Mrs. Foster stands 
high in the estimation of the public, and like him, too, she richly 
deserves all the regard that is bestowed upon her. 

> JOSHUA CALEB BRADLEY. 

The pen of the biographer has seldom a more engaging theme than 
the life story of a good man who has advanced to middle life in pros- 
perity for himself and usefulness to his fellow men, and who is still 
vigorous and energetic for further service and has the dis]iosition to 
render it. In his view the state of prosperity to which he has helped 
to bring the region in which he lives is but the means to greater devel- 
opment and progress, and the noble institutions and agencies for the 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 447 

public good which he sees flourishing around him, and which he has 
helped to create and foster, are but incentives to other and greater 
undertakings of the same character, or closely allied with what is, for 
the purpose of bringing about what should be. Such a theme is 
presented in the business career, elevated citizenship and ennobling 
public spirit of Joshua Caleb Bradley of Goidsberry, whose name is 
a household word for esteem and admiration throughout "White town- 
ship in this county, and a large extent of the surrounding country. 

Mr. Bradley is a Kentuekian by birth, his life having begun in 
Barren county of that state on March 9, 1854. But as he was brought 
to Missouri and Macon county in 1855, when he was but one year old, 
and has passed the whole of his subsequent life here, he may properly 
be called, for all practical purjaoses a Missourian and a product of that 
portion of the state in which he has made his career and rendered his 
service to the public. His parents, Beverly W. and Malinda Jane 
(Dale) Bradley, were born and reared in Kentucky and were descended 
from families long resident in the state. They were married in 
January, 1841, and had six children, one of whom has died, John C. 
Those living are : Thompson W., Robert, George W., Joshua C. and 
MolHe, the wife of J. P. Greenstreet of Gifford. 

During the Civil war the father's sympathies were with the 
Southern side of the controversy, but there were obstacles in the way 
of his engaging actively in the strife. He believed in the prineijjles 
and governmental theories of the old Democratic party, and to that 
organization he still gives his devoted allegiance and whatever service 
he is still able to render. He was energetic in its behalf during all 
the years of his activity in life, and was esteemed as one of its influential 
advisers and workers in the locality of his home. For many years he 
served well and wisely as a member of the local school board, and in 
connection with other beneficial agencies at work for the improvement 
of the county and the welfare of its people he contributed his full share 
of the inspiration necessary to start and the labor required to continue 
them in operation. He is still living at the ripe old age of ninety-four, 
one of the venerated i)atriarchs of the county and a shining link con- 
necting its present state of development with its earlier period of 
struggle, peril and hopeful patience. 

His son, Joshua C. Bradley, was reared in the manner and amid 
the surroundings almost universal with country boys in this region 
during his minority. He began his scholastic training in the district 
schools and completed it at the Kirksville Normal school. After leav- 
ing this institution he followed for eight years the liberalizing but 



448 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

exhausting vocation of a teacher, giving his services to the cause of 
public education which formed the basis of his own preparation for 
the battles of life. In 1884 he turned his attention to merchandising 
in association with P. J. Burton, and at the same time began to look 
upon the law as the field for the exercise of his faculties through life. 
During his mercantile career he prepared himself for the profession, 
and in 1897 he was admitted .to the bar. Since then he has been con- 
tinuously engaged in an active general practice, although he held on 
to liis mercantile interests until 1908. He has also, for a niunber of 
years, been active in the real estate, loan and insurance business, and 
with the agricultural interests of the county as the owner of 3,000 
acres of good laud, the cultivation of which he superintends, and on 
which he raises large numbers of fine cattle every j-ear. 

Mr. Bradley's mind is energetic and comprehensive, and requires 
a great deal of business to keep all its faculties employed and satisfy 
its demands. His profession, his store and his farming and stock 
breeding enterprises gave him a great deal to do and to think about, 
but they did not meet all his requirements or absorb the whole of his 
attention. In 1897, in connection with his brother. Judge Bradley, 
he started a banking business at Ethel which is still flourishing and 
has grown to great proportions and won a high reijutation for the 
excellent manner in which it is conducted. 

Throughout his long and successful career this energetic man and 
progressive citizen has overcome every obstacle and been triumphant 
over nearly eveiy force that opposed his advance in business or pro- 
fessional life. But when the little god of sentiment attacked him he 
soon surrendered and suffered himself to be bound with the flowery 
yoke of the conqueror. He was married in 1878 to Miss Nora Wright, 
a native of Macon county. They have five children : Zella, the wife of 
E. B. Turner; Jose H., who is married and living at Goldsberry; Edith, 
the wife of Charles H. Lile; and Jennie Ruth and Ralph E., who are 
still members of the parental household. 

The father is allied with the Democratic ]iarty in political relations, 
but he has never been a very active partisan. He has supported the 
principles and candidates of his party loyally but not in an ostentatious 
or conspicious manner. His manifest capacity for administrative 
duties and his wide intelligence and high character have, however, made 
him particuhirly desirable as a public official and he has yielded to the 
pressure of public opinion and consented to serve the people in numer- 
ous township offices. In 1875 he was elected clerk and assessor of 
Drake township and he filled the position with great acceptability 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 449 

for many years. lu 1880 he was appointed county school commissioner, 
and he has been a justice of the peace in and for White township for 
more than twenty years. He has also been a member of the local school 
board during the last twelve years, and the unusual interest and 
activity he has shown in school work have resulted in decided benefit 
to the schools and brought him considerable popularity and public 
approval. He has also been a notary public for more than twenty 
years and from 1881 to 1895 served as postmaster of Goldsberry. 

In religious affiliation Mr. Bradley is a Seventh Day Adveutist and 
one of the elders of the congregation to which he belongs. But he is 
free from all narrowness and bigotry in religious matters and contri- 
butes freely and generously to the church needs of all denominations. 
In the matter of private charity he is royal in his munificence and 
princely in his modesty and silence concerning it, with his right hand 
ever open to help the worthy who are in need and his left in total 
ignorance on the subject. In all the attributes of lofty and compre- 
hensive manhood he is the peer of any man in the state, and none more 
than he enjoys in full measure the esteem and admiration of the people 
or more completely deserves their regard and good will. 

^ CHRISTOPHER HARDIN JONES. 

The scion of old Kentucky families, members of which yvere among 
the pioneers of that great commonwealth, and a grandson of heroic 
frontiersmen in Missouri, Christopher Hardin Jones has had all his 
life lofty family ideals of manly duty to live up to and the stimulus 
of stern endurance and unwavering fidelity in the examples furnished 
by his forefathers. He is a native of this state, born in Linn county in 
1857, and was reai-ed on its soil. He obtained his scholastic training 
in its district schools and has expended all his efforts so far in life's 
journey to the work of improving it and augmenting its wealth and 
power. All that he is is Missouri's own and the product of her resources 
and institutions. And that he is creditable to her powers of production 
the united voice of the community in which he lives concedes without 
stint or hesitation. 

Mr. Jones is practically a self-made man, in the better sense of 
the term. All his achievements are the fruits of his own capacity and 
industry, and the general esteem in which he stands is the logical and 
due tribute to his worth as a man and his excellence as a citizen. He 
is the son of Hardin and Susan (Yates) Jones, the former a native 
of Boone county and the latter of Howard county, Missouri. They were 
married in 1848 and had five children. All of their oflFspring grew to 



450 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

maturity and are living. They are: Corinne F. ; John M., who lives 
in Linn county; Christopher H., the subject of this brief review; Rob- 
ert W., who is a resident of Sullivan county ; and [Milton S., whose home 
is in Iowa. The father moved his family to Macon county in 1868, 
and here lie and his wife passed the rest of their lives actively engaged 
in farming. The mother died in 1886 and the father in 1893. 

Christopher H. Jones made his choice of an occupation early in 
life, and through all of his subsequent years he has adhered to it. He 
was born to it, in fact, and received his early traininp- in its exacting 
but "stimulating duties on the family homestead. As boy, youth and 
man he has followed farming and never felt any strong temptation 
to an easier life or more rapid advancement in any other. This has 
satisfied his desires and sufficiently rewarded his efforts, and he has 
made it elevating and worthy of commendation by the manner in which 
he has devoted himself to it and the skill and bi'eadth of view with 
which he has conducted its operations. His education in the matter of 
scholastic training was limited to the facilities and range of instruc- 
tion afforded by the district schools in the vicinity of his home. But 
the lessons of experience and tlie results of observation and intelligent 
reflection have done good work in broadening his mind, expanding his 
information and increasing his capacity for every duty. 

He has made his farm of 460 acres a model of attractiveness and 
fertilit}', its improvements commodious, comfortable and pleasing to the 
eye, and its equipment for the most advanced methods of cultivation 
complete in all particulars. The same excellent judgment, commendable 
enterprise and careful attention to details have characterized him in his 
allied industry of raising stock, and also in the matter of public 
improvements and work for the general welfare of the township and 
county in which he lives. To every worthy undertaking for the advance- 
ment of his locality he has given cordial and intelligent support, and 
his services in this behalf are highly appreciated wherever he is known. 
His own success in life, which has been considerable, has been followed, 
through his efforts and those of others like him, and reflected in the 
progress and improvement of the region all around him, and its present 
development stands forth a monvmient to the enterprise of an energetic, 
broad-minded and productive people of whom he is an acknowledged 
and worthy representative. 

Mr. Jones has always refused all tenders of political office for him- 
self, but he has taken an earnest and helpful interest in public affairs 
and been devoted to the welfare of the Democratic party, the political 
organization of his choice. He has also, at all times, been zealous 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 451 

and active in practical services to it, helping to direct its course wisely 
by judicious counsel and help it to worthy and approved success by 
determined and fruitful exertion. His work for the party is all the 
more appreciated by both its leaders and the rest of their followers 
because it is based upon principle and has no taint of self-seeking or 
desire for personal advantage in it. His whole course in life has been 
straightforward and upright, looking to his own advancement, of 
couise, but with the general welfare always in view and under studious 
consideration. He is connected with the linancial interests of the 
region as a stockholder and director of the State Bank of New Boston, 
in Linn county. In 1881 he was joined in marriage with Miss Mary 
J. Katlitf, a native of Adair county, ]\lissouri. They have one child, 
their sou, Commodore H. Jones. 

• J. FRANK LILE. 

AVliile neither a i^ioneer nor the son of a pioneer, J. Frank Lile, 
one of the prosperous and progressive farmers and stock men of White 
township, has been closely connected with and serviceably instru- 
mental in the growth and development of Macon county during all his 
years since boyhood, and his family has been influential in the progress 
of the state of Missouri for at least two generations. He is himself a 
native of the county, born on April 16, 1866, and his father, John M. 
Lile, was born in 1836 and reared in Schuyler county. The fatlier 
obtained a limited education in the country schools of his boyhood and 
devoted his whole life to farming. He located in Macon county in his 
young manhood and in 1855 was united in marriage with Miss Mary 
J. Murray, a native of Illinois. They became the parents of seventeen 
children, eight of whom are living: Fanny, the wife of James liadliff of 
South Dakota ; Millie, the wife of Daniel Turner of this county ; William 
H., who also lives in South Dakota ; J. Frank, the subject of this sketch ; 
Ira, a resident of Macon county; Mollie, the wife of W. L. Bailey of 
Kansas City, Missouri; Ura, the wife of James N. Lynch; and Vella, 
the wife of Walter Greenstreet of this county. The father died in 
1887 and the mother is still living. Their record in the county is a 
good one and the general esteem of the people followed their upright 
living, useful industry and warm and helpful interest in every element 
of the progress and development of the region in which their excellent 
traits of citizenship were known and appreciated. The mother is now 
well advanced in years and is venerated as one of the true and faithful 
women who have aided in giving Macon county its high record in the 
public estimation of other portions of the state. She numbers her 



453 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

friends by the host and there is not one among them that does not 
call her worthy of the highest confidence and regard. 

J. Frank Lile grew to manhood on his father's fann and performed 
his part in boyhood and youtli as a farmer's son, interested in the 
welfare of his family and willing to do all he could to promote it. He 
assisted with the work on the homestead and attended the district 
school in the vicinity when he could be spared from more exacting 
duties. His early years were not seriously disturbed with dreams 
about the great busy world that lay beyond his rural horizon, for he 
made his choice of an occupation before he reached his maturity and 
outside temptations never had potency with him. It was his jileasure 
to follow in the footsteps of his forefathers, contributing to the gen- 
eral well-being of the county and state in the manner enforced by their 
example, and studious only to do it as well as he could, making the most 
of his opijortunities and holding the family name up to the level at 
which they had placed it. 

On leaving school he entered at once on his life work as a genei*al 
farmer and breeder of good live-stock, and these jDursuits he has fol- 
lowed with steadiness, industry and success ever since. He has pros- 
pered in his undertakings and accumulated a comfortable competence 
for life. He is a stockholder in the Farmers State Bank at New Boston 
and connected with other interests of value to the locality in which he 
lives. On February 9, 1888, he was married to Miss Eliza Eadliff, a 
native of this county. They have one child, their daughter. Vera. In 
political faith and allegiance Mr. Lile is a Democrat, with unvarying 
loyalty to his party and great activity in its service in every campaign. 
He served well and with approval as a member of the school board for 
four 3'ears, and as a member of the Baptist church he has long con- 
tributed to the moral and spiritual uplifting of the peoi^le all around 
him. In matters of public improvement he has been energetic, sparing 
no effort in any good cause and stimulating others to activity by the 
force of his example. He is regarded as one of the county's best 
citizens. 

JAMES M. WRIGHT. 

With a mind so active that it requires several lines of effort to 
satisfy its productive energies, and possessing versatility of talent 
and capacity to conduct thorn all to successful results, James M. AYright, 
of tlie village of Goldsberry, in this coimty, keeps himself one of the 
busiest men in Drake township and has shown himself to be one of its 
most useful citizens. He is a merchant in two lines of trade, carries 



IIISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 453 

on some farmiug operations and deals in horses. He also takes a lead- 
ing part in the public life of the township and gives appreciated atten- 
tion to all the avenues of improvement and everj-thiug that makes for 
the substantial and enduring welfare of the people. 

Mr. Wriglit is a native of this county and was born on April 7, 1856. 
His father, Dennis Dunham AVright, was born and reared in the state of 
New York and came to Missouri in 1845. He located in Macon county 
and here wrought diligently and profitably at his trade as a saddler 
and harness-maker, as he had done in his native state. In 1848 he was 
united in marriage with Miss Mary Riley, a native of Randolph county, 
this state. They had seven children and five of them are living : James 
M., the immediate subject of these paragraphs; Nora, the wife of J. C. 
Bradley, of Goldsberry; W. R., of Washington; Mary Florence, the 
wife of Gr. H. Newkirk, of Goldsberry ; C. C, who lives at Goldsberry. 
The father died in 1866 and the mother in 1887. They lived acceptably 
during the whole of their residence in this county and ]iassed away, leav- 
ing good names enshrined in the loving remembrance of all their 
friends and crowned with the esteem and good will of the whole 
community in which they lived and labored. 

James M. Wright grew to manhood where his life began, and 
obtained all the education he had opportunity for in the district schools. 
His early inclinations were all to trade, and as soon as he left school 
he made his way into the department of human activity toward which his 
tastes and faculties led him. He became a merchant, and, although he 
has since engaged in other pursuits in connection with his merchan- 
dising, he has never abandoned that. His devotion to it and obedience 
to the voice of nature in the direction of his activities have won their 
reward in high standing for him in business circles and a successful 
and prosperous mercantile career. He now owns and manages a drug 
and grocery store and has a large and active trade. He also owns and 
operates an eighty-acre farm, which gives him opjiortunity for the 
gi'atification of another decided taste with him, that is the breeding and 
raising of horses. 

It is not to be supposed, however, that Mr. Wright's extensive 
and varied private interests wholly absorb him and leave no time or 
enei'gj' for attention to the duties of citizenship and the needs of the 
communit}' around him. With a good man's interest in the welfare 
of his fellow men, he realizes that the public affairs which concern the 
whole ]")eo]ile are by no means to be neglected, and he gives those of his 
locality close and serviceable attention in every way he can. He is one 
of the stockholders and directors of the Citizens Bank of Ethel and 



454 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

a director of the ]\Iacon County Insurance Company. He lias been a 
justice of the peace continuously for more than a cpiarter of a centurj' 
and a member of the local school board for over fifteen years, and 
it is universally conceded that no public or private interest has suf- 
fered from any of his official acts or from want of intelligent, vigorous 
and lieljiful attention on his i?art. 

In political faith and allegiance Mr. Wright is a firm and loyal 
Democrat, and his party never has to appeal to him for aid in its 
campaigns. He is one of the first to tender his service, or give it freely 
and effectively without waiting for a hint from anj- source whatever. 
In fraternal relations he is allied with the Masonic order, and his lodge 
also has his cordial and zealous support. On August 8, 1886, he was 
married to Miss Jennie Himgerford, a native of Livingston county, 
New York. They have one child, their daughter, Myra, who is a gradu- 
ate of the Richard Wagner Conservatory of Music, Kirksville, Mis- 
souri, and one of the ornaments of social life in the locality of her home. 
In this respect, as in others, she is a worthy exemplar of the graces and 
popular characteristics for which her parents are so widely and so 
deservedly esteemed. 

ROBERT T. WRIGHT. 

The scion of old Kentucky families long domesticated in that state 
and important factors in its settlement, development and steady pro- 
gress toward its present state of industrial, agricultural and com- 
mercial greatness, Robert T. Wright of near College Mound in Morrow 
township, has well sustained in the life and activities of Macon county, 
Missouri, the family reputations achieved by acknowledged merit and 
commanding prowess in those of Kentucky. He was born in Adair 
county, this state, in 1843, and is a son of Johnson and Eliza J. (Trimble) 
Wright, natives of the Blue Grass state. His paternal grandfather, 
Evans Wright, and great-grandfather, Richard Wright, were leading 
persons in their localities in their day, as were also his maternal grand- 
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Temple, in theirs. 

The father came to Missouri when he was a young man and gave all 
his industrial energies to farming, which he followed extensively to the 
end of his days. He was also a preacher of the gospel and a very 
active politician, serving in the legislature of this state prior to the 
Civil war. He died in 1865 and his widow in 1888. They had nine 
children and six of thorn are living: Robert T., George P., James A., 
Non E., Italy A. and Samuel AV. Those dead are Mary E., Ann and 
Malta. All are, in their several locations and stations in life, exempli- 







ROBERT T. WRIGHT 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 455 

fying the traits for which their ancestors were distinguished and the 
lessons given them by precept and example around the parental fireside. 

Robert T. "Wright obtained his education in the district schools of 
the neighborhood of his home, and on leaving school enlisted in the 
army in defense of his convictions. He saw considerable active service 
in his military life, participating in many of the early skirmishes of the 
Civil war and some of its more imi:)ortant engagements. After the 
close of the war he returned to Missouri and located in Morrow town- 
ship, this county, where he has ever since been prosperously and pro- 
gressively engaged in farming. His farm comprises 200 acres and is 
a model in its high estate of cultivation, valuable improvements and 
complete equipment with the most approved implements required for 
advanced farming at the present day. He is a judicious and enter- 
prising farmer and makes every day of his time tell to his advantage in 
the improvement and increasing fruitfulness of his land. He is also 
a very enteriirising and useful man in promoting the welfare of the 
township and county of his home, and is accounted by the people among 
whom he lives and labors one of their most energetic, far-seeing and 
representative citizens, both in private life and with reference to the 
affairs of the region which has the benefit of his wisdom and zealous 
activity. 

Mr. "Wright is a Eepublican in i)olitics, but while he is always 
energetic and effective in the service of his partj', he has at all times 
declined to accept political office of evety kind. His religious affiliation 
is with the Baptist church, and in its works of benevolence he also takes 
a leading part. He has been very successful in his business, beginning 
with practically nothing and now owning a fine farm and much in other 
interests. On February 20, 1868, he was married to Miss Eliza J. Far- 
ris, and they became the parents of five children, of whom the living are 
Leonard M., Minnie A., Elizabeth and "William R. The mother of these 
children died May 31, 188.3, and sometime afterward the father was 
imited in marriage with Miss Alice Buster, a native of Macon county. 
They have three children, their son Clarence S. and tlieir, daughters 
Ida and Ina, twins, all of whom still brighten and cheer the parental 
home and enliven the family circle, assisting in the labors of the farm 
and adding to the atti'activeness of its social life. 

JOHN JEFFERSON HELTON. 

Sixty-one years ago, that is, in 1848, this prosperous farmer and 
stockman and excellent citizen of Walnut township, was born in the 
state of Kentucky, where his ancestors were pioneers and among the 



45G HISTORY OF :MAC0X COUNTY 

men and women of mold and hardihood who redeemed the wild domain 
of that great commonwealth from its long subjection to barbarous 
force and predatory beasts of prey and laid the solid foundations of its 
jjresent greatness and power. He came to Missouri in 1868 and located 
in Macon county in 1870. Here he has ever since lived and flourished, 
taking his place and doing well his part in the productive activities of 
this region, and adding to the reputation and high standard of its 
citizenship by the excellence of his own. 

Mr. Helton is a son of AVilliam and Elizabeth (Ingle) Helton, both 
born and reared in Kentucky, and married there in 1836. The father 
was a farmer and blacksmith, and in arduous labor at both occupations 
managed to provide comfortal)]y for his family of twelve children, all 
but one of whom the parents reared to maturity. All of these are still 
living, and in various localities and pursuits are multiplying the bless- 
ings of industry and thrift and exemplifying in their daily lives the 
lessons given them by precept and example at the family hearthstone. 
The children living are: George; Mary, the wife of Louis Baker, of 
Kentucky; Aberry; John J., to whom these paragraphs are specially 
devoted ; Jacob ; Jesse ; Parks ; Joseph ; Eachel, the wife of Seth Thomas 
of Kentucky; William, and Meliuda, now Mrs. Thomas, who also lives 
in Kentucky. The father died in 1862 and the mother in 1899. 

Their son, John J. Helton, grew to manhood in his native state and 
obtained his education in its public schools. On leaving school he 
entered the line of productive industry, to which he has ever since 
adhered and in which he is still engaged. He became a farmer and 
stock-breeder, carrjTing on his operations with increasing magnitude 
and prosperity as the years passed and his resources ex])anded. until 
now he owns over 400 acres of excellent farming and grazing land, and 
raises every year large nmnbers of cattle and other live-stock. His spe- 
cialty in cattle for some years has been shorthorns of good degree, and 
in handling them he has made money and won a high and widespread 
reputation as a successful and reliable breeder. 

Mr. Helton has pushed his own affairs with enterprise and vigor 
and his efforts have brought him large returns. He has also taken 
an active and serviceable interest in the affairs of the township and 
county of his residence, and they, also, have responded to his efforts, 
combined with those of other leading citizens, in greatly increased 
progress and development and an elevated standard of living, physical, 
intellectual and moral, for the aggressive and enterprising people who 
live in them. Mr. Helton is a stockholder in the Elmer Creamery 



HISTORY OF ilACOX COUNTY 457 

Company and owns extensive tracts of land outside of the state of 
Missouri. 

He has always declined all overtures made to him to become a can- 
didate foi' political office, but he has never wavered in his loyalty to the 
Democratic party or withheld his utmost service in behalf of its wel- 
fare. The only political, or semi-political, position he has ever con- 
sented to take is that of membership on the local school board, and this 
he has filled for a number of years as a means of promoting the inter- 
ests of the community in the proper guidance and government of one 
of its most cherished institutions, the system of public education. He 
belongs to the Order of Odd Fellows and the Christian church, and his 
membership in them is no formal matter. He is a firm believer in their 
teachings and earnestly devoted to their highest and best develop- 
ment, and he gives his time, energy and material assistance in every 
desirable way to bring about that development and the increased 
usefulness that it involves. 

In 1872 Mr. Helton was united in marriage with Miss Georgiana 
Windle, a native of this county. They have four children: Addie 
Belle, the wife of Manfred D. Lynch, of Ethel ; Effie May, the wife of 
Charles Bailey, of Elmer; Myrtle T., the wife of Eobert Sanders, who 
lives in the state of Kansas ; and Guy Eoy, who is still a member of the 
l^arental household. Mr. and Mrs. Helton are known all over the town- 
ship and in manj- other localities, and wherever they have acquaintances 
they are held in the highest esteem. They stand well in the social 
life of their own community and are warmly welcomed in the best social 
circles of others whenever they enter them. In all the relations of life 
they meet the full requirements of their responsibilities, giving both 
examjjle and stimulus to others and exemplifying in a gratifying way 
the lofty attributes of the best American citizenship. 

WILLIAM LYNCH. 

The son of one of Macon county's honored pioneers, and himself 
helping to. complete the conquest of civilization over the l)arbarous 
forces of the wilderness in this portion of the state, William Lynch, of 
Walnut township, has justified in his own career the name and tradi- 
tions of his forefathers and proven himself to be a citizen of the highest 
usefulness and a man of sterling worth and commanding enterprise. 

Mr. Lynch was born in Macon county in 1845 and is a son of Afartin 
and Linna (Johnson) Lynch, who came to this state in early life and 
])assed many years in skillfully cultivating its soil and heli)ing to push 
forward its gi'owth and development toward its ])resent advanced con- 



458 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

dition of fertility, commercial power and intellectual and moral excel- 
lence. The father was a native of Tennessee and the mother of North 
Carolina, and their ancestors were pioneers in those states. They were 
married in 1832, one year after the arrival of the father in Missouri, 
and his location in this county. The ten children who blessed their 
union all grew to maturity and six of them are still living: AVilliam, 
who lives in Walnut township, this county; Matilda, the wife of Frank 
Burgeman, of Elmer ; Elizabeth ; Susan, the wife of John Atterbury, also 
of Elmer, and Mary, the wife of Stephen AValker. The father died in 
1884 and the mother in 1886. Each labored more than sixty years in 
improving the county and their names' and records are embalmed in the 
respectful remembrance of all the i^eople of it. 

Their son, AViiliam, passed his boyhood and youth on the parental 
homestead, assisting in the arduous work of cultivating it and attend- 
ing the district school near by when he had opportunity. He began 
the battle of life for himself as a fariuer, and in the agricultural branch 
of the industrial army he has marched and conquered ever since. In 
connection with his farming ojjerations he carries on an extensive 
industry in raising stock, and in both departments of his business he has 
been very successful. He has shown commendable enterjjrise and 
progressiveness, studying everything pertaining to his undertakings 
and assimilating in careful reflection the lessons given by observation 
and daily practical experience. In this way he has mastered all the 
details of his work and is able to carry it on with a steady view to 
securing the best results in every way. 

In politics he is an active working Democrat, yielding his due 
tribute of loyalty and labor to the needs of his ]>arty, and doing this 
merely as a matter of j^rinciple and duty, and without any desire for its 
honors or the emoluments of political office. Yet, while he is averse to 
public life and the responsibilities of official duty, he has been willing 
to forego his own preference for the irablic good, and has served on 
the local school board continuously for more than twenty years. "When 
the Civil war was raging in our unhappy country, he enlisted in 1865, 
when he was but twenty years of age. In defense of the Union, in 
Captain Bob Davis' company of volunteers he was part of its aggres- 
sive and defensive force until the close of the war. Thus ever he has 
shown his abiding interest in the welfare of the country and its people, 
and done his part toward ]iromoting it. Fraternally he is a memlu'r of 
the Order of Odd P\>llows, and in religiou.s affairs he is allied with the 
Baptist church. In 1867 he was married to Miss !Mary Ellen Campbell, 
a native of Macon county. The iive children born to them are all living 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 459 

and are: Manfred, Leander, Erskine, "William E. and Beatrice, the 
last named being the wife of Samuel Still, of Kirksville, in this state. 
His wife died February 11, 1901. 

SIMEON HAERISON EPPERSON. 

Adhering, from boyhood, to the occupation of his forefathers for 
generations and pushing his industry with all the power of attention and 
intelligence at his command, Simeon Harrison Epperson, of AValnut 
townshii?, in this county, lias made a pronounced success of his career 
and is now enjoying the reward of his steadfastness of purpose and 
persistency of diligence in a comfortable worldly estate and an excellent 
reputation in the township and county of his home. He has done well 
the things he has known well how to do, and not been enticed from his 
chosen vocation by any temptations in other lines of endeavor, how- 
ever alluring or gilded they might have appeared to be. AVith excel- 
lent judgment he measured his own tastes and inclinations, and with 
manly self-reliance he has followed them greatly to. his own advantage 
and considerably to the benefit of the community. 

Mr. Epperson is a native of this county, and was born on January 
16, 1875. He is a son of Simeon G. and Mary (Mayfield) Epperson, 
the former born and resident for a few years in Iowa, and the latter 
a Kentuckiau by nativity. They came to Missouri when young and 
located in Macon county. Here they were married and engaged in 
farming industriously and profitably imtil death ended their labors, 
when they were well advanced in years. They had four children, two of 
whom have died. The two living are Docia, the wife of B. 0. Lovern, 
of Montana, and Simeon H., the subject of this brief review. The 
father died in 1899 and the mother in 1903. 

Simeon H. Epperson grew to manhood on his father's farm and 
obtained his limited scholastic training in the public schools located in 
the neighborhood. He realized early in life that almost his only depen- 
dence for success and advancement in life was himself — that on his own 
capacities and efforts rested his only hope for a name and respectable 
standing among his fellow men, and also his only chance for worldly 
acquisitions. He accepted his destiny with cheerfulness and entered 
with alacrity on the task of working it out. As soon as he left school 
he began farming and he has ever since been actively engaged in the 
same occupation, raising live stock in increasing numbers in connection 
with his agricultural work. The scale on which he started was a small 
one, for he was careful to keep within the boundaries of his means and 
facilities, and rely on his protits for the enlargement of his operations. 



460 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

The course lie adopted was a wise one and has resulted as he intended 
it should. He steadily increased the body of his land and enriched 
its improvements until he now owns a farm of 157 acres, well equipped 
with good buildings and all the other needs of a first rate modern 
farm, owning, in fact, one of the most valuable and desirable country 
homes in the township. His land is skillfiilly and vigorously cultivated 
and yields abundant returns for the faith and industry he bestows 
upon it. His stock industry has also expanded as his fortunes have 
improved, and is now a considerable one. 

Mr. Epperson's political faith and fidelity are pledged to the 
Democratic party and he works for its welfare with devoted energy and 
capacity because he believes in its principles and not for distinction; 
for he has never yet been induced to accept an office of any kind. Fra- 
ternally he is connected with the order of Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
ica. On February 10, 1894, he was married to Miss Dilla "Wright, a 
native of this county. They have three children, S. Marie, Leslie and 
Euby. The family stands well in the township and all its members 
are held in the highest esteem. 

V WILLIAM T. BAILEY. 

Farming and raising live-stock became staple industries in North- 
eastern Missouri with the dawn of civilization in the region, and 
for a long time were almost the only occupations of the great bulk 
of the population. The other great industries that now engage so 
much attention and employ such vast numbers of men and aggregates 
of capital in the state had not yet come into being, and the materials 
and forces that form the base of their operations were lying dormant, 
waiting for the voice of their master, the commanding might of mind, 
to call them forth to enrich and bless mankind. But even with their 
advent and growth to mammoth proportions, the earlier avocations 
of this section of the state did not lose their importance, and they are 
today, as they have always been since the history of civilization began 
here, among the leading pursuits of the people. 

One of the men who has given them distinctive power and magni- 
tude in the present day in Macon county is William T. Bailey, of Wal- 
nut township, who lives near the village of Elmer and carries on exten- 
sive operations in both farming, of a progressive cliaracter, and rais- 
ing stock of superior quality. Mr. Bailey was l)orn at Elmer on Novem- 
ber 12, 1864, and represents at least the second generation of his fam- 
ily native to the soil of Missouri. His father, Joseph Bailey, was born 
in Pike county and jiassed the greater part of his life there. 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUXTY 461 

The son, "William T. Bailey, was reared iu the i'aniily household 
and obtained his education in the schools near his boyhood home. When 
he left school and began the struggle for advancement among men for 
himself he first tried his hand at niert-handisiug, which he followed 
for two years in the town of Marceliue, iu Linn county. At the end of 
the period mentioned he sold his store and turned his attention to pho- 
tography. This occupied him for one year, during which he was feel- 
ing his way to the vocation for which nature had destined him, and was 
not long in determining what it was. At the end of the year's experi- 
ence which he had as a photographer he located near Elmer and started 
the enterprise in farming and raising stock, which he is still conduct- 
ing. He began on a scale of safe magTiitude and has enlarged his 
operations as success has brought him prosperity mitil he is now one 
of the leaders in these two interesting and profitable lines of effort 
in the township in which his business is carried on. 

Early in his career as a stoclanan, ]Mr. Bailey began specializing 
in western horses for the eastern markets, and this is still one of the 
leading elements of his business. He has built up a considerable trade 
in this line and his output has a very high standing among the jobbers 
and retailers in horses in the east and well deserves the reputation he 
has won for it. For he is studious and careful in every step of his 
work and omits no effort necessary on his part to secure the best results 
in every particular. He also handles cattle extensively and has the 
land necessary for a vigorous and successful prosecution of his under- 
takings. He owns over 400 acres of laud, all of which is under advanced 
cultivation except what is required for grazing purposes. 

To the public affairs of the toAvnship and county of his residence 
Mr. Bailey has given careful attention and the most helpful support 
at all times. He applies to them the same excellent judgment and 
clearness of vision that distinguish him in his private affairs, and 
the people know and acknowledge the weight and worth of his opinion 
in reference to all that concerns their welfare, and they value his advice 
as they do his more material assistance iu connection with all their 
projects of public improvement and the elevation of the standard of 
living. 

Mr. Bailey is an active working Democrat in political relations, but 
his service to his party springs from his conviction that it embodies 
in its principles the best theories of government and strongest safe- 
guards of the rights and interests of the people, and not from any 
ambition for official distinction for himself. Except membership on the 
school board, on which be has served for over sixteen consecutive years 



463 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

for the good of the community, he has steadfastly refused to accept any 
office and to allow the use of his name as a candidate for any political 
position of any kind, whether elective or appointive. 

His interest in the fiaterual life of the community has been long- 
continued, energetic and productive. He belongs to the Masonic order, 
its adjimct, the Order of the Eastern Star, and the Modern "Woodmen 
of America, and is constant and zealous in the service of them all, help- 
ing to guide them to the best results by his counsel and to the highest 
development by personal and material aid of the most practical kind. 
In 1889 he was mariied to Miss Maggie Sivaton, a native of this county. 
They have two children, their daughters, Buella and Edna, who are the 
light and life of their home and give it a special feature of attraction 
for their hosts of friends who make it a popular resort and find it a cen- 
ter of refined and genuine hospitality, always beaming with social 
sunshine and bountiful in resources for high-toned and elevating enjoy- 
ment — a characteristic and representative Macon county home of the 
best class. 

^ HENEY ^illLLEE. 

Henry Miller, of Elmer, is one of the progressive men who have 
caught the spirit of the great West, absorbed it into their being, or 
found it native within them, and fixed its expression in enduring form 
in substantial improvements and contributions to the welfare of the 
people who inhabit it. Their works are monuments to their own enter- 
prise and foresight and they contribute vastly to the enjoyment, sub- 
stantial comfort and lasting welfare of the communities in which they 
stand. JMr. Miller has placed the fruits of his capacity and progressive- 
ness at the service of the people of Elmer, doing more, perhaps, than 
any one other man in building up and imjn-oviug the town and giving 
it its fair name among the municipalities in the county. 

Mr. Miller was born on March 2, 1844, in Lafayette, Indiana, and 
came to Missouri with his parents when he was eleven years of age. 
His father, T. S. Miller, was a native of Pennsylvania, and Henry's 
mother, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Isely, was also born and 
reared in that state. They were married in 1816 and had eight children. 
Five of the eight are living: James L., a resident of the state of 
Oklahoma; John E., who also lives in that state; Susanne, the wife of 
D. Gunnels, of this county; Henry, the subject of this sketch, and Ellen, 
the wife of Herman Westfall, of California. Their mother died in 
March, 1885, and their father on July 4, 1891. 

Henry Miller obtained only a common school education and his 



HISTORY OF UrACON COUNTY 463 

opportunities for eveu this were limited and subject to frequent inter- 
ruptions. He was obliged, while growing from boyhood to manhood, 
to help his father with the work of the farm, and imder the conditions 
of this part of the country, as they were then, this was exacting and 
took precedence over everything else. Schooling M-as considered an 
excellent thing, and to be had if it could, but the farm work was neces- 
sary to the support of the family and it could not be neglected, no mat- 
ter what else had to suffer. Mr. ^liller went to school when he could and 
made the most of the advantages available to him. In the glimpses into 
the great domain of intelligence and book-learning which he then got 
he laid the foundation of the fund of general information which he has 
since acquired by his own studious habits and industry in reading, 
observation and reflection. 

He has adhered during nearly all of his subsequent years to the 
pursuit he mastered under the direction of his father, farming success- 
fully and profitably until 1901, when he retired and turned his atten- 
tion to the real estate business. He now owns a number of brick blocks 
and residence properties in Elmer, and also owns and- manages the 
opera house, through which he contributes largely and essentially to the 
enjoyment of the community and the elevation and improvement of its 
people. They hold him in the highest esteem for what he has done in 
the way of building up the town, and also for the elevated and pro- 
gx'essive character of his citizenship in every respect. He is not only 
one of the most substantial but one of the most popular and influential 
men in the township. 

Mr. Miller was married in 1865 to Miss Ehoda Craig, a native 
of Iowa. They have three children, their daughters. Via Ward and 
Minnie, the latter the wife of T. L. Freed, and their son, J. H. In 
polities the father is a Republican with a loyal devotion to the interests 
of his party and great zeal and activity in promoting them. But he has 
never accepted a political office, either by election or appointment, 
having no taste for official life. He does his part for the welfare of the 
community in other ways of manifest value, and leaves loublic affairs to 
the administration of those who have a taste for that sort of work. 

DANIEL R. HUGHES. 

It has been the subjective prerogative of this well known and pop- 
ular citizen of the city of Macon to gain distinctive success and prestige 
as a member of the bar of his native county, and he is one of the repre- 
sentative attorneys and counselors at law in the attractive county-seat. 
He is a member of one of the old and honored families of Macon county, 



46-i HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 

being a son of the late John E. Hughes, of Bevier, to whom a memoir 
is dedicated on other pages of this work, so that further review of the 
family history is not demanded in the present connection. 

Daniel E. Hughes was born in the village of Bevier, Macon county, 
Missouri, on the 17th of November, 1868, and there was reared to 
maturity, in the meanwhile duly availing himself of the advantages 
offered by the public schools. At the age of seventeen years he 
assumed the position of assistant i^ostmaster of his native town, retain- 
ing this inciunbency two and one-half years, under the regime of 
Thomas Williams. AVithin this time he devoted sufficient of his leisure 
time in the evenings to the studj- of telegraphy to become a competent 
operator, having gained the requisite discipline by studying under the 
direction of Lewis, Nowlan, Agent at the Bevier station of the Burling- 
ton Eailroad. Through the kindly consideration and instruction of 
Mr. Xowlan the subject of this review familiarized himself with the 
practical work of a station operator, and at the age of twenty years he 
secured the position of night operator in the Bevier station of the 
Chicago, Burliligton & Quincy Railroad, being thus employed about 
nine months and then being jiromoted to the i)osition of day operator. 
Thereafter he was engaged as operator and station agent at various 
points along the line of the railroad mentioned for a period of about 
five years, at the expiration of which, in the autumn of 1894, he resigned 
his position and made ready to carry out his well formulated plans of 
preparing himself for the legal profession. "With this end in view he 
at that time was matriculated in the law department of the celebrated 
University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in which he completed the pre- 
scribed curriculum and was graduated as a member of the Law class 
of 1896, on June 25th of which year he received his diploma and his 
well earned degree of Bachelor of Laws. In September 1896, at Macon, 
he was admitted to the bar of his native state, and in the ensuing Decem- 
ber he initiated the active practive of his profession by entering the 
oflSce of Hon. William H. Sears, of Afacon, former state senator, with 
whom he was associated, under effective preceptorshij), for the ensuing 
two years, since which time he has conducted an individual professional 
business in this city. 

Mr. Hughes has proved an able and versatile trial lawyer and well 
fortified counselor and has ap]ieai-ed in connection with much important 
litigation in the courts of Macon and other counties, having a large and 
appreciative clientage and being unswerving in his devotion to the 
work of his profession. He has never sought nor consented to become a 
candidate for public office, either elective or n])iiointive, though he takes 



HISTORY OF JIACOX COUNTY 465 

a loyal interest iu i)ublic affairs and keeps well informed on the ques- 
tions and issues of the hour. His first vote was cast in support of 
Grover Cleveland for the presidency, in 1892, and he continued to give 
his suport to the Democratic party until its adoption of the free-silver 
doctrine, in 1896, when he found his convictions utterly at variance with 
the policy of the party and consequently, with the courage of his opin- 
ions, transferred his allegiance to the Republican party, of whose prin- 
ciples and policies he has since been a stalwart advocate, and in whose 
cause he has rendered effective service. He and his wife hold mem- 
bership in the Presbyterian church of ]\lacon. He is a member of the 
Masonic fraternity, he is affiliated with Censer Lodge, Free and 
Accepted Masons; Macon Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Emanua^ 
Commandery, Knights Templar. He is one of the most popular and 
influential members of Macon Lodge, No. 999, Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of Elks, which he joined at the time of its organiza- 
tion at Macon, and of which he had the distinction of being chosen 
the first exalted ruler. He was also the first representative of the 
'local lodge in the national grand lodge, at the meeting held in the 
city of Denver in 1906, and in the following year he was again its 
reijreseutative in the grand lodge at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He 
is a member of Macon Camp, No. 27, Woodmen of the World, and was 
delegate of the same order at the meeting of the national organization 
of the fraternity, in the city of Milwaukee, in 1903. He is well known 
throughout his native county and his circle of friends is limited only 
by that of his acquaintances. 

On the 18th of October, 1899, Mr. Hughes was united in marriage 
to Miss Cora Alderman, who likewise was born and reared in ]\Iacon 
county, being a daughter of Wesley W. Alderman, a representative 
farmer of Hudsen township. Mr. and Mrs. Hughes have had two chil- 
dren, Daniel Shelton, who is now nine years of age, and Dorothy, who 
died in April, 1906, at the age of three years. 

y JAMES BAILEY. 

For more than threescore years this excellent citizen and indus- 
trious and progressive farmer has been a resident of Macon countj^ 
and during the whole period of his activity has been busily and product- 
ively connected with the industries that formed the foundation and have 
aided materially in building the superstructure of the county's wealth, 
commercial greatness, and intellectual and moral standing. His whole 
life to this time has been passed in the county and he may safely be 
taken as a representative of its people, for he is thoroughly imbued 



466 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

with their spirit and iu line, actively and practically, with all their 
worthy aspirations. 

Mr. Bailey was born in Macon county on February 26, 1849, and is 
a son of Joseph and Elvira (Lovern) Bailey, natives of Virginia and 
early residents of this state. The father came to Missouri in 1830, 
and located in Macon county in 1846. He was married on March 25, 
1848, and by his marriage became the father of ten children, nine of 
whom reached maturity, and eight of these are still living: James, 
the subject of this memoir; Elizabeth, the wife of E. A. Fletcher, who 
lives in Iowa; Eebecca, the wife of W. S. Hawkins, of Clarence, Mis- 
souri; Susan, the wife of D. W. Edwards, whose home is at Ethel, 
]\lissouri ; Angeline, the wife of Henry Busher, who resides in Spring- 
field, Illinois; J. M. and W. T., citizens of Elmer, and Lula, the wife 
of Angus Teskey, of Boulder, Montana. The father died on January 
28, 1895, and the mother on April 14, 1905. 

James Bailey grew to manhood on his father's farm, and when he 
could be spared from its exacting claims and duties, attended the dis- 
trict school in the neighborhood. The country was yet somewhat in 
the condition of the frontier and its reduction to productiveness and 
a systematic yield of the fruits of farming, which would contribute to 
the sustenance of the people and had a market value, required every 
force that was available and left the boys and girls of the time very 
limited opportunities to attend even the common or local schools, to 
say nothing of those devoted to what is called higher education. After 
leaving school Mr. Bailey still continued to work on the farm with 
his father until he attained his majority. He then tried his hand in 
mercantile life by working as a clerk and salesman in a store for one 
year, devoting himself earnestly to the duties of his position and try- 
ing to get up sufficient enthusiasm over it to make it overcome his 
inclination to farming, which he still felt potential and urgent 
within him. 

But Nature had fitted him well for one kind of a career and she 
stubbornly resisted his attempts to work himself up in another. The 
store experiences, full of variety and incident as they were, did not 
satisfy him, and after what he considered a fair trial of them he 
abandoned the effort to make them attractive and again turned his 
attention to tilling the soil and the pursuits allied with that. He has 
adhered to them ever since, and they have rewarded his fidelitj' with a 
competence for life and high standing in the county as a farmer of 
capacity and progressiveness and a citizen worthy of general esteem 
and commendation. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 407 

^Ir. Bailey is a Democrat in political faith and he makes his faith 
show in steady, effective and appreciated service for his party. He is 
always expected to take the field for its candidates when the tocsin 
sounds, and he never disappoints the expectation. In party work 
and in his general demeanor he has shown capacity for public affairs 
and this has led to his being called to the administration of several 
township offices of trust and responsibility. He was township col- 
lector and townshi]) clerk for several terms, and was also a member 
of the school board for about three years. His services in these several 
positions were beneficial to the township and received the approval 
of the people. He based them on intelligence and breadth of view and 
conducted his work in rendering them with vigor, regularity, strict 
integrity and a considerate regard for the interests and feelings of 
all who were concerned in them. 

In the fraternal life of the community Mr. Bailey has also taken an 
active and heljjful interest. His religious connection is with the Chris- 
tian church. On September 7, 1875, he was joined in marriage with 
]\Iiss Honor Williams, who was born and reared in this state. All of 
the children born to them are living. They are: Amanda, the wife 
of J. D. Green, of Ethel; Allan, who resides at Elmer; Rebecca J., 
the wife of W. C. Sears, who lives in the same town; Stella, the wife 
of Otis "Wright, of Elmer, and Paul, who is still at home with his 
parents. In January, 1910, Mr. Bailey became the owner of the only 
hardware stock in Elmer, to which he is now giving his attention in 
connection with his farming. 

^ JAMES C. PATTERSON. 

Although an eastern man by birth, training, association and activ- 
ity during the early years of his manhood, James C. Patterson, of 
Elmer, has lived in Missouri thirty-one years and throughout the whole 
of that period has taken an active part in the industries and been a force 
of value in the public affairs of the state. He is, therefore, thoroughly 
imbued with the spirit and aspirations of its people and in full sym- 
pathy with all their proper wishes and undertakings. They acknowl- 
edge with pleasure his worth as a man and his usefulness as a citizen, 
and freely accord him the esteem these high qualities of merit deserve. 

Mr. Patterson was born in Butler county, Pennsylvania, on Febru- 
ary 19, 1835, and is a son of Uriah and Katharine (Groover) Patter- 
son, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Pennsylvania. 
The father was born in 1799, and early in his manhood moved to the 
neighboring state of Pennsylvania, where every industry was thriving, 



468 HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

aud there worked diligently at his trade as a tinner until his death, 
•which occurred in 1885. The mother died eight years earlier, jDassing 
away in 1877. They had thirteen children and eleven of them grew to 
maturity. Those living now are only James C. and his sister, Adeline, 
who is the wife of L. M. Coovert, of Harmony, Pennsylvania. Both 
have lived useful lives and are comfortable in their advanced age in a 
worldly way, and cheered by the imiversal regard and courteous 
attention of all who know them. 

James C. Patterson was reared in his native city and obtained his 
education in the district schools that flourished in its midst. After leav- 
ing school he was apprenticed to a wheelwright and learned the trade 
in several years of faithful and industrious attention to the instructions 
of his preceptor. After completing his apprenticeship he worked at his 
trade until the beginning of the Civil war. He was cordially attached 
to the Union of the states and deemed it his duty to aid in preventing its 
dismembei-ment. He therefore enlisted for the war in the Eighteenth 
Ohio Battery of Artillery and was soon at the front. His coimiiand 
was a busy one during the whole period of the momentous conflict. It 
was constantly on the march or in the field, and in numerous bloody bat- 
tles paid its full tribute to the cause it was defending in the blood and 
lives of its valiant members. Mr. Patterson took part in the battles of 
Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, and many others 
of varying degrees of importance. He escaped the fate of many of his 
comrades and retui-ned from the deluge of death unharmed. 

After the war he again took up his residence in Ohio, having moved 
to that state before he enlisted, and resumed work at his trade. He 
remained in Ohio until 1878, and during his residence there served 
as postmaster at Garden, in Athens county, four years, then reargued 
the oflSce. He also served as a justice of the peace there for a period of 
five years. He came to this state in 1878 and located in Macon county. 
Here he determined to follow a new line of enterprise and devoted 
himself to contracting aud building until 1905, when the weight of 
years induced him to retire from active pursuits and enjoy for the 
remainder of his days a much-needed and well-earned rest. He has 
since dwelt at Elmer in peace and comfort, and is entitled to the 
pleasure which springs from the retrospect of a well-spent life and 
fidelity in the performance of every duty. 

His political faith is given to the Republican party and he has at all 
times rendered it loyal support and effective service. In 1884 he was 
elected a justice of the peace and has been re-elected at the end of 
his every term since then. In 1906 he was also commissioned a notary 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 469 

public and he is still available for service in that capacity. He was also 
a member of the school board of Elmer for four years. It is manitest 
that wherever he has lived he has been deeply interested in the welfare 
of the people around him and willing to do whatever he could to pro- 
mote it. He sprang to the defense of his country when war spread ter- 
ror and devastation through the land, and in times of peaceful industry 
he has helped to build up and develop with the same sturdy sense of 
duty and persistent industry that characterized his course in the army. 
In the latter, it should be stated, he rose to the rank of lieutenant in 
his company, reaching the distinction through merit and as a reward 
for conspicuous gallantry. 

In 1861 Mr. Patterson was united in marriage with Miss Orphea 
J. Buck, a native of Ohio. They had six children, five of whom are 
living: James E., who resides in Elmer; Cora M., the wife of L. L. 
Shoemaker, of Adair county, Missouri; Herbert B., and Elmer U., 
whose homes are in Washington, and Myrtle, the wife of "W. P. Bunch, 
of Elmer. Their mother died in 1901. The father is a leading mem- 
ber of the Universalist church and always active in the promotion of the 
best interests of the congregation to which he belongs. In his case the 
sands of life are necessarily running low — the plow is nearing the end 
of the furrow. But the current of the sands has been a clean and bright 
one and the furrow is straight. J\Ir. Patterson has rendered his full 
service to his kind in his day and generation, and now there is none 
among those who know him that does not call him worthy and revere 
him as an excellent citizen and highly estimable man. 

V HEMMIT DALE. 

For more than fifty years this highly respected and influential 
business man and citizen has experienced the ups and downs of life 
in Macon county, Missouri, where be was born on December 15, 1858, 
and through all his varied experiences he has kept up a brave front 
and encountered fate with a resolute spirit and unconquerable deter- 
mination. But fate has never had much the best of him, for his qualities 
of head and heart, of mind and character are such that he has always 
commanded the situation and been able to bid defiance to circumstances. 

Mr. Dale is a son of AVilliam J. and Sarah (Adams) Dale, also 
natives of this county, the father being long one of the best known 
merchants in the county. The paternal grandfather, Abi-aham Dale, 
was born and reared in Kentucky. He came to ]\Iissouri in 1831 or 1832, 
making the journey overland by team, the only means of transportation 
into the wilds of this region in those days, and located on a tract 



470 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

of government land five miles east of the present town of Elmer. He 
was one of the first settlers in that portion of the county, and his train- 
ing as a woodsman and frontiersman in Kentucky stood him in good 
stead in his new home, for he had to encounter all the dangers and 
endure all the hardships and privations of frontier life there for many 
years. He converted his wild land into a good and fruitful farm 
and made of it a comfortable and valuable rural home, passed all his 
remaining years on it and finally died there at a good old age. He was 
the father of three sons and nine daughters. Two of the sons and three 
of the daughters are still living, and are among the most respected citi- 
zens of the communities in which they have their homes. 

AVilliam J. Dale, the father of Hemmit, was reared to manhood in 
this county and secured a limited education at the country schools of 
his boyhood and youth. They were primitive and their scope was 
wholly elementary, and his opportunities for attending them were 
meager and irregular. But he made what use he could of his chances 
and obtained a fair degree of preparation for the battle of life, on which 
he entered for liimself at an early age. After leaving school he learned 
the caj'penter trade and for some years worked at that and farming 
with some degree of profit and prosperity. He then engaged in business 
at Old Bloomington for a number of j^ears, and it was at this period that 
his son, Hemmit, was born in that historic old town. From Old Bloom- 
ington the family moved to Macon, where the father resumed work at 
his trade for a time. In 1884 he again engaged in business, locating 
his enterjjrise at Barnesville, where he conducted it for a period of 
two years. At the end of that period he moved it to Mercjn'ille, and for 
a munber of years was one of the leading merchants of that place. He 
is now living retired from active pursuits at Elmer. His wife died in 
1862. At that time he was a soldier in the Confederate army under 
General Price, with whose command he served two years. The religious 
connection of the family has long been with the Baptist church, and 
succeeding generations of it have been active and zealous membei's of 
that religious organization. 

Hemmit Dale grew to manhood in Macon county and was educated 
in its schools. After leaving school he clerked in a store some years, 
then moved to Springfield, Greene county. Later he was emjiloyed 
as a traveling salesman for three years, and in 1887 located at Mercy- 
ville and joined his father in business, the firm name being W. J. Dale 
& Son. They were associated in the enterprise twenty years, but in 1889 
moved their stock to Elmer, where Hemmit is still conducting the 
business in company with Mr. Patterson and under the firm name of 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 471 

Dale & Patterson. Their store is large, well stocked and vigorously 
managed, and their trade is very active. They have one of the leading 
mercantile marts in this part of the state. 

Mr. Dale was one of the founders of the Exchange Bank of Elmer 
and is now its vice-president. He owns farms in Adair county and near 
Chandler in Clay county, his holdings of farm property being very 
extensive. All he has in worldly wealth he has acquired by his own 
industry, thrift and ability, and he has no special favors of Fortune 
or adventitious circumstances to thank for any of it. He has made his 
own way in the world and every step of his progress has been through 
or over difficulties, but he has shown the qualities that win and that 
would have brought him success under almost any circumstances. In 
politics he is a Democrat, with an abiding and serviceable interest in 
the welfare of his party, but he has never sought or desired a political 
office of any kind. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic order 
and the Order of Odd Fellows, and in religion is a member of Mission- 
ary Baptist church. He is now among the oldest merchants in the 
county and has a reputation for uprightness and progressiveness in 
business that places him in the first rank of the business men in North- 
eastern Missouri. In 1887 he was united in marriage with Miss Mary 
Boyd, a native of Ralls county, Missouri. They have four children, 
Alma C, William Donald, Edgar L. and Abraham C. The whole fam- 
ily is held in high esteem by the people of Macon county and through- 
out a large portion of the surrounding country, and the regard and 
good will bestowed upon its members is well deserved, for they meet 
all the requirements of citizenship with a faithful sense of duty. 

v^ EUGENE SHOUSH. 

Having tried his hand at many lines of effort and succeeded in all, 
Eugene Shoush, one of the most prominent and influential citizens of 
Macon has fully justified the regard in which he is held as one of the 
most resourceful, successful and capai)le men in the county. Farming, 
mining, merchandising, traveling as a salesman and the real estate busi- 
ness have all engaged his faculties at different times, and all paid lib- 
eral tribute to his shrewdness, industry and unusual ability, ^loroover, 
he has dignified every field of endeavor in which he has labored by the 
high tone and breadth of view that have characterized all his operations. 

Mr. Shoush was born in Macon county in 18G3 and is a son and the 
only child of Richard and Martha (Rowland) Shoush, the former a 
native of Kentucky and the latter of this state. They were married in 
1858 and the father died when the son was but six weeks old. Tlie 



473 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

mother married again and by the second marriage had one son and 
two daughters. She is still living, and bountifully blessed with good 
health and the esteem of all who know her. The Shoush family was 
long domesticated in Kentucky, and aided in the development of that 
great state from its condition of primeval wilderness to one of influen- 
tial potency in the industrial, commercial and political life of the coun- 
try. TMien the father of Eugene was yet only a boy the family came 
to Missouri and settled in Macon county. Here he grew to manhood 
and took his place in the activities around him, beginning what promised 
to be a very successful career, when death ended his labors soon after 
the dawn of his manhood. 

Eugene Shoush obtained his education and reached his maturity in 
this county. He began the battle of life for himself by working in the 
mines near Corbin in winter and farming in summer. The work was 
hard and the returns from it were small. But the ambitious soul within 
the toiler looked upon the conditions only as stepping stones to higher 
pursuits and better results, and he patiently toiled on for a period of 
four years, continuing his dual occui)ation during that period and then 
devoting his time princii^ally to farming until 1891. He then made an 
opening for himself in the mercantile world, and for a number of years 
flourished and gained financial strength and standing as a merchant. 

At the end of a successful career in merchandising, which lasted 
eight years, he became general traveling rejiresentative for the Stude- 
baker Brothers, of South Bend, Indiana, whose renown as manufactur- 
ers of high grade wagons and other road vehicles is worldwide, his 
territory being the whole state of Iowa. He was connected with this 
iirm in the ca])acity named from 1899 to 1902. By that time he felt 
that it would be better for him to be woi'king wholly for himself and 
building up a trade of his own. He therefore turned his attention, 
in the year last mentioned, to the real estate trade, and during the next 
seven years he was one of its leaders in this part of the state. He was 
very attentive to his business and exhibited very unusual capacity in 
conducting it, becoming one of the best known and most successful real 
estate men in Northeastern Missouri and an acknowledged authority on 
all subjects connected with the purcliase and sale of property. 

His active mind and all-conquering energy were still on the search 
for other fields of enterprise, and in March, 1909, he once more looked 
with kindly eyes on liis early occu])ation of mining. Not this time, 
however, as a mere delver under the ground, but as a prospector and 
mine owner. He became possessed of claims in Gilpin county. Colorado, 
and at once proceeded to put forces in motion to develop them. The 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 473 

results have justified bis highest liopes, the mine turniug out to l)e 
fruitful and one of the most satisfactory yielders of the rich mining 
region in which it is located. This mining company, of which he is 
president and general manager, was ineorjiorated December 1, 1909, 
for $1,000,000. 

It is not to be supposed that Mr. Shoush's success in nil his ventures 
is due to luck or propitious circumstances. It is the logical product of 
a close study of conditions, excellent judgment in making choice, and 
rare ability in the use of opportunities. He seems at times to have 
the hand of Midas, which turned everything it touched to gold. But 
he lacks that unhappy creature's sordidness, and uses his acquisitions 
and the power and influence they have brought him for the substantial 
benefit of the people around him and the progress and improvement of 
the county and state in which he lives. He is as enterprising and clear- 
sighted with reference to jiublic improvements as he is in his own 
business, and has, in a marked degree, a good citizen's cordial and 
productive interest in the welfare of the world immediately around 
him. In addition to his holdings in Coloi'ado he is interested in the 
Sherman-Macon Mining Company and owns and operates extensive 
tracts of farm lauds. The products of all his interests help to swell 
the volume of wealth and augment the industrial and commercial 
energies of Macon county and the state; and his public spirit and pro- 
gressiveness aid greatly in elevating the civic, moral and intellectual 
standard of the people and promoting the comfort, extending the cou- 
veniences and increasing the enjojTuent of all who come in contact 
with them, or have a share in their benefits. 

In political faith ]\Ir. Shoush is a Eepublican, but he is by no means 
a narrow or hide-bound partisan. His first consideration in the exer- 
cise of his suffrage and in all his activity with reference to public affairs 
is the welfare of the people and tlie advancement of their interests, all 
l^artisan claims coming afterward, if they come at all. His fraternal 
feelings find vent in his connection with the order of Woodmen of the 
World, and his religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church. 
He was married in 1883 to ]\Iiss Hannah Gee, who was born and reared 
in this county. They have four cliildren : Walter A., a pi'osi)er(nis real 
estate dealer at Clarence, Shelby county, Missouri ; Ida May, the wife 
of F. M. Patton, who is engaged in railroading; Frank W., a member 
of the United States Marine Guards in the Philii)i)ino Islands; and 
Earl, who is still living at home with his parents and i)repariug him- 
self for a business career. The family is highly respected throughout 



474 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

this county and in many other localities, and every member of it 
justifies the esteem in which it is held. 

EDWAED SEWAED JONES. 

Although he has been a member of the bar less than five years, 
the barque which bears the professional hopes of Edward Seward Jones, 
of Macon, is far enough from shore to have shown her sailing qualities 
and to attract admiring attention from all observers by the grace, vigor 
and steadiness of her progress. But Mr. Jones' jalace in the esteem 
of those who know him and the confidence and good opinion of the 
general public is not due wholly to his success and ability as a lawyer. 
His capacity for business, official duties and the requirements of ele- 
vated, enterprising and progressive citizenship have been amply demon- 
strated in other lines of effort before he came to the bar, and his repu- 
tation as a man of parts and high promise was well established by his 
energy and success in other undertakings not connected with his pro- 
fession. What he has gained in standing and public esteem by his pro- 
fessional career has served mainly to confirm the judgment previously 
passed upon him and justify the faith in him already felt and expressed. 

Mr. Jones is a native of Macon county and was born on October 
8, 1872. His father, Eobert N. Jones, was born in North Wales in 1833, 
and was educated in his native land. In 1852, when he was but nine- 
teen years old, he came to the United States and located in the state 
of New York, where he engaged in farming for a few years. He felt 
the great West calling him to its service, however, and moved to Wis- 
consin. Soon afterwards the fever and excitement over the gold dis- 
coveries in Idaho became eijidemic in parts of the country, and ^Ir. 
Jones was one of its early victims. He proceeded to the region of hope 
and promise, making a long and tedious journey across the plains to 
reach it, and found plenty of work for his hands, if not gold in his dig- 
gings, to fill them, and he helped to put up some of the first buildings 
erected in what is now the flourishing and progressive city of Boise 
and the capital of the state. 

In 18G4 he turned his face eastward and came to Macon county, 
takiiig up his residence at Bevier, where he followed mining during the 
winters and farming in summer for many years. He is now living 
retired from active work and has his home in Bevier amid the scenes 
of his long years of profitable and productive industry. He has always 
taken an active part in political contests as a Democrat, and to the 
improvement and substantial progress of the community of his home 
has contributed his full share of stimulus bv his own active assistance 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUXTY 475 

and the spirit of emulation awakened in others by the force of his 
example. He was married in 1861 to Miss Sarah Elizabeth Owen, the 
marriage taking place at Dodgeville, Wisconsin, where she was living 
at the time, although she was born in the state of New York. All of the 
sis children born to them are living. They ai'e : William Owen ; Minnie, 
the widow of the late D. M. Elias, state mining inspector of AVyoming, 
who was killed in 1908 by an explosion in a mine; Elizabeth, the wife 
of Benjamin R. Evans, of Bevier, who is engaged in mining; Anna, the 
wife of J. M. Tliomas, a resident of Seattle, AYashington ; Edward S., 
the subject of this sketch and present prosecuting attorney of Macon 
county; and Edith, the wife of Charles Peters, who is also a resident 
of Seattle. 

Edward S. Jones grew to manhood in this county and obtained his 
academic training in the public schools of Macon in part, and in pai't 
at the Kirksville Normal School and the "State University at Columbia. 
In 1899 he was appointed i^rincipal of the public school at Bevier, and 
in 1901 was chosen superintendent of the public schools of that city for 
a term of two years. While in this position he began the study of law, 
and he continued his preparation for the profession at the Missouri 
University Law School. He was admitted to the bar in 1905. After 
admission to the bar he opened an office at Bevier and practiced there 
for three years. In 1907 he was elected city attorney of Bevier, filling 
the office until his removal to Macon in 1908. In the autumn of that 
year he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county, and he has since 
been discharging the duties of this important and responsible position 
with decided credit to himself and benefit to the county, and greatly to 
the satisfaction of the people. 

In political relations Mr. Jones is connected with the Democratic 
party, in the service of which he is both a valiant soldier in the field and 
an excellent adviser in council. He is active and energetic, and his work 
for the organization, which is always effective, is highly appreciated by 
its leaders and all their followers throughout the county. Fraternally 
he belongs to the Masonic order in both blue lodge Masonry and its 
adjunct, the Order of the Eastern Star, the Knights of Pythias and the 
Modern Woodmen of America. He is attentive to the needs of all his 
lodges, interested in their progress and well being, and energetic in 
their service. Mr. Jones is now but thirty-seven years old. He has 
attained to high rank in his profession, influence in public affairs, an 
excellent social position and general public esteem. He is alert, studious 
and progressive. All his gains are permanent and the means to further 
advancement. His ideals are lofty and his industry is systematic and 



476 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

productive. With his merit, which is manifest, his ambition, which is 
laudable, and his ability, which is everjnvhere acknowledged, he is 
destined to become one of the leading men of the state. 

He was married June 16, 1908, to Harriet Ellen Johnson, of AVar- 
rensburg, daughter of T. J. Johnson and a niece of Judge Eobert 
Boyd, of Kentucky. She was born near London, Kentucky, and came 
with her parents to Missouri. "When a child, the family settled at War- 
rensburg, Johnson county, where the father still resides. Mrs. Jones 
was educated at Warrensburg State Normal and Missouri State 
University. 

^ ANDREW J. BROWN. 

This prominent and prosperous farmer of Macon county, whose 
home is in Round Grove township, is a native of Mercer county, Ken- 
tucky, where he was born on February 28, 1846, and came to Missouri 
with his parents when he was but four years old. Practically the whole 
of his life to this time has been passed in this state, and he has no 
recollection of any other, or rather only an indistinct one, although 
many of the incidents of the long and trying journey across the country, 
from his home of his infancy to that of his boyhood, youth and mature 
life, are deeply impressed on his memory. 

Mr. Brown is a son of George and Mary (Cole) Brown, both born 
and reared in Kentucky, where they were married also. The father was 
born in the same county as the son, and came into being there in 1799. 
He was reared as other backwoods boys were, and like most of them, 
took his place in the rough scenes and trying labors of pioneer life at 
an early age. He learned the baker's trade, which he followed a short 
time, then served in the U. S. army about one year — ^1814, and later 
woi-ked on the river, boating, making one trip to Missouri in 1820, 
remaining one year in Howard county. In 1850, when he concluded to 
try his hand in a newer country, and became a resident of Missouri, 
locating in Macon county. He gathered his household goods together 
and embarked on the long, wearying and hazardous jaunt overland to 
the region beyond the Mississipjn from his former home, ready to brave 
its perils and endure its privations and hardships, and stimulated to 
greater ardor in the undertaking l>y the hope of good results from his 
venture. The story of such trii)s from civilization to the semi-barbarous 
frontier has often been told, and the experience is now only a memory 
among our people. But it is well to recall such adventures to attention 
at times in order that the hardy manhood and heroic spirit that con- 
quered our western wilds from their savage denizens and made them 




ANDREW J. BROWN 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 477 

fragrant with the flowers and rich witli the fruits of advancing civili- 
zation may be kept afresh in our minds and receive the meed of appre- 
ciation they so well deserve, both as examples for the present day and 
as evidences of the grit and detei-mination of our forefathers. 

After the arrival of the family in this county the father engaged 
in general farming, keeping up his industry and enlarging his oper- 
ations until his death in 1876. His migration to the West was a fortu- 
nate one for him. He was successful in his undertakings in this county, 
and when he died owned 200 acres of productive and well improved land. 
It should be stated that he did not devote the whole of his time to farm- 
ing before his marriage, but for a numl)er of year prior to that event 
worked diligently and profitably on flat boats on the Ohio river, at that 
time one of the leading means of freight transportation on that great 
water highway, and a source of considerable revenue to hosts of persons. 

When the insolence of Great Britian brought on the War of 1812, 
Mr. Brown was one of the first to volunteer in the contest in defense 
of our country, although at the time he was but a boy of thirteen years 
of age. He remained with the army until victory crowned our efforts 
and gave us the same freedom and independence on the high seas that 
the successful results of the Eevolution had given us on the land, and 
increased the glory of our citizen soldiery throughout the world. 

Mr. Brown, the elder, was married twice. His first wife was Miss 
Sarah Cole before her marriage, and she was, like her husband, a native 
of Kentucky. They had nine children, four of whom ai-e living: .41mira, 
now the wife of Jackson Stratton, of Mercer county, Kentucky ; Samuel 
P. and George W., residents of Macon county; Margaret, the wife of 
Isaac Mayo, of Arkansas, and Eobert, who also lives in Macon county. 
The mother of these children died in 1841, and in 1843 Mr. Brown was 
married to her sister, Mary Cole. By this union he became the father of 
two children, Andrew J. being the only one of the two now living. In 
political allegiance the father was a life-long Democrat and on all occa- 
sions rendered good service to his party, although he never sought 
office for himself. 

Andrew J. Brown obtained his education in the public schools of 
Macon county, and after leaving school worked on his father's farm, 
during the life of the father conducting it in connection with liim, 
and, since his death, on his own account. He is still living on that 
farm and continuing the high grade of cultivation and sjiirit of improve- 
ment for which the father was noted. He has, however, added to the 
extent of the place and it now embraces 255 acres. In connection with 



478 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

his general farmiug industry he long carried on an extensive and flour- 
ishing business in raising live stock. He has recently retired some- 
what from active pursuits and divided a portion of his land among his 
children. 

Mr. Brown was married on February 27, 1868, to Miss Katharine 
Kreiter, a daughter of Frederick and Matilda Kreitei', well known citi- 
zens of this county. Of the four children born of this union all are liv- 
ing. They are Mary F. ; George G., a resident of "Weutzville, in this 
state; Bertha E., the wife of William Fetter, of Macon county, and 
Albert Sidney, who lives at Thoreau, New Mexico. Their mother died 
in 1886. In politics the father is a Democrat of firm convictions and 
active service, and in fraternal life an ardent and zealous member of the 
Masonic order. He is everywhere held in high esteem. 

JOSEPH T. CASEY. 

Trained to a mechanical pursuit in his youth and by energetic and 
productive work in its field of endeavor for years after reaching his 
maturity, and during the last five years employed in a capacity requir- 
ing many faculties and powers besides mechanical skill, Joseph T. 
Casey, one of the most prominent and progressive citizens of Laplata, 
has shown himself to be much more than a mere hand in the industrial 
life of the country and to possess creative and executive ability of a 
high order. 

Mr. Casey was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, on August 
26, 1869, and is a son of Abraham S. and Elizabeth (Plumer) Casey, 
the father also a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and the mother of the 
same state. . They had six children, four of whom are living: Robert 
P.; Jennie, the wife of David Barrett; Ella, the wife of Daniel Night- 
ingale; and Joseph T. The father. was a blacksmith and when his son 
Joseph was a small boy moved the family to the western part of the 
state, locating at Mount Savage in Allegany coiinty. There he wrought 
industriously and profitably at his trade until his death, which occurred 
in 1893. Tlie mother died in 1891. 

Joseph T. Casey grew to manhood and was educated in the public 
schools of Mount Savage, IMaryland. After leaving school he learned 
the trade of blacksmith under the direction of his father and worked at 
it for a few years. He then entered the employ of the Southern Pipe 
Line Company of Pennsylvania, his trade being in frequent requisition 
in his work. With this company he remained about twelve years, rising 
steadily in rank among its employes and in the regard of his employers, 
making a good name for himself and acquiring business knowledge 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 479 

■which opened other opportuuities for him and has been of great service 
in his use of them. 

In 1904 Mr. Casey became connected with the Prairie Oil and Gas 
Company of Laplata as chief engineer, and this brought him to tliis 
county to live. He has been a resident of Laplata ever since, and has 
proven himself a very useful citizen and a valuable addition to the intel- 
lectual and industrial forces of the community. He takes great interest 
in its affairs and is zealous in helping to promote the welfare of its 
people, both by energetic eti'orts in behalf of its material progress in 
every way and by striving to augment the power of all its moral, mental 
and social agencies. He is a Eepublican in politics, but has never been 
an active partisan, j-et he is by no means wanting in deep and earnest 
solicitude for the well being of the country and the proj^er manage- 
ment of its affairs. But he prefers to serve it from the honorable post 
of private citizenship without close connection with its official life or 
active mingling in the political contentions which so often agitate and 
distress its people. 

In the fraternal organizations so numerous among men Mr. Casey 
has favored two with his membership and appreciated personal service, 
the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias. He is zealous in atten- 
tion to the duties laid upon him by these two orders and does all he can 
to advance their interests toward the best and highest development and 
most extensive usefulness. In 1895 he was married to Miss Margaret 
Hinckel, who was born and reared at Mount Savage, Maryland. She 
has shared freely in his aspirations and been of material assistance in 
the progress of his career. He has been very successful in life, so far, 
and is one of the men who never stoji but use every triumph as a step- 
ping stone to something higher. The present is full of prosperity and 
public esteem for him and the future full of promise. 

v/ JOSIAH GATES, M. D. 

This venerable and universally esteemed citizen of LaPlata, who 
is now nearing the age of four-score years, and who has given the peo- 
ple of Macon county a full half-century of valuable service in profes- 
sional life, efficient aid in conducting the public affairs of the county, 
and elevated and inspiring citizenship, is not a native of Missoui-i, 
although nearly all the years of his life to this time have been passed 
within its borders and in this county. He was born in the state of Illi- 
nois in 1832 and came with his parents to this state when he was but 
seven years old. He has ever since been a resident of Macon county, 
and from his youth has taken an active part in its industrial and social 



480 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

life. He may therefore be justly called a product of the county, and 
its people are well pleased to have him taken as a representative of its 
citizenship. 

Dr. Gates is a son of George and Sally (Stanfield) Gates, the 
former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Illinois. They vrere the 
parents of three children, two of whom are living, the Doctor and his 
sister. The father grew to manhood at a time in the history of this 
country when Bishop Berkley's prophetic line, ""Westward the coux-se 
of empire takes its way," was fast being practically realized through 
the mighty tide of migration from the Atlantic slope toward the Eocky 
mountains and the regions beyond them, which was for many years 
one of the most spectacular and inspiring phases of American life. 
It was "Westward, Ho!" for almost everybody, and among the host 
of hardy adventurers who were camping in hope for a season on the 
frontier, to live there a little later in comfort and prosperity, none was 
more enthusiastic or more thoroughly imbued with the spirit of con- 
quest and self-promotion than this young Kentuckian, who was not yet 
a man in age, but who had all of a man's fortitude, self-reliance and 
power of endurance. True, his native state and locality had not yet 
passed far from the pioneer stage of its history, but it was becoming 
tame with the monotony of quiet life and the regular jsrogress of 
events, and as he longed for the excitement and variety of thrilling 
adventure, he left his parental acres and struck out into the wilderness 
to make a home and a name for himself. He located in Illinois, then a 
remote region from his home, and there he created a good farm out of 
the wilderness and prospered on its products. 

His first venture proved agreeable and profitable to him, and as 
time passed he longed for another advance in the wake of the setting 
sun. So, in 1839, he moved to Macon county in this state and estab- 
lished his family on a farm in what is now LaPlata township. On this 
fann his wife died in 1862, and on it he, too, ended his days, passing 
away in 1872. His arrival in the county was timely for his own advan- 
tage and for that of the community in which he settled also. He had 
capacity for public affairs and was helpful in getting the newly organ- 
ized local government on its feet and started well in its progress to its 
present systematized and satisfactory condition. And the opportunities 
for profit to thrift and enterprise were great and he succeeded in 
getting a goodly portion of their fruits for himself. 

Dr. Josiah Gates began liis education in Illinois and finished it, 
so far as the academic portion was concerned, in the public schools of 
this county. His professional preparation for the battle of life was 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 481 

made at a fine medical college in Cincinnati, from which he was gradu- 
ated with the degree of M. D. in 1859. He at once began the practice of 
his profession at old Bloomington in this county, where he remained 
and flourished until 1874. In that year he moved to LaPlata, where he 
has ever since resided and continued his beneficent life-work with 
steadily increasing demands on his time and attention and constantly 
augmenting returns for his labor, both in material substance and public 
esteem. He long ago rose to the first rank in his profession in this part 
of the country, and he has always, since his arrival in LaPlata, been 
considered one of its leading citizens and most useful and estimable 
men. His activity in connection with the public affairs of the township 
and county has been fruitful, appreciated and continuous. Every duty 
of high-toned and progressive citizenship has been fully and faithfully 
discharged by him, and every proper claim on his time, energy or 
generosity has been liberally and promptly responded to. 

In political faith the Doctor is a Democrat and has been all his life. 
He was for many years very active in the service of his party and is 
still deeply interested in its welfare. Public office has never been invit- 
ing to him, but he waived his aversion to it for the public good and 
served on the school board for many years. Fraternally he has long 
been connected in a leading way locally with the Masonic order, and 
for many years has been one of the most interested and serviceable 
members of the county medical association. He was married in 1856 
to a Miss Taylor. She died in 1857, and in 1859 he was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Marietta Linsay, a native of "Wisconsin. They had 
three children, all of whom are living and contributing to the prosperity 
and advancement of the country. They are: Erskine M., assistant 
cashier of the LaPlata Savings Bank, a sketch of whom appears in this 
work; Sally Susan, the wife of John Kimball, of Ohio; and William, 
who is one of the leading citizens of LaPlata. The Doctor is now living 
in a large measure retired from active pursuits in the enjojTiient of the 
rest he has so richly earned, and is crowned in his old age with universal 
esteem. 

THEOPHILUS PAUL SMITH, D. D. S. 

Skill in practical woi-k, accuracy in theoretical knowledge and 
gentility and considerateness of manner are large elements of value in 
the profession of dentistry, and they have been potential factors in the 
marked success of Dr. Theophilus P. Smith, of T^aplata in his profes- 
sional career up to this time (1909). lie knows wliat to do, how to do, 
and is always possessed of the ready will to do everything known to 



483 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

liis profession to secure tlie best results for his patrons -svith the least 
inconvenience and suffering on tlieir part. His knowledge covers every 
detail of his work, his skill and capacity are equal to every requirement, 
and his genial and reassuring manner, delicacy in operation and appli- 
cation of the easiest and most rapid means to reach any desired end 
go far toward robbing his chair of torture of its terrors. He is modern, 
progressive and masterly in every department of his calling and has 
made for himself an excellent and widespread reputation as one of the 
best dentists in the state. 

Dr. Smith was born at Huntsville in Eandolph county of this state 
on February 21, 1873. His father, Calvin Smith, who was born at 
Hightowers, Caswell county, North Carolina, came to Missouri in his 
youth and located at Huntsville, where he was profitably engaged for 
many years in farming and trading in tobacco. He was married Decem- 
ber 18, 1857, to Miss Melinda J. Sears, a native of Randolph county, 
where the son was born. They became the parents of six children, all 
of whom are living. They are: G. I.; Mattie S. ; Anna S., the wife of 
W. W. Price, of Sturgeon, Boone county, Missouri ; W. R. ; Theophilus 
P.; and Mamie, the wife of Dr. 0. Grey, of Sturgeon, editor of the 
Sturgeon Leader. The father died at Huntsville, and the mother at 
the same place in 1903. 

The Doctor was reared and educated at Huntsville. In 1891 he 
entered the dental office of Dr. W. A. Smith as a student of the profes- 
sion, and in his live years' connection with that office and association 
with its masterly proprietor he gained a great deal of practical knowl- 
edge of the utmost value to him in all his subsequent career. He 
attended the AVestern Dental College at Kansas City, Missouri, and 
was graduated from that institution with the degree of D. D. S. in 
1896. Within the same year he began his practice at LaPlata, and he 
has continued it there with undeviating devotion to his business ever 
since. He has been successful in building up a large practice and win- 
ning a high reputation for his skill and capacity and sustaining and 
justifying it on all occasions. 

In the public affairs of the county and state he is an active and 
helpful participant, taking great practical interest in everything that 
pertains to the general welfare of the town and its people, and giving 
his aid freely and fully to all commendable undertakings for their 
improvement. In political faith he is an unwavering Democrat and 
always zealous in the service of his party, although he has at all times 
refused to be considered available for a political office, resolutely declin- 
ing all tenders made him in this respect. "With the purpose of using 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 483 

every meaus at bis command to enlarge his professional knowledge 
and keep himself in line with the best thought and latest discoveries 
in his work he is an industrious student of the literature of his profes- 
sion and belongs in active membership to the Missouri State Dental 
Association. In this organization he takes great interest both as a 
contributor and a recipient of benefits, attending its meetings regularly 
and doing his full part to aid in making them pleasant and profitable 
to all who are concerned in them. 

In fraternal relations he is connected with the Knights of Pythias 
and the Knights of the Maccabees. These orders appeal to the human 
and fraternal attributes of his nature and give him enjoyment of an 
elevated intellectual and moral character. In the social life of the com- 
munity he is also popular, a welcome addition to every circle with which 
he is connected and a genial sunbeam in any company. Eminent in his 
profession, correct and upright in his daily walk and conversation, 
influential and prominent in public affairs, commendable in all the rela- 
tions of life, he is one of LaPlata's best and most useful and representa- 
tive men. With youth, health and becoming ambition among his pro- 
ductive assets, and with his i^osition in public esteem already firmly 
established, the future opens before him with bright prospects of a very 
honorable and enviable career. 

HENRY 0. NEWTON, M. D. 

During the last thirteen years this esteemed and successful phy- 
sician and surgeon has been engaged in an active general practice of 
his profession in this county, for about one year and a half at New 
Cambria and the rest of the time at La Plata. He has made an excel- 
lent impression on the people of the county as a practitioner of medi- 
cine and as a business man and citizen, and has established himself 
firmly in their high regard. His professional brethren also esteem him 
highly for his skill and ability, which reflect credit on the line of work 
in which they are all engaged, for his character and demeanor as a 
man, and for his engaging personality, which makes him a very 
agreeable companion and friend. 

Dr. Newton was born on November 22, 1867, at Circleville, Ohio, 
and is a son of John D. and Laura (Peters) Newton, the father a native 
of Virginia and the mother of Ohio. The father left his ancestral home 
in his young manhood and sought a name and an estate in a region then 
distant and not yet wholly redeemed from the wild condition in which 
it had lain for ages awaiting the advent of the commanding might of 



484 HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 

mind that was to call it forward to high development, rich productive- 
ness and political importance and power. He was equal to the require- 
ments of his new situation and flourished on the almost virgin soil to 
which he devoted his attention as a skillful and progressive farmer. In 
March, 1895, he died at the home he had created in the new location of 
his choice. His wife, whose maiden name was Laura Peters, survived 
him fourteen years, passing away in July, 1909. They were the parents 
of nine children, all of whom reached maturity and are living. They 
are: Edwin, Wilson, Famah, John, Charles, Lucy, George, Henry 
and Mattie. In their several stations they are worthy of esteem as good 
citizens and faithful aids in the great work of American progress. 

Dr. Henry 0. Newton grew to manhood in his Ohio home, assisting 
his father in the work of the farm in the intervals between the sessions 
of the schools he attended. He obtained his education in academic lines 
at the district schools near his residence and the Ohio Xormal Uni- 
versity. After leaving the latter institution he began the study of 
medicine, and in due time entered Rush Medical College in Chicago as 
matriculate. At the conclusion of his course in this renowned profes- 
sional institution he was graduated with the degree of M. D., securing 
his diploma in 1896. He at once came to Missouri and located at New 
Cambria in this countj', where he practiced for a period of eighteen 
months. In 1898 he moved to La Plata, and here he has had his home 
and the seat of his enterprise ever since. He has been continuously and 
successfully engaged in the practice of his profession during all his 
subsequent years and has risen to high rank in his work and an enviable 
place in the esteem of the people. His iiractice has grown steadily in 
magnitude and importance and he is now generally recognized as one 
of the leading physicians and surgeons and most prominent and 
influential citizens of the county. 

Politically the Doctor is a Republican with an earnest interest in 
the welfare of his party and an energetic and effective devotion to its 
sei'vice. He is a valued member of the Masonic order and the jNIodern 
Woodmen of America. In jDrofessional lines he is medical examiner 
for a number of life insurance companies, among them the New York 
Life, the Aetna and the Mutual Life of New York. He is also an active 
and serviceable member of the county, state and national medical asso- 
ciations, taking a leading part in their iiroceedings, contributing essen- 
tially to the interest and profit of their meetings and deriving a large 
amount of benefit from them himself. 

In the matter of public improveftients he has been a valuable aid to 
every worthy enterprise undertaken in the city and township of his resi- 



HISTORY OF MACON- COUNTY 485 

dence, for he is a firm believer in progress and makes his faitli shown in 
his active efforts to promote it along all wholesome and desirable luaes 
of development. The moral, intellectual and social features of the body 
politic all have his earnest support and the stimulus of his intelligent 
and well directed energy, and the interests of the people generally 
always engage his thoughtful attention and command his zealous advo- 
cacy and defense. His character as a man, his capacity in his profes- 
sion and his activity as a citizen have made him a leader in his 
community and a representative of the best elements of its population. 

EESKINE M. GATES. 

The life current so far vouchsafed to this prominent and esteemed 
citizen and accomplished banker of La Plata has been calm and full, 
without obstructions to disturb its progress, and without either trag- 
edy or thrilling adventure to change its course or ruffle its placid sur- 
face. It has flowed fetraigiit forward, widening its channel as it has 
swept onward, and dispensing expanding benefactions to every field of 
endeavor through which it has passed. Mr. Gates has used his opportu- 
nities for his own advantage and the good of Ms fellow men without 
ostentation or trumpet blasts, but his services have been none the 
less because of the quiet and modest way in which they have been ren- 
dered, nor are they less appreciated by those who have had the benefit 
of them. 

Mr. Gates was born in this county on March 19, 1864, and is a son 
of Josiah and Mary C. (Linzee) Gates, the father a native of Illinois 
and the mother of Wisconsin. They were married in 1862 and had three 
children: Erskine M., his sister Sallie S., who is the wife of W. P. 
Kimball, and his brother W. J., who lives at La Plata, Missouri. The 
mother died in August, 1889. The father came to Missouri in 1837. 
He was a physician and for many years had a large practice in this and 
the adjoining counties. 

Erskine M. Gates was reared and eduacted in La Plata, and on leav- 
ing the quiet pursuit of learning for the more serious business of life, 
decided on a career connected with the financial interests of the country. 
In 1866 he was appointed assistant cashier of the La Plata Savings 
Bank, a jwsition in which his services have ever since been required 
and faithfully rendered. He is a stockholder in the bank and one 
of its directors, and is therefore directly interested in its prosperity 
and directly responsible for its course in dealing with the public and 
each of its patrons. He is conscious of the full measure of his respon- 
sibility and he does all in his power to meet it to the last extremity and 



48Q HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

in every respect. He is accounted one of tlie most capable and faithful 
bank men in the county, and the regard the people have for him in 
consequence is universal and of a high order. 

The banking business at best is necessarily monotonous and tiying. 
Mr. Gates finds relief from its exactions and monotony in a flourishing 
farming and stock-raising industry which he conducts, and in which 
he has great enjoyment and reaps substantial profits. He owns a fine 
herd of beautiful Aberdeen Angus cattle, which is the pride of the 
township and a source of continual pleasure to him. By his enterprise 
in securing this herd and his liberality in the use of it, he has aided con- 
siderably in raising the standard of stock in the township and other 
localities, and made himself a name as one of the progressive and 
far-seeing promoters of the common good of the people and builders 
of the county's material wealth and importance. His reputation as an 
enterprising citizen and fruitful factor in the growth of the region 
in which he lives is fully justified by his activity in reference to other 
lines of improvement, in all of which he is energetic and helpful. 

In politics he is a Democrat in national affairs. In local matters 
he looks first to the good of the community and to party considerations 
afterward, if at all. For many years he gave the city excellent service 
as a member of the city council, and in 1905 was elected mayor, an office 
in which he served a second term, being re-elected in 1907. In fraternal 
circles he is connected with the Masonic order and the Knights of 
Pytliias. In the fonner he is a Knight Templar and a Noble of the 
Mystic Shrine. His interest in both orders is constant and his part in 
their work is always a leading one. His membership is warmly appre- 
ciated by his lodges as reflecting credit on them as well as giving them a 
very zealous and effective force for aid in all their laudable undertak- 
ings. On December 11, 1893, Mr. Gates was united in marriage with 
Miss Ella Tate, of La Plata, a lady of good family and general popu- 
larity in the town and throughout the surrounding countrj^ 

JACOB FREDERICK WEAVER. 

Descended from sturdy German ancestry and inheriting the ster- 
ling traits of character of that industrious, thrifty and persistent race, 
Jacob F. Weaver, of La Plata, has justified his birth and training and 
well sustained in his own successful career the history and traditions 
of his family. He was made an orphan at the age of twelve years by 
the death of his mother, and lost his father in the same way when he 
was himself twenty-two. lie was in consequence thrown on his own 




ERSKINE M. GATES 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 487 

resources at an early age and all of his success in life is the result of 
his own energy and capacity. 

Mr. Weaver was born on March 29, 1850, near Sidney, Shelby 
county, Ohio. His parents, John Jacob and Louisa (Domler) Weaver, 
were born in Germany, where the father remained until 1840. lie then 
came to the United States, and, making his way at once to the West, 
he located in the part of Ohio in which his son was born. In October, 
1865, he moved his children to Missouri, his wife having died three 
years before. He established his household at Macon City and resided 
there until his death in 1872. His marriage occurred in 1847 and 
brought him three children, of whom his son Jacob Frederick is the 
only one living. 

The son grew to the age of fifteen in Ohio and obtained what edu- 
cation he was able to secure in the public schools of his native county. 
On lea%'ing school he learned the blacksmith trade, but, wliile he worked 
at it a number of years, it was never satisfactory to him, and he gave 
his attention at times to other pursuits until 1872. He then learned 
another trade, that of cooper, and in 1878 engaged extensively in the 
manufacture of barrel hoops, in which he was successful, as he was in 
everything else he did. • si?} 

But public affairs always interested this progressive and studious 
man, and he desired to have a more potential voice in them than work- 
ing at a mechanical trade or conducting a factory could give him. In 
1892 he founded the La Plata Republican, and he has ever since been 
its proprietor, editor and publisher. The paper expresses his own 
l>olitical sentiments, which favor the Republican party, and stands 
loyally by the principles and nominees of that organization. It has 
great influence in the councils of the party and a strong hold on the 
regard and approval of the people in general. Mr. Weaver's own 
political activity has been marked and fruitful iu many ways outside 
of the work of his paper, and has been long appreciated by his party 
associates. In 1887 and 1888 he served as deputy sheriff of the county, 
and also filled the office of constable and collector for two years. He is 
at this time (1909) secretary of the school board, and doing good work 
for the cause of public education. 

Mr. Weaver's fraternal alliances are with the Odd Fellows and the 
Knights of Pythias. He is keeper of the records or secretary in each 
of the lodges to which he belongs, and his membership in them is valued 
for the distinction it gives them and the services he renders. Here, as 
everywhere else, in connection with anything that interests him, or in 
which he sees advantage to the community, he is earnest, active and 



488 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

energetic, putting all bis powers in operation to secure the best possible 
results. He bas been very successful and deserves great credit for 
every step of bis advance. On June 25, 1873, be was united in marriage 
with Miss Minnie A. Zwick, a resident of Macon, and one of its popular 
young ladies at tbe time. 

JAMES LEWIS BAITY. 

As tbe owner and editor of one of tbe leading newspapers of Macon 
county, tbe Home Press, of La Plata, James Lewis Baity bas a weigbty 
responsibility and one tbat is unceasing in its pressiire. He is expected 
to give true and clear expression to tbe feelings, wisbes and opinions 
of tbe people of tbe town in reference to public affairs, local and gen- 
eral, to furnish bis readers with information as to what is going on in 
tbe big world outside of their locality, and to present in his columns a 
graphic and satisfactory portrayal of the moral, intellectual, social and 
business life of the community for which he speaks. 

For this onerous and exacting task Mr. Baity has had special 
preparation in bis circmnstances and bis training. He is a native of 
La Plata and has passed all the years of bis life, with very limited 
exceptions, among its people. He bas mingled with them freely, in 
school as a boy and youth and in business and social circles as a man. 
He therefore knows them tliorougbly and is familiar with all the springs 
of action that impel them to exertion and direct their course. He also 
knows the town and its activities well, and has for years been a jDart 
of its develojiing and improving energy. He is, moreover, deei)ly and 
intelligently interested in its welfare and wise to tbe ways in which 
it may best be promoted. With reference to public affairs he bas bad 
opportunity to acquire broad and comprehensive views and exact and 
extensive knowledge. He is faithful to the requirements and lays all 
his resources under tribute to meet them. 

Mr. Baity was born in La Plata on July 11, 1871, and is a son of the 
late William D. and Frances E. (Owenbey) Baity, the former a native 
of Illinois and tbe latter of Macon coimty, Missouri. Tbe father came 
to Missouri a j^oung man and took up bis residence in this county, locat- 
ing in Richland township, near La Plata, where he followed farming 
for a livelihood imtil bis death in 189.3. His marriage with ]\Iiss Frances 
Owenbey occurred in 1851) and resulted in offspring numbering eleven, 
all but one of whom are living. The living children are: Maggie, the 
wife of W. B. Bragg; Rev. George P., of Kansas City, Missouri; John 
E. ; Cassie, the wife of N. L. \'anderliii, of Ellsworth, Iowa; James 
Lewis, the immediate subject of this memoir; Sarah, the wife of Emmett 



HISTORY OF .AIACOX COUNTY 489 

Johnson; Herbert; Frank M., who lives at Colorado Springs, Colorado; 
Lottie L., who is a school teacher; and AV. Harry. Their mother is still 
living and is now one of the oldest residents of La Plata. 

James L. Baity was reared on his father's farm and obtained his 
education in the public schools of La Plata. AVhen he left school he at 
once began to learn his trade as a printer, and he began at the bottom, 
entering a newspaper office as a printer's "devil," and fi-om that hum- 
ble station working his way to the very top, and acquiring a thorough 
knowledge of the trade and all that belongs to the publication of a 
newspaper in his progress. In 1898 he bought the Home Press and is 
still conducting it with increasing credit and advantage to himself and 
benefit to the community. 

In the affairs of the community Mr. Baity has had an earnest and 
helpful interest for many years. As a boy he yearned to see it progress- 
ing and developing in accordance with the spirit of the times, and as a 
man he has been very energetic and far-sighted in his efforts to give it 
the full measure of advancement embodied in the circumstances of the 
case. His political connection is with the Democratic party and is a 
warm and close one. He has served as a member and the treasurer 
of the county central committee of the party for ten years, and during 
every one of the ten has been both ardent and fruitful in his work for 
the organization, his contributions to its success involving both wisdom 
in the councils of the party and effective action in the labors of the 
campaign. In 1901 he was appointed oil inspector bj^ Governor Dock- 
ery and was reappointed by Governor Falk, an office which he held 
during eight consecutive years, and in which he made an excellent 
record for ability and fidelity to duty. 

So satisfactory have been his services to the party, and so mas- 
terly has been his capacity as an organizer, that it was deemed well to 
call him to higher fields of efifert in this line, and in 1908 he was 
appointed assistant to Hon. James T. Lloyd, a distinguished member 
of the United States House of Representatives from this state, and the 
chairman of the national Democratic congressional committee, which 
had headqviarters in Washington and Chicago. 

Mr. Baity has not allowed his newspaper work and his ])olitical 
activity to absorb the whole of his time and energies. He has given 
helpful and valued attention to the social and fraternal life of the com- 
munity also. He is a memlier of the executive committee of the La Plata 
Commercial Club and belongs to the Masonic order, the Knights of 
Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. In each of these 
organizations he is potential in influence and assiduous in work, and in 



490 HISTORY OF MACON" COUNTY 

each his membership and the inspiration he imparts are highly appreci- 
ated. Whatever he does he does with all his might, his energy being 
restrained only by his judgment and yielding to no obstacle or difficulty. 
On December 27, 1896, he was united in marriage with Miss Martha M. 
Sanders, a native of La Plata like himself, and, like, him, too, well 
known and well esteemed by the residents of the town and county. 

•^ BASIL C. McDAVlTT, M. D. 

In an active professional service of over forty years rendered in 
one locality and under the searching observation of one people, a man 
is sure to show the material he is made of and the impulses and springs 
of action which control him. The people who have witnessed his daily 
walk and conversation for so long a period, involving great changes in 
conditions — seasons of sunshine and storm, strenuous political and 
social experiences, the turbulence of public passion and the calm of 
public indifference — will get his full measure and know just how to 
estimate his worth. 

Dr. Basil C. McDavitt, of La Plata, has passed this test in full, and 
the universal and high esteem in which he is now held proves con- 
clusively that it has only served to bring clearly into view his great 
force of character, his sterling and upright manhood and his unquailing 
courage as a citizen of prominence and influence. It has also demon- 
strated his ability and skill as a physician and surgeon, and shown that 
in his professional work, as in everything else, he is conscientiously 
enterprising and progressive and ready for any emergency. 

Dr. McDavitt was born on April 24, 1843, in Eandolph cotmty, 
Missouri, and is a son of Leo and Eva (Kirby) McDavitt, natives of 
Kentucky, who came to Missouri many years ago, and here flourished 
as farmers, adding to the wealth and importance of the region in which 
they lived, and rearing eight of their nine children to maturity, training 
them up in the way they should go by every influence of discipline, 
precept and example available to them. The father was a school teacher 
in early life and continued his activity in that line of usefulness for 
some years after he began farming. He died in 1882 and the mother 
some years prior. 

Their son, the Doctor, was reared on the family homestead in 
La Plata township and obtained his academic training in the local 
schools. lie attended Eush Medical College in Chicago, and from that 
renowned institution he received the degree of M. D. in 1868. He at 
once entered upon his professional caiccr at La Plata, and with that 
town as his headquarters he has ever since been busily engaged in a 



I 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 491 

large and active general practice all over the surrouudiiig country. His 
industry and fidelity, in which he buried all considerations of personal 
comfort and ideas of distinction for himself, have been of the greatest 
value to the people of this and adjoining counties, but his unselfishness 
and devotion to the general weal have not been wholly without reward 
in a material and worldly way. They have brought him eminence as a 
physician and skillful practitioner, and also a substantial competence 
in the way of worldly wealth. From every point of view his life has 
been a successful one, and wherever he is known it is so regarded and 
eorrespondingly appreciated. 

When the gloom and terror of Civil war rested heavily on our 
unhappy country the Doctor took his place in the field and did his 
whole duty to his country, and in times of peace he has always borne a 
good citizen's share of the burdens of civil and political life. He 
belongs to the Kepublican party and on all occasions renders it good 
service. He has two children, his sons W. A., who lives at Elmer in this 
county, and Leo W., the postmaster at La Plata, a brief account of 
whose life will be found in this work. The Doctor is a thirty-second 
degree Freemason and takes a great interest in the work of the fra- 
ternity. He is a stockholder in the La Plata Savings Bank and one of 
its most constant and serviceable supporters. 

■^ LEO W. McDAVITT. 

The interesting subject of these paragrai)hs is now and has been 
during the last six years holding a public office which brings him 
directly in contact with every class of the people and gives them inti- 
mate knowledge of his character and disposition. He is the postmaster 
of La Plata and is now serving his second term as such, having been 
first appointed in 1903. His service in this trying office has been satis- 
factory in a marked degree to the patrons of the office and has confirmed 
liim in the regard and good will of the whole community. He stands 
among the people of the town with the universal testimony of all classes 
in his favor as one of its leading and most representative and useful 
citizens. 

But it did not need tlie trying oxiieriences of official station to give 
him this standing or win him popularity and esteem. He has passed the 
whole of his life to this time among this people, except a sliort period 
when he was away at college, and his record is an o])en liook in their 
midst, known and read of all men. He was born at La Plata on August 
31, 1877, and is one of the two sons of Dr. Basil C. McDavitt. who.se 
useful life is brieflv chronicled elsewhere in this volume. The son 



492 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

began his education in the public schools of his native town and after- 
wai'd attended a good college at Fayette in Howard county. After 
completing the course at this institution he started in business as a 
druggist, being associated with F. B. Christie in conducting an excellent 
drug store with a large and appreciative trade for a period of three 
years. 

On January 13, 1903, he was appointed postmaster of La Plata, 
and at the end of his first term was reappointed. He has devoted his 
whole time and energy to the duties of his office from the date of his 
first appointment, and has found this course a wise one. It has enabled 
him to give the patrons of the office and the government the best service 
possible under the circumstances, and brought him rich returns in com- 
mendations of his zeal and fidelitj' from both the people at home and 
the authorities in Washington. His political alliance is with the Repub- 
lican party and he is loyal and energetic in its service at all times, 
having the rare good fortune to work for it eai'nestly without otfending 
the adherents of the other leading party or provoking criticism in any 
quarter. This is because his pai'ty loyalty is expressed in judicious 
ways that no one can complain of, and it is elfective in its results at the 
same time, a condition that is creditable to his judgment and prudence 
and does not reflect on his devotion to the cause. 

In fraternal life Mr. McDavitt is allied with the Knights of Pythias 
and the Masonic order. He is zealous and effective in his work for both 
and his membership is valued in each of the orders. At this time 
(1909) he is the worshipful master of his Masonic lodge at La Plata. 
In October, 1900, he was united in marriage with Miss Anna Louise 
Biggs, a daughter of AVilliam J. Biggs, cashier of the La Plata Savings 
Bank, a sketch of whose life will be found in this volume. Mrs. Mc- 
Davitt was born and reared in La Plata and is held in high regard by 
the people of the town and throughout a large extent of the surround- 
ing country. She and her husband are the parents of two children, 
their daughters Clara Louise and Mary Elizabeth, who are the light and 
life of their pleasant home and a source of pride and pleasure to the 
hosts of friends of the family who frequent it, and have the benefit of 
its refined and generous hospitality. 

^ FREDERICK W. GIESELMAN. 

The largest and most metropolitan mercantile house in the city of 
Macon is that conducted by ^Ir. (Jieselman, who is one of the honored 
and representative citizens of his native place and whose extensive 
establishment is not excelled bv any of similar order in the state. 




FREDERICK GIESELMAN 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 493 

except in the cities of St. Louis, Kansas City and Springtield. He 
lias shown rare energy and business acumen and his career has not 
only been marked by large and definite accomplishment, but also by 
that sterling integrity of purpose which ever engenders popular con- 
fidence and esteem. 

Mr. Gieselman was born in Macon, on the 14th of May, 1866, and is 
a son of Frederick W. and Caroline (Ottensmeyer) Gieselman, both 
of whom were born and reared in Mindenana, Oelinhnusen, Germany, 
where they were reared and educated and where the father learned the 
tailor's trade in his youth. In harmony with the custom of his native 
land, Frederick W. Gieselman, Sr., entered the military service of Ger- 
many, and in this connection he attained to much distinction and 
received high official recognition. He became a commissioned officer in 
the German army, and was an active participant with the same in the 
war with Denmark. For gallantry and valor he received not only the 
iron cross and the gold cross, but also a special silver medal of honor 
presented by the emperor. In 1865 he secured leave of absence from 
the army and came to the United States. His purpose was to join the 
Union army, but by the time of his arrival the civil war was terminated. 
He became much impressed, however, with the attractions of America 
and decided here to establish a permanent home. He accordingly set- 
tled in St. Louis, Missouri, and later came to Macon, where he joined 
his brothers, and engaged in the merchant tailoring business. He built 
up a successful enterprise and continued his residence in Macon until 
his death, which occurred in 1891. He was a man of industry and of 
sterling character, and he held a secure place in the esteem of the com- 
munitj' which so long represented his home. His wife died in 1906, 
and they are survived by five sons and three daughters. 

Frederick W. Gieselman, Jr., the immediate subject of this review, 
was reared to maturity in Macon, and after availing himself of the 
advantages of the public schools he pursued the study of German, 
French and other branches under the direction of a private tutor. 
When but thirteen years of age, however, he entered upon an apprentice- 
ship to the jeweler's trade, at which he served three years, at the expi- 
ration of which he was released from his apprenticeship, which had 
been arranged for a term of four years. He then went to Bowling 
Green, this state, but shortly afterward went to Little Rock, Arkansas, 
where he remained one year. He then returned to Macon, where he was 
employed for the ensuing four years in the jewelry establishment of 
L. G. & G. J. Fox. In 1886, with a capital of only $81, Mr. Gieselman 
initiated his independent career as a business man. He opened a jew- 



494 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

elry store in Macon, and by energy and careful management he built 
up a large and prosperous business, in which he continued for a period 
of thirteen years, at the expiration of which he sold the same to his 
brother, Charles L., and became manager and treasurer of the Macon 
Shear Company, and with which he continued to be identified until 
impaired health compelled his retirement. 

In 1901, after a period of rest and recuperation, Mr. Gieselman 
purchased the dry goods business of S. L. Brock and he has since 
greatly enlarged the scope of the enterprise. In 1906 he purchased 
the dry goods stock and business of J. H. Barely, and consolidated the 
same with his original establishment, which is thoroughly metropolitan 
in equipment, appointments and variety of stock in the various depart- 
ments. The building occupied is four floors, each seventy-five by one 
hundred feet in dimensions, and the entire space is utilized by Mr. 
Gieselman, who here employs from twenty-five to forty salesfolk, accord- 
ing to the demands of the seasons. He has proven his ability to grasp 
and control affairs of broad scope and importance and has given 
to Macon and its people an establishment of which the largest cities 
might well be proud. 

Mr. Gieselman is liberal and progressive as a citizen and ever 
shows a deep and abiding interest in all that concerns the welfare of his 
native city and county. He has been a valued member of the city coun- 
cil, and is now president of the board of public works. lie has also 
rendered effective service as a member of the board of education. 
His iiolitical allegiance is given to the Republican party, nationally. 
He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Knights of Pythias, 
and both he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal 
church, being members of the parish of St. James Episcopal church. 

In the year 1892 Mr. Gieselman was united in marriage to Miss 
Theodora Gellhaus, of ]\Iacon, and they have two children, Leonard G. 
and Hortense. 

LA PLATA SAVINGS BANK. 

This valued and progressive financial institution was first opened 
as a private bank on November 16, 1876, with a capital stock of $10,000 
and the following officers: President, Josiah Gates; cashier, George N. 
Sharp, and assistant cashier, William J. Biggs. These officers con- 
tinued to serve the bank in their several capacities as noted until 1879, 
when George N. Sharp was chosen president and AVilliam J. Biggs 
cashier. 

On May 1, 1882, the institution was incori)orated as the La Plata 



1 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 495 

Savings Bauk and the capital stock was increased to $15,000. The 
officers chosen at this time were: AVilliam T. Gilhreath, president; 
James M. Irving, vice-president; AVilliam J. Biggs, cashier, and K. L. 
Bi'own, assistant cashier. These gentlemen were all made directors 
and in addition Alonzo S. Ray, Josiah Gates and Henry C. Gates were 
made members of the board. In 18S7 the capital stock was increased to 
$25,000, and on July 1, 1892, it was raised to $50,000, what it is at this 
time (1910). The present officers are: William T. Gilhreath. presi- 
dent; John T. Doneghy, vice-president; William J. Biggs, cashier; E. 
M. Gates, assistant cashier, and these gentlemen, with J. M. Irving, 
A. S. Ray and James I. Sears, directors. 

The bank has a surplus of $10,000 and undivided profits amounting 
to over $6,000. It is the oldest banking house in Macon county, and for 
a period of two weeks in 1882 was the only one in the county open for 
business. It has always been conducted along safe and sane lines of 
prudent management and has never failed to pay its stockholders a 
dividend at the regular time. No form of wildcat speculation or rapid 
enrichment has ever veered its directors and officers from the straight 
course of upright, legitimate banking, or even tempted them to the 
slightest temporary expedient aside from the well recognized princi- 
ples of the banking business. The institution carries on a general 
banking business, including every form of accommodation for the 
public and profitable engagement within the limit of its scope, and 
does all with skill, good judgment and well directed enterprise. All 
its officers and directors take an active interest in its affairs, and it is 
due to their collective wisdom, general intelligence and extensive knowl- 
edge of financial affairs that the bank has prospered as it has. Their 
progressiveness is balanced with the conservatism of prudence, their 
enterprise is controlled by judicious restraint in direction and applica- 
tion, and their efforts to promote the interests of its stockholders and 
patrons are always made along channels of wholesome development 
and progress. At the same time the interest of the bank in the welfare 
of the community makes it liberal to the limit of safety, as is shown 
by its zeal and assistance in promoting all undertakings of worth in 
which that welfare is essentially involved. 

It is due to William J. Biggs, the capable, courteous and skillful 
cashier of the institution, to say that much of its success is due to his 
work and influence in its behalf. He now has the distinction of being 
the oldest banker in Macon county, and on all sides he is accounted one 
of the best. Mr. Biggs has given this bank the best years of his life in 
faithful service and is justly entitled to feel proud of its success and 



496 HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

progress. He lias piloted it through several more or less severe panics, 
including that of 1895, in which so many banks throughout the country- 
closed their doors never to open them again.* The bank enjoys the full 
confidence of the people and every year shows a substantial increase 
in the number of its patrons, the amount of its deposits and the volume 
of its business, with a corresponding gain in the regard of the public. 

William J. Biggs, the cashier, was born at Alexandria, Ohio, on 
January 24, 1846, and came to La Plata, Missouri, in 1866, when he 
was twenty years of age. For ten years after his arrival in this sec- 
tion of the country he was employed in various ways, and in 1876 was 
made assistant cashier of the La Plata Savings Bank, with which he 
has ever since been connected. The stockholders and officers of the 
bank were fortunate in securing his services, and he was also fortunate 
in being brought into association with a body of men so entirely in line 
with his own progressive ideas, and so ready to aid in applying them 
to the management of one of the most valued financial institutions in 
this part of the state. He has been cashier of the bank and the active 
manager of its affairs since 1882. 

EOSCOE E. GOODDING. 

Among the younger business men of La Plata who are giving life, 
enterprise and broad-minded progressiveness to the fiscal, industrial 
and mercantile affairs of the city and the surrounding country none 
stands higher in public estimation or has shown more substantial 
grounds for general esteem than Eoscoe E. Goodding, cashier during 
the last six years of the Bank of La Plata. He has been tried in dif- 
ferent capacities and positions and been found competent and faithful 
in all. And in the social and general life of the community he has been 
and is a force for good that is constantly in action and always producing 
excellent results. 

Mr. Goodding is a native of Macon county and was born in Lyda 
township on March 10, 1875. He is a son of John B. and Malissa J. 
Goodding, long residents and iiromineut citizens of this county. The 
son was reared in La Plata and l)ogan in its public schools the academic 
education which he completed at Missouri Valley College, a leading 
scholastic institution located at Marshall in Saline county. Upon the 
completion of his education he at once entered ujion a semi- public 
career by becoming deputy county clerk in the office of his father, who 
was then county clerk. After a period of acceptable service in this posi- 
tion he was appointed assistant cashier of the Bank of La Plata, a 
position he held until 190."^, when ho was made cashier. In this capacity 



HISTORY OP MACOX COUNTY 497 

he is still serving the bank, its patrons and tlie general public with 
great credit to himself and pronounced advantage to the institution 
and the community. As a stockholder and director of the bank he has 
a voice in all details of its management, and as cashier and the chief 
executive officer he directs its policy and ai)plies its activities to the 
needs of the people and its own expansion and protit. 

The work of a bank cashier is ordinarily rather a tame and monot- 
onous one and offers but little chance for the display of great qualities 
or the achievement of striking results. It goes on from day to day 
within a fixed and somewhat limited sphere, with very little variety of 
feature or spectacular display. But there are men who can put into 
the tamest monotony of daily toil a spirit of life and energy that ci'eates 
event and incident and makes the progress of the work a march of 
trimuph. Mr. Goodding is one of these. Without aiming to do any- 
thing startling or spectacular, he sees unsuspected possibilities around 
him and puts his forces in motion to make the most of them. He has 
originality in initiative and method and makes it serviceable to the 
bank in increasing the volume of its business and the measure of its 
usefulness. Under his vigorous and enterprising management it has 
grown rapidly in the extent of its operations and the spread and eleva- 
tion of its reijutation and influence in the financial world. It is now 
considered one of the best directed and most progressive, as well as 
one of the soundest financial institutions of its kind in the state, and is 
on the way to still greater achievements and higher standing. 

On August 14, 1906, Mr. Goodding was married to ]\Iiss Bessie 
"Williams, a native of La Plata. In politics he is a Democrat, always 
active and resourceful in the sei'vice of his party, but never desirous 
of a political office. His fraternal relations are with the Masonic order 
and the Knights of Pythias, and his religious alliance is with the Pres- 
byterian church. In his church and his lodges he is energetic and 
serviceable, as he is in every other relation in life. He has been emi- 
nently successful and well deserves his strong hold on the regard and 
good will of the people. 

• JOHN T. PARMER. 

Active and prominent in mercantile circles in Atlanta during the 
last seventeen years, and for nearly ten the postmaster of the town, 
John T. Farmer has had ample opportunity to demonstrate the metal 
he is made of and the characteristic qualities of his citizenship. He 
has used his opportunity to good advantage, showing that he is ster- 
ling in material and make-up and that the village, township and county 



498 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

of liis residence have no more judicious friend or more enterprising, 
jDrogressive and helpful citizen. 

Mr. Farmer is a native of this county, born in Lyda township on 
November 15, 1864. He grew to manhood here and was educated for 
the greater part in the public schools of the locality. And he has passed 
the whole of his subsequent life among the people of Atlanta and 
vicinity. His record is therefore well known in the community of his 
home, and is admitted to be altogether to his credit. He is a son of 
Henry T. and Biddie Ann (Kelly) Farmer, natives of Kentucky, who 
were married in 1861 and had six children, four of whom are living and 
contributing in their several ways to the growth and improvement of 
Atlanta and the surrounding country, all being residents of this locality. 
They are: James W., of Atlanta; John T., the postmaster and imme- 
diate subject of this brief review; Frances, the wife of Henry Bunch; 
and H. Edgar. 

Their father was born in 1842 and came to ^lissouri with his par- 
ents when he was but three years old. He grew to manhood amid the 
rugged life of the frontier, for Lyda township was at the time of his 
arrival scarcely more than awakened from the sleep of ages and begin- 
ning to break the shackles of barbaric dominion which had so long held 
the region in thrall. After he reached years of maturity he followed 
the prevailing occupation of the neighborhood, farming and raising 
live stock, which engaged his attention all the rest of his life. He was a 
man of prominence and influence in the earlier history of the townshi]i 
and aided greatly in bringing its public affairs to vigorous life and 
steady, systematic action, serving many years as school director and in 
various other useful and responsible capacities. In politics he adhered 
steadfastly to the Republican party and was potent and appreciated 
as one of its most active workers in this section. During the Civil war 
he belonged to the Macon county militia, whose services were as much 
required at home to protect the country and its people from the depre- 
dations of irresponsible bands of roving marauders as that of the great 
armies were in the field to fight the mighty issues at stake to their 
final and permanent settlement. After the war and until his death in 
December, 1897, he was a deeply interested member of the Grand Army 
of the Republic. His widow is still living. She is a daughter of William 
and Frances (Lea) Kelly, who were early arrivals in this part of the 
state from Kentucky, where they were l)orn and reared. 

John T. Farmer had other views in life than that of being a fanner, 
and from his youth he bent all his energies to the task of realizing them. 
After completing the course of instruction furnished by the public 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 499 

schools he attended the Kirksville Normal School to prepare himself 
for usefulness as a teacher. He was graduated from that institution 
with the necessary legal qualification to teach, and during the next six 
years he devoted himself faithfully to the work he had chosen, teaching 
in a numher of different public schools and with admitted success in 
all. But teaching became monotonous and other avenues of effort prof- 
fered better opportunities for rapid advancement. He felt that it was 
his duty to make the most he could of himself, and he therefore took 
his ])lace in the business world as a lumber merchant in 1892. During 
the succeeding seven years he adhered to this line of trade, prospering 
in his undertaking and building up a considerable business. In 1899 he 
sold his interests and retired from the trade. While deliberating over 
what he should do next and looking around for new connections he was 
appointed postmaster of Atlanta, and ever since then he has continued 
to serve the people faithfully and acceptably in this position, which 
comes home to the hearts and convenience of them all. 

Mv. Farmer is a Eepublican in politics, and, being a man of clear 
and firm convictions, he does all he can to secure the supremacy of his 
party in the councils of the county, state and nation. His services to 
his party are those of no laggard, and as they are energetic and fruit- 
ful in character, and guided by intelligence and good judgment, they 
are highly appreciated by both the leaders and the rank and file of the 
party. In fraternal life he belongs to the Odd Fellows, has been three 
times elected representative to the Grand Lodge from the Twenty-sixth 
district, which was formerly the Seventy-sixth, and the ^lodern Wood- 
men of America. His religious affiliation is with the Christian church. 
On Januarj' 1, 1895, he was joined in marriage with Miss Jeannette 
Foster, a daughter of Hiram B. and JNlartha (Fergcrson) Foster, long 
residents of this county. Five children were born of the union and of 
these Birdie Garnet, Euby Eugene, Arlo John and Richard Odell are 
living, and all still members of the family household. The family 
stands well in the township and its members are universally and 
deservedly esteemed. "Was nominated for circuit clerk in 1890 by the 
Eepublican party. 

WILLIAM J. DEARING. 

Although not born in this county, William J. Bearing, of Atlanta, 
is by birth, education and all the associations of his life to this time a 
Missourian, loyally devoted to the state and its iieople and thoroughly 
imbued with the principles, filled with the aspirations and true to the 
ideals of citizenship which guide and govern them. His life began in 



500 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Schuyler county in 1862 and he is a son of "William M. and Xancy 
(YouDg) Dearing, the former a native of that part of old Virginia which 
is now "West Virginia, born in 1810, many years before the fury of sec- 
tional strife tore the fair and fruitful region from the mother state. 
He became a resident of Missouri in 1845, locating at Alton in Marion 
county, where he kept a general store for a number of years. He next 
moved to Schuyler county and there renewed his mercantile enterprise, 
carrying on extensively as a farmer and stock breeder in connection 
with his other business. He continued farming until his death, which 
occurred in 1885, but some years before that event sold his store and 
retired from merchandising. He was first married in 18.37 and his first 
wife died in 1847. In 1853 he was married a second time, being united 
on this occasion with Miss Nancy Young, a daughter of "William Young, 
who was born and reared in Tennessee and became a resident of Mis- 
souri in the early days. The one child born of the first marriage died 
at the age of seven years, and three sons and three daughters are the 
only liidng fruit of the second. His mother also has passed away, 
her life having ended in 1873. The father was a life-long Democrat of 
the old school, and with the loyalty of his class he gave his party 
continuous, determined and effective support. 

"^'illiam J. Dearing was reared in his native county and educated 
in its public schools. After leaving school he farmed and taught school 
until 1891. His work as a teacher was interesting and stimulating to 
him, and he gave it his whole and best attention. He found it increas- 
ing his knowledge of himself and of others and broadening his views 
of life for a time. But it offered little opportunity for advancement, 
and after a time began to grow monotonous. Besides, he felt within 
him unemployed powers for a more active and promising career, and 
they called him as with the voice of duty to put them in action. 

The banking industry seemed a suitable field for his faculties, and 
in 1891 he became connected with it in Schuyler county — Bank of Lan- 
caster, Missouri. He found the business to his liking, but his position 
in it not exactly what he wished. Accordingly he moved to Atlanta in 
1892 and organized the Atlanta State Bank, beiiig one of the organizing 
stockholders and directors and at once being elected cashier of the insti- 
tution. This position he still holds with great acceptability to the 
officers and patrons of the bank and the general public. The institution 
has grown and flouiished under his careful and onteri)rising manage- 
ment, steadily rising in public esteem and grounding itself firmly in 
the confidence and regard of the people. It has an excellent reputation 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 501 

in tlie business Tvoi'ld, and in exclusive financial circles is listed as one 
of the soundest and best managed banks in the state. 

Mr.. Bearing studies his business and keeps in touch with all its 
late advances and developments. He is a valued member of the Mis- 
souri State Bank Association and takes a leading part and a great 
interest in its proceedings. He also is in line with otlier sources of 
information and stimulus, leaving no means of advantage to him in his 
pursuit imemployed. He iierforms a good citizen's duty with reference 
to public affairs, local and general, taking an active part in politics as a 
Bemocrat of firm convictions, loyally devoted to the best interests of 
his country, and a leading place in fraternal life as a member of the 
Masonic order, with sincere and cordial admiration for its principles 
and zealous attention to the exemplification of its moral teachings in 
his daily life. 

Mr. Bearing is still on the sunny side of fifty and in the enjojinent 
of good health, fine vigor and unconquerable enterprise. His standing 
in financial circles, the business world, social life and public esteem is 
high and firmly established. His opportunities for good work are 
plentiful and on the increase, and his desire for progress grows by 
what it feeds on, keeping pace with the chances for its gratification 
which time brings him. He is in the midst of a fruitful, creditable and 
expanding career, and it needs not the voice of prophecy to give assur- 
ance that if he lives he will continue his steady and graceful ascent 
toward wide distinction and become one of the most prominent and 
influential men in the state. And it is one of the most gratifying 
features of the case that he deserves his success, which is the work 
of his own capabilities, and has the genuine merit that always dignifies 
and adorns exalted stations among men. 

JOHN MASSENGALE. 

The life story of this fine old gentleman, who is one of the leading 
and most substantial citizens of Bevier, in this county, is one of very 
unusual interest because of the great variety of incident and adven- 
ture it chronicles, the wide range of territory over which it passes, the 
numerous phases it presents for contemplation and the sterling manhood 
it makes known. It emphasizes anew the worth of courage, self-reliance, 
industry, devotion to duty and firm and sturdy manliness, qualities 
which have made its subject's record and fixed his place in the regard 
of men. It might well be taken as the story of Man himself in his con- 
test with nature on a gigantic theater of action. Poetry sparkles, Hero- 



502 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

ism glows, and Tragedy darkens in its texture, wliile the golden thread 
of sentiment rtms brightly through its woof. 

Mr. Massengale was born at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 10, 
184-0, and is a son of John and Celia Massengale, natives of North Caro- 
lina. The ancestors of the father lived and labored many generations 
of hmnan life in Germany before any of them came to this country, 
and yet they were not late arrivals here. In his young manhood the 
father moved from his native state to Tennessee, and there he passed 
the remainder of his days to the sudden and tragic close of his career. 
He and his wife were the parents of two children, their sons, John and 
William. The latter and his father were killed by the same stroke 
of lightning in 1849, and the former is now the only living member of his 
family. Some time after the father's death the mother was married to 
Jesse Brewster, and by this union she became the mother of seven 
additional children. She died in 1866. 

Her son John's only means of scholastic training through agencies 
usually and everywhere provided for the pui'poses of education was a 
two months' attendance at a district school. He was nine years old 
when his father died and soon afterward began to fight the battle 
of life for himself. The contest was fierce and continuous, and he had 
no time or opportunity to seek mental training, except what he could 
gain from the teachings of Nature and the lessons of experience. He 
wrought faithfully at various occupations in his native state until he 
reached the age of twenty, when he came to Missouri and found a 
generous friend and a hospitable home in Macon county. 

Being practicallj^ fully orphaned by the sad fate of his father and 
the second marriage of his mother, he came to this county as a stranger, 
but Jefferson Morrow, one of the prominent pioneers of the county, 
a sketch of whose life will be found in this volume, took him in and 
became a second father to him and enabled him to get a start in the 
w^orld. In 1864, led thither by the excitement o^•er the discover}* of gold 
in its soil, he went to Montana with a party of friends, making the 
journey overland with ox teams and consuming four months and six- 
teen days in accomplishing it. The country through which the party 
traveled was then an untrodden expanse of ])iaiu, and all the wild life 
of primeval nature still pervaded it. The little band of adventurers 
encountered many obstacles to its progress, was forced to suffer count- 
less hardships and privations, and found almost every day of its 
advance through the trackless wilds fraught with peril. On one occa- 
sion it was compelled to literally hew its way through a tribe of hostile 




JOHN MASSENGALE 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 503 

Indians, fighting with its savage and determined foes two days and 
two nights in succession. 

In Montana Mr. Massengale worked in the mines in search of gold 
for a period of three years, witli all tiie necessaries of life held at 
prices that would he declared fabulous were not the facts attested 
by thousands who had the same experience. Flour was $150 a barrel 
and other things in proportion, and what were then considered the lux- 
uries of life were wholly unattainable. In ] 8()7 IMr. Massengale returned 
to this county and engaged in fanning with Mr. Morrow, his former 
patron. In 1869 he took another jaunt in the wake of the setting sun, 
going to Wyoming, and during the next four years he was in the employ 
of the Union Pacific Eailroad Company, having charge of its live-stock 
interests, and giving them first rate attention. 

By the end of the period mentioned he was able to take up a ranch 
of his own, in AYyoming, and this he occupied and imjjroved for nearly 
twenty years. In connection with his ranching he trailed cattle and 
other stock across the plains to Utah and Idaho. But he tired of his 
expatriation and wild life in time, and, after conducting his stock oper- 
ations in South Dakota for eight years, whither he moved them in 1889, 
he again returned to Missouri and Macon county in 1895, after selling 
all his possessions in the farther West. He then took up his residence 
in Bevier townsliip, where he has ever since been energetically, exten- 
sively and profitably engaged in farming and raising stock, although 
he is now living in comparative retirement from active pursuits and 
enjoying a dig-nified but genial ease. He owns and cultivates more than 
800 acres of land, is one of the princijial stockholders in the State 
Exchange Bank of Macon, and has considerable other valuable property. 

Mr. Massengale has amassed a large fortune tliroiigh industry, 
frugality and good management, but it has not changed his nature. 
Through all chances and changes he has held his course straight for- 
ward, keeping time with the march of })rogress and in harmony with his 
surroundings. He has been serviceable to every community in which 
he has lived where development and improvement were possible, and 
even in the mining camps, where not mucli could be done in this way, 
his influence was strong, his force of character was felt, his integrity 
was acknowledged and his example was emulated. In October, 1904, 
he was united in marriage with Mrs. Parrelee Massengale. They have 
no children. He and his wife are among the most highly esteemed resi- 
dents of Bevier township, where tliey live and dispense the sunshine 
of their genial and useful presence. He is a memlier of the Masonic 



504 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

fraternity of many years connection with the order, and of Macon 
Lodge No. 999 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. 

The biography of this excellent citizen, even so short a one as this, 
wonid be incomplete without one of its most creditable chapters. Dur- 
ing his residence in "Wyoming he was associated in the stock business 
with James Ross, who lived at Carbon, in that state, Mr. Massengale 
having the management of their joint interests. The business was very 
profitable, but the stock was removed to Jackson county. South Dakota, 
to secure a better range for it. They continued their joint operations 
until July 20, 1898, when thej- sold out to Corbin Morse, of South 
Dakota. They, however, kept the assets of the firm intact until the death 
of Mr. Boss, which occurred on December 2, 1899, in the city of Phila- 
delphia. No books were kept during the partnership, each member 
of the firm relying on the integrity of the other. After the death of 
Mr. Koss Mr. Massengale carefully computed the assets of the firm, 
including the increase during administration, and paid over a full one- 
half to the executor of Mr. Eoss, whom the latter had instructed to 
accept the statements and accounts rendered by his partner without 
question. The instruction was followed literally and the relations 
between Mr. Massengale and the executor and heirs of Mr. Ross 
remained entirely friendly and cordial ; esteem on both sides has marked 
all the subsequent intercourse between the parties. 

Mr. Massengale has reached the age of three score years and ten, 
the usual limit of human life as fixed by the inspired writer, Init he is 
still in active vigor and productive usefulness, reminding all who 
know him of some pleasant year, proceeding to its close undoubtedly, 
but with its seasons of bloom, warmth and fruitfulness not yet wholly 
spent. Useful, consistent, upright and progressive from youth, and 
wearing with becoming modesty the laurels of a lofty manhood and ele- 
vated citizenship, he richly deserves the universal esteem in which he is 
held. This is high praise, but it is only a just tribute to demonstrated 
worth. 

JAMES WILLARD LYDA. 

The salient characteristics of a people, tlie extent and tension of 
its enterprise and progressiveness, its attitude toward moral and men- 
tal agencies, and its social spirit, are often clearly portrayed in the 
range of vision of its business men and the manner in which they use 
the opportunities available to tlieni for tlieir own advantage and the 
benefit of the community in which their activities are emi)loyed. Tried 
by this standard the town of Atlanta in this county must rank high and 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 505 

be worthy of cordial coniinondatiou. Its business men are alert, wide- 
awake and knowing, and they use all their forces at liigh si)eed for the 
good of themselves and the people around them, looking well to the 
substantial and enduring welfare of the community in general and of 
each individual resident according to his station and requirements in 
life. 

One of the leaders among these business men is James Willard 
Lyda, a prominent and successful Jiardware merchant, an ai)])reciated 
public official, and a broad-minded and progressive citizen. He was 
born in the town on March 15, 1871, and is a son of J. G. and Margaret 
(Anderson) Lyda, the father a native of this county, born in Lyda 
townshii>, and a son of a Tennessee planter who settled in the county 
in early days and gave his name to the township in which his descend- 
ants have since lived and flourished. J. G. Lyda devoted most of the 
years of his life, during its period of activity, to general farming, but 
also passed a number of years in merchandising. He was married to 
Miss Mai'garet Anderson, a native of Iowa. They had ten children 
and have six living: Edward E., of Bloomington, Illinois; James W., 
of Atlanta ; Sarah, the wife of W. T. Evans, of the state of Idaho ; 
Bertha, the wife of "\V. E. Miller, of Jefferson City, Missouri ; Ora C, 
the wife of S. Wright, of Meridian, Idaho ; and J. Winfield, of Bloom- 
ington, Illinois. The parents are still living and have their home in 
Atlanta. The father is an active Democrat in politics and a man of 
enterprise and energy in reference to all affairs in which the welfare 
of the town and county is involved, doing his pai't in every way to 
l^romote it and benefit their people practically and substantially. 

James Willard Lyda was reared in his native townshij) and 
obtained his education in its public schools. He worked for the family 
on the parental homestead until 1891, then became a telegraph operator 
in the employ of the Western Union company, remaining in its service 
thirteen years. In February, 1904, he determined to seek a more 
ambitious field of labor and entered the hardware trade on a scale com- 
mensurate with his resources at the time. He has continued his connec- 
tion with this line of mercantile life to llie present time, steadily enlarg- 
ing his operations, extending his reputation as a progressive and u))-to- 
date merchant, gaining rank and standing in the business world, and 
augmenting his profits and prosperity. He is also a stockholder in the 
Bank of Atlanta and connected with other institutions of value to the 
community. On the organization of the Bank of Atlanta he was chosen 
one of its directors and is still serving as such. 

In the jmblic affairs of the town ^\y. Lyda lias long been energetic 



506 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

and prominent. He lias been one of the trustees of the municipality 
and the treasurer of the board during the last four years and has ren- 
dered highly acceptable service in that capacity. Politically he is a 
Democrat with a very warm interest in the success of his party, and 
fraternally he is an Odd Fellow and a Modern Woodman of America. 
On February 28, 1909, he was married to Miss Mary Shain, a native of 
Atlanta. He has been very successful in business and stands well in 
the regard of the people all over the county. 

►^ WILLIAM A. MILES. 

The late William A. Miles, who died in Atlanta, Macon county, 
Missouri, after a useful residence of more than half a century in this 
region, was one of the leading citizens and most prosperous and suc- 
cessful men in Lyda township during his life. He was active in several 
lines of productive industry, the leading ones being farming and stock 
breeding and general merchandising. He was progressive and enter- 
prising in all and showed it in every department of his work. As the 
pioneer breeder of shorthorn cattle in this county he contributed essen- 
tially to the improvement of the live stock industry, both in general 
and special ways; in conducting his farming operations he was studi- 
ous, thoughtful, systematic and up to date in all respects, and in his 
career as a merchant he was always up to the latest turns of the fac- 
tories and changes of style in his stock, introducing every new con- 
trivance for the comfort, convenience and enjoyment of the peojile 
around him. 

Mr. Miles was born in Franklin county, A'irginia, on November 7, 
1825, and accomjjanied his parents in two moves westward with the 
course of empire in his boyhood, going with them to Pulaski county, 
Kentucky, when he was five years old, and coming with them to this 
county when he was fourteen. He is a son of Armistead J. and Eliza- 
beth A. (Arthur) Miles, also natives of Virginia. The father's life 
began on October 15, 1796, and ended on June 30, 1880, nearly all of his 
mature years being passed on the frontier. He was a valiant soldier 
in the war of 1812, although he was but a boy at the time in the number 
of his years. He had, however, the spirit of a man, and proved it by the 
enthusiasm he showed in the cause of his country and the manner in 
which he sustained that cause on the gory field of batlle. The excite- 
ment of cani]! and march and deadly conflict rather stimulated than 
satisfied the longing for adventure and conquest he had within him, 
and kept him going in obedience to its requirements throughout the 
remainder of his life. In 1830 he moved his young family to Kentucky, 



HISTORY OF MALO.N L'OU.XTY 507 

locating in Pulaski county, then on or very near the frontier, and still 
redolent of the wild life of the untrodden West. But the farther West 
had still a beckoning hand for him, and in 1839 lie yielded to its ])er- 
suasious and came to Macon county, Missouri, taking uj) his residence 
in Lyda township, as the county is now divided. Here he engaged 
in farming as extensively as his circumstances would allow, and con- 
tinued his operations until the death of his wife in 1S57 at the age of 
fifty-seven years. 

"William A. Miles grew to the age of fourteen in i'ulaski county, 
Kentucky, then came with his parents to this county. It was a wild and 
unsettled region, still wanting in all the luxuries and scant in many of 
the necessaries of life. The wild men of the forests and jilains still 
roamed at large through it, and with their kindred terrors, the savage 
beasts of prey, still claimed dominion over the expanse and all that it 
contained. Together they resisted the encroachments of the civilizing 
forces that threatened their supremacy, filling the days with i^eril and 
making night hideous with their unearthly noises. Amid such condi- 
tions our j'oung adventurer grew to manhood, and from them he 
acquired the self-reliance and resourcefulness that distinguished him 
through life. His entire life was ])assed in farming and raising stock, 
and engaged for a tune in general mei'chandising in connection. He 
worked on the family homestead until ISiKy, when he moved to Atlanta. 
He was a farmer of an elevated standard, bending his efforts to the 
improvement of the agricultural conditions around him, in which he 
saw his own advantage and great good for the rest of the people. He 
started a herd of shorthorn cattle, as has been noted, being the pioneer 
in this ])articular line of improvement, and soon had the satisfaction 
of seeing his neighbors and associates in the cultivation of the soil fol- 
lowing his example and working toward the result he had desired and 
anticipated. He was also an example and a stimulus in better methods 
of farming, in this, too, his residence in the township proving decidedly 
beneficial. 

On August 5, 1847, he married with Miss Nancy Daugherty, a 
native of Pulaski county, Kentucky, and a daughter of Joseph and 
Elizabeth (Lee) Daugherty, who moved from there to this county in the 
early days. Joseph Daugherty was born on June 8, 1801, and died on 
June 9, 1855. His wife came into being on February 5, 1802, and passed 
away on November 7, 1843. They lived clean and upright lives and 
were highly respected. Mr. and ^Irs. Miles became the jjarenls of 
twelve children. The seven of these who are living are : Fountain A., 
a resident of Oregon; Josepii D., a sketch of whom apjiears in this 



508 HISTORY OF MACOX COrXTY 

work; Madison L., who lives at La Plata iu this county; Margaret L., 
the wife of J. M. Elsea, of Atlanta ; William N., whose home is at Jack- 
sonville in Randolj)h county; Charles H., of Macon, Missouri; and 
Arthur B., who resides at Port Arthur, Texas. The father was an 
active Democrat in politics, always zealous in the services of his party, 
and representing his township for many years in county and state con- 
ventions. He was a meml)er of the Masonic order and filled many 
important offices in his lodge. He died at Atlanta on October 12; 1894, 
where his wife's life ended in June, 1887. 

^ JOSEPH D. MILES. 

Enterprising and successful as a farmer, prominent in the public 
life of his townshii? and county, influential in business circles and well 
established in social relations, Joseph D. Miles, of Atlanta, in this 
county, where he is now living at rest from exacting labors and enjoying 
the results of his many years of energetic industrj% is an ornament to 
his community and a fruitful potency for good in the citizenship of the 
state. 

Mr. Miles was born in Macon county on January 9, 1854, and has 
passed the whole of his life to this time within its borders. He is a son 
of William A. and Nancy (Daugherty) Miles, the former a native of 
Franklin county, Virginia, and the latter of Pulaski coimty, Kentucky. 
A brief accovmt of their lives will be found elsewhere in this volume. 
The son, Joseph D., was educated in the schools convenient to his home, 
working on the farm while attending the sessions, and preparing him- 
self in both mental and physical development and training for the 
strenuous battle of life that awaited him. He remained with the family, 
working under the direction of his father in the management of the 
farm until 1881, when he began operating a farm on his own account 
adjoining the homestead. He continued the ])olicy of imiirovement and 
systematic cultivation of the land which he had already begun, and as 
the years passed the property steadily increased in value, in produc- 
tiveness and in all else that goes to make a comfortable, iirofitable and 
attractive country home. He continued his progressive and successful 
operations until 1<S9(), when he dis])Osed of his farm and moved to Kan- 
sas, remaining there until January 1, 19t)9, when he returned to Atlanta, 
where he 1ms since resided. 

Tn the industrial, mercantile and social life of his present residence 
town Mr. Miles takes an active and serviceable interest in every prac- 
tical way, giving his aid to all worthy undertakings for the good of the 
coiiuiniiiily, and through it the welfare of the rest of the county. He 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 509 

is a stockholder iu the Atlanta State Bank and is conuocted with other 
institutions of value to the people and tlie general well being-, lie was 
connected as a stockholder with the Quenemo (Kansas) State Bank 
and gave its affairs careful attention while there, but disjiosed of it in 
August, 1909. The public affairs of the county, state and nation also 
interest him greatly. He is an unflinching Democrat in polities and 
renders his party valuable and appreciated service at all times. He 
has l)een a delegate frequently to county and state conventions, and is 
always found in the front rank of the organization fighting valiantly 
and intelligently for victory when a campaign is in progress. As road 
overseer for a long time and member of the school board for six years 
he was potential in contributing to the advancement and inii)rovement 
of the township and elevating one of its most serviceable and valued 
institutions, helping to raise the schools to a high degree of efficiency 
and enlarge their facilities in many ways. He has also been very useful 
to the peoi)le as a member of the township committee. 

In fi'atevual relations Mr. Miles is an enthusiastic Freemason. He 
has belonged to the order from the dawn of his manhood and given it 
his earnest, intelligent and constant supi)ort in every way from the 
beginning of his membership. On March 24, 1881, he was united in 
marriage with Miss Anna Dunnington, a daughter of Palatine and 
Angeletta (Gilstrap) Dunnington. Her maternal grandfather was 
I.ouis Gilstrap, a prominent citizen of Bevier. Both she and her 
liusband are highly resi^ected by all classes of people. 

HENRY CLAY SURBECK. 

Two counties in Missouri have had the services and three banks 
have been helped to consequence and standing iu the state by the busi- 
ness capacity and enterprise of Henry Clay Surbeck, of Atlanta, 
although he is now but twenty-seven years of age. This record shows 
that he is able, knowing and attentive to duty, and fully justifies the 
high standing he enjoys as a financier, citizen and business man. He 
began his business career early in life and has been very successful in 
all his undertakings from the start. The jirogress he has made and 
the triumi)hs he has won are also all his own, as he owes nothing to 
family influence or the special favors of fortune, having made his 
own way in the world by his own energy and ability. 

Mr. Surbeck was born at Elmer, in this couTity, on February 4, 
1882, and has passed the whole of his life to this time (19U9) in this 
state, except during the time of his attendance at a business college 
outside, and the greater part of it in Macon county. His father, J. M. 



510 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Surbeck, was born and reared in Switzerland, Init has been a resident 
of this county for many years. The son was educated in the district 
school near his home in Elmer and at Blees Military Academy, where 
he was one of the first students enrolled. After leaving that institu- 
tion he pursued a course of special instruction at the (Jem City Busi- 
ness College in Quincy, Illinois, from which he was graduated in 1903, 
The next year he organized the Bank of Gifford, in the town of that 
name, and during the next three years was one of its stockholders and 
directors, and its cashier. In this position he had opportunity to aid 
greatly in building up and improving the town of Gifford, and he did 
all his circumstances allowed in that direction. INIuch of the present 
prosperity and develoi)ment of the town is due to his own activity and 
the forces he put in motion to the same worthy end in others. The 
seed he sowed was good and it fell on fruitful ground. The harvest 
has been bountiful, what was sown producing well, some thirty, some 
sixty and some a hundred fold. 

In 1907 Mr. Surbeck sold his interests at Giffoi'd and accepted a 
position as cashier in a bank at Othello, Washington. But he was not 
made to occupy a suljordiuate position and work wholly under the direc- 
tion of others. He quit the AVasliington b;ink in December, 1908, and 
organized the Bank of Atlanta, of which he was one of the original 
stockholders and directors, and of which he was at once chosen cashier, 
a position he is still filling with great acceptability to the directorate 
and the patrons of the l)ank and with decided credit to himself. The 
institution was started with a capital of $15,000. It has had a steady 
and increasing prosperity under the management of Mr. Surbeck, and 
is now accounted one of the soundest, safest, most progressive and best 
managed financial agencies of its magnitude in the state. It does a 
general banking business, including all the approved features of mod- 
ern banking, and while its policy is liberal, it is guarded with alumdaut 
caution in protecting the interests of its jironioters. x\t the same time, 
it is at all times ready to do what it can to advance the welfare of the 
connnunity, aid in its improvement and accommodate the requirements 
of its people. In addition to his connection with this bank and other 
productive enterprises in Atlanta, Mr. Surbeck was one of the directors 
and the secretary of the Gifford Brick and Tile Company for some 
time, and is still a stockholder in the company. In politics he is a 
zealous working Republican, loyal to his party and effective in its 
service. His fraternal alliances are with the Masonic order and the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in both of which he takes an earnest 
interest and holds an influential rank as a member. 




JAMES H. HOUGHTON 



HISTORY OF MACOX COU.\T:i 511 

^ JAMES H. HOUGHTON. 

Having passed the advanced age of four-score years, during nearly 
forty of whicli lie iias been a resident of tliis county and the townsiiiij 
in wliich lie now lives, James H. Houghton, of New Cambria, has wit- 
nessed marvelous changes in tliis country, and in his way and to the 
extent of his powers and opportunities, lias helped to bring them about. 
He was born in Rochester, New York, when that now far eastern city 
was almost a western outpost of our civilization ; and he is living at this 
time nearly a thousand miles west of the place of his birth, and is still 
hundreds of miles east of the center of our great domain. His years 
and experience cover the onward march of American settlement and 
conciuest from the great lakes to the Pacific, and the redemption of all 
the intervening country from a wilderness to a thriving, populous 
and wonderfully productive empire. 

Mr. Houghton is a son of James and Julia (Kadie) Houghton, the 
former a native of England and the latter of the state of New York. 
The father came to the United States as a young man and located 
at Rochester, New York. There he devoted his attention to farming 
and met and married with Miss Julia Kadie. They hfid three children, 
but all are deceased except the subject of these brief paragraphs. The 
father died in 1902, and his wife in 1901. 

Their son, James H. Houghton, grew to manhood and was educated 
in his native place and the state of Ohio. In 1870 he became a resident 
of Missouri, locating at New Cambria, where he followed the pursuit 
of his father, industriously and profitably tilling the soil for three years. 
In 1873 he became a merchant, dealing in furniture, and this enterprise 
he carried on for about three years more. In 1876 he returned to farm- 
ing and is still actively engaged in that pursuit. He owns a vast extent 
of land, 420 acres, the greater part of which is under cultivation and 
highly improved. It is not in accordance with his views and has not 
been his practice to become possessed of great tracts of land merely 
to let them lie idle for the advance in settlement and develo])ment to 
give tliem value. He believes that every landholder owes much to his 
own day and generation, and ought to make his land yield its triliute to 
the sustenance and service of mankind, and he has acted on tliis belief 
with good results for himself and great beneficence to the regions in 
which liis land is located. 

Mr. Houghton has all his life been a great believer in the riglits 
of the people of the country and their ability to govei'ii themselves 
well and wisely. He has, therefore, always been a pronounced Democrat 



512 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

iu political faith and allegiance, and has rendered at all times valuable 
service to his party, both in trying to keep it in the right path of prin- 
ciple and policy and in aiding to make its cause successful in the 
elections. He has never sought or held public office, however, never 
having been desirous of either the honors or emoluments of official 
station. He has dischai-ged the duties of citizenship from the com- 
fortable and inconspicuous jjost of private life, and his performance of 
them in that way has given his attention to them all the more weight, 
since it has been manifest that it was not based on any expectation 
or desire of special personal gain. 

Mr. Houghton's marriage occurred in 1852, and by it he was united 
with Miss Julia Mason, a native of Ohio. They have had seven chil- 
dren, all of whom are living, and all but one of them very near the 
family hearthstone. The children are: Julius H., of Pascola, Texas; 
Loren P., William, Wallace and Theodore, all of New Cambria, and 
Charles and Walton, of this county. 

Mr. Houghton is now eighty-three years of age. He is still very 
active and vigorous, and gives attention to the duties of life with the 
same earnestness and zeal that distinguished him iu his early and 
more mature manhood, not because he has to, but because from the 
very nature of his mind and make-up he finds pleasure in work and a 
great sense of satisfaction in being occupied. The responsibilities he 
carries and the number of interests that force themselves on his atten- 
tion would worry and wear many a much younger man, but he bears 
them lightly, and disposes of all matters of business with jiromptness 
and ease. This is the result, doubtless, of abundant resources of vital- 
ity kept fresh and active by continual use, and trained to readiness 
and promptness in response to all demands. 

Not only is this "Father in Israel" one of the oldest citizens of the 
county, but also one of the most esteemed and venerated. He is truly 
representative of the i)eople among whom he has so long lived and 
labored, and embodies in himself their best traits of character and 
manhood, and exemplifies in his daily life their highest ideals, loftiest 
aspirations and noblest attributes. His life has been an example to the 
young, a stimulus to the men in their prime and a satisfaction to the 
old. All classes revere him and have pride in him as one of their best 
and most admired citizens. It cannot be said of such a man, either, 
that he has lived in vain or that he has come far short of his full power 
for good in the world. For he has been useful at every period of his 
life, and at every stage of it has met his responsibilities with the full 
measure of his capacity and up to tlie limit of his opportunities. What 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 513 

TToncler then that his evening is mild and genial and his sunset rosy 
with the promise oi" a glorious morrow? It is the inevitable result of his 
well-spent years. 

Mr. Houghton is a stockholder in the New Cambria State Bank. He 
and his wife belong to the Episcopal church. He has been a member of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for over thirty years. 

EDWIN 0. SNOW. 

Whether viewed in the light of his eminent business success, in 
that of his elevated and serviceable citizenship, in that of his loyalty 
and devotion to the community of his home and his activity and intelli- 
gence in promoting its welfare, or looked at with reference to all 
together, no man stood higher in Macon county during his life, or was 
held in more general and appreciative esteem by its people than the 
late Edwin 0. Snow, of Atlanta. His untimely death in 1908, at the 
age of fifty-three, when it was supposed that he had still long years of 
usefulness to the county and state awaiting him, cast a gloom over the 
whole of his township and caused deep and lasting regret in many other 
localities. 

Mr. Snow was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on December 23, 
1855, and was a son of Orson and Rosella (Ward) Snow, the former 
a native of the state of New York. The son came to Macon county 
when he was twelve years old, with his father, and grew to manhood 
here. He completed in the public schools of this county the education 
he had begun in those of his native city, and when he left school took 
his place among the productive forces at work in this region as a 
farmer a short distance east of Atlanta. In 1881 he moved to Kansas, 
and for a year was industriously engaged in farming in that state. 
He then moved to Hastings, Nebraska, and there carried on a general 
mercantile business until 1883. Returning to Atlanta in the year last 
mentioned, he again started an enterprising business in general mer- 
chandising, and this he conducted successfully and with increasing 
profits until his death. His business views were broad and his spirit 
was progressive. He laid all his resources under tribute to give the 
people around him the best general store the circumstances would 
warrant, and he was eminently successful in his design, winning renown 
as a merchant and sealing all comers unto him in friendly regard as 
a man. His stock was always selected with judgment and a full knowl- 
edge of the trade he had to supply as well as the markets from which 
he procured his merchandise. It was a large part of his desire to lead 
the taste of the community to higher development and loftier standards 



6U HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

while catering to it, and his establishment was in its measure educa- 
tional as well as mercantile. This was the opinion of the people, and 
the credit it implied and expressed was freely and voluntarily tendered 
him by them, but he never claimed it for himself. 

In politics Mr. Snow was an ardent and very active Kepublican. 
He was prominent and influential in the leadership of his party, serving 
as townshiji committeeman for many years, and aj^plyiug his knowl- 
edge of the people and his force of character wisely and effectively in 
the service of the cause he espoused and the candidates it put forth for 
the suffrages of the electorate. His fraternal relations were with the 
Masonic order, of which he was long an energetic, enthusiastic and 
valued member, taking to heart its noble teachings and exemplifying in 
his daily life its pure and lofty precepts. But neither party allegiance 
nor lodge connection narrowed him or made him bigoted or intolerant. 
On the contrary, every means he had of mingling with his fellow men 
and learning of them seemed to broaden and liberalize hijn. In 1877 
he was united in marriage with Miss Cora M. Davies, a daughter of 
William and Mary (Williams) Davies, natives of Baltimore, Maryland. 
He and his wife became the parents of two children, both of whom died 
in infancy. The father's record is embalmed in the memory of all 
who knew him and is redolent of the fragrance of genuine manly worth. 

VOLKERT D. GOEDON. 

Orphaned at the age of nine years by the sudden death of his 
father when the latter was far from his home and his family, and by 
that of his mother when he was but eight, Volkert D. Gordon, one of 
the leading citizens and most progressive and successful business men 
of this county, was obliged by the stern arbitrament of fate to take up 
the burden of life for himself at a very earlj^ period in his career, and 
has been obliged to bear it ever since. He has made his own way in 
the world without the aid of Fortune's favors or adventitious circum- 
stances, and every triumph recorded to his credit is wholly his own. 
The triumphs number many and stand forth as tributes to his business 
capacity, his persistent industry and thrift, and his unwavering 
confidence in himself and his powers of advancement. 

Mr. Gordon was born in Newark, Wayne county, New York, on 
December 12, 1848, and is the son of James B. and Martha (Vaughn) 
Gordon, also natives of the state of New York. The father grew to 
manhood in Wayne county. He was a wagon manufacturer and devel- 
oped a considerable industry in that line of production in his native 
state, where be remained until 1857. The West held out a persuasive 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 515 

hand to liim aud lier voice of promise filled his lieart with hojie. In 
the year last mentioned he left the scenes and associations of his hoy- 
hood, and came on a prospecting tour to Missouri. Macon county 
looked good to him, aud he determined to locate here and grow into 
consequence with the country. In 1859, when he was returning to his 
former home with a view to closing up his affairs there and leaving 
the region forever, he was fatally stricken at Sturgis, Michigan, and 
died within a few days after the illness began. His young wife, who 
was a daughter of Stephen and ^lahitahle Vaughn, and to whom he 
was married in 1847, had preceded him to the other world by two years, 
dying in 1855. 

Thus doubly orphaned in his boyhood, the interesting subject of 
this brief review was thrown practically on his own resources, and had 
nothing to depend on but himself in the wide and busy world before 
him. He accepted his destiny with cheerfulness and entered upon the 
performance of its requirements with the alacrity and fortitude which 
have ever since distinguished him. He began his education in the 
public schools and completed it at a collegiate institute at Marion in 
his native county, earning a large part of his livelihood while attending 
school, and working his way thrcmgh the institute by his own industry 
and frugality. Of the three children in the family he is the onlj' one 
now living. 

AVhen he was obliged to leave school and give his whole attention 
to the serious work of life, he began operations by working on a farm, 
which he continued to do imtil 1872. The work was hard, but he did 
not object to that. The requirements were exacting, especially during 
the summers, but he met them with a manly and resolute siurit. The 
returns for his labor, however, were small and the accumulation of a 
fund for some other line of work was necessarily very slow. He there- 
fore decided to take a more rapid route to the goal he had fixed for 
himself, and learned the trade of molder. After eoni]ileting his appren- 
ticeship he wrought diligently at the trade for a number of years, 
adhering to it with patience and fidelity until 1882. 

In that year he, too, was attacked by the Western fever, and it 
brought him over the trail of his father, made thirty-five years earlier, 
to Missouri and Macon county. Locating in Atlanta, he engaged in 
general merchandising in that town until 189.3. He then turned his 
attention to the real estate, loan»and insurance business, and that has 
occupied his time and faculties ever since. Good judgiuent has dis- 
tinguished him in all his business undertakings, and he has been quick 
to see and alert to seize every opportunity that has been available for 



516 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

his advancement. Circumstances have not ministered to his success 
except as he has compelled them to, making of them wings and weapons 
for his progress, and this he has known how to do in an eminent 
degree. In addition to the business mentioned above as enlisting his 
energies, he has also been extensively engaged in chicken farming, 
holding a high rank and enjoying a wide and favorable reputation as 
a successful breeder of buff Plymouth Eock fowls of a superior strain, 
which he produces in large numbers. 

The interests of the community in which he lives have also been 
of imperative moment to him and he has done all he could to aid in 
caring for them with wisdom and promoting them with zeal. He has 
served capably and with cordial approval from the people, as village 
clerk since 1903, and is still doing good and appreciated work in that 
capacity. For many years he has also held a conmiission as a notary 
public and made it effective in usefulness to the residents of the village 
and the township. His fraternal feelings have found expression in 
membership in the Masonic order, and the activities engendered by 
them have all been expended in its behalf. In politics he is a pro- 
noimced Republican, and at all times one of the busiest and most 
effective workers for the success of his party. In 1872 he was united 
in marriage with Miss Mattie E. Cochrane, a daughter of William and 
Jane Cochrane, of Waterpord, New York. One child was born of 
this union, a son named John B., who is now a resident of Spokane in 
the state of Washington. His mother died in February, 1893, and in 
November, 1903, the father married again, being united in the second 
marriage with Miss Ha V. Elsea, a daughter of John G. and Mary B. 
(Patton) Elsea. 

As a citizen Mr. Gordon stands in the front rank in Macon county 
and is favorably known and highly esteemed throughout the state. As 
a business man he is recognized everywhere as wise, i:)rogressive and 
strictly upright. And as a potency working for the advancement and 
development of the county and state of his residence, he is regarded 
as one of the most effective agencies for good in this part of the com- 
monwealth, wise in covmsel, energetic and effective in action, valuable 
both in what he achieves himself and in the forces he stimulates to 
exertion and judiciously directs to good results in others. 

V WILLIAM MacRAE. 

This prominent merchant and highly esteemed citizen of ^iacon 
county is now verging close upon tliree score years of age, and neces- 
sarily moving toward the evening of life. But his day has been full 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 517 

of opportunity and the results of his efforts sliow that he lias been 
alive to that fact and has liad ample ability and energy to make the 
most of its heat and burden, which he has faithfully and cheerfuUy 
borne, to the end that he might acquire substance for himself and 
those dependent upon him, and at the same time contribute the force of 
a fruitful influence and productive capacity to the advancement and 
improvement of the community of his home and the enduring welfare 
of its people. 

Mr. MacRae was boi-u in 1840, near Hannibal in this state. His 
parents were Joel and Agnes (Payne) MacRae, the former of Ken- 
tucky and the latter of Virginia nativity and ancestry. The father 
came to Missouri at an early age and passed the whole of his mature 
life in this state engaged in farming. He was wise in his day and 
generation and made all his efforts and opportunities count to his 
advantage in the battle of life, winning material consequence and high 
esteem from the people among whom he lived and labored. Three 
children were born in the household, of whom only two are living, 
"William L. and his sister Sarah, who is the wife of Robert Kerrick, 
of Hannibal. 

The parents have answered the final call, the father and mother 
having died. Their remains were laid peacefully to rest amid the 
scenes hallowed by their long and useful lives, and their names are 
warmly cherished by a large circle of admiring friends and acquaint- 
ances who knew their worth and the record of their upright and serv- 
iceable daily walk and conversation among this people. They rest 
from their labors and their good works live after them, multiplying in 
benefits to those they left behind. 

Their son, William L., passed fi-om childhood to manhood at Col- 
lege Mound, where he is now living, and obtained his education in the 
great "university of the people," the public schools, and McGee Col- 
lege, of College Mound, Macon county. As a young man, with the 
enthusiasm and aspirations of youth stirring within him, and looking 
out over the expansive world, with its wealth of alluring prospects and 
boundless store of opportunities, all golden in the rosy light of his 
dreams, life on the farm seemed far too tamo to him, and he longed 
for adventure in the broad field of more stirring endeavor. As a 
means to the end he sought, and also as a discipline in self-culture, 
whether he was aware of it or not, he taught school for a period of 
three years. He then worked for a time in a tol)acco factory in Han- 
nibal, and afterward clerked for about three years in the postoffice in 



518 HISTOKY OF ilACOX COUNTY 

that city. FolloAviug this experience he jiassed a profitable year as a 
clerk and salesman in a general store. 

By this time he felt capable of undertaking a mercantile enterprise 
on liis own account, and as he had been frugal with his earnings, he 
had some capital for the venture. He therefore began his mercantile 
career at Hannibal in 1867, and remained there three years engaged 
in merchandising. In 1870 he moved his enterprise to College Mound, 
and there he has ever since been conducting it with increasing suc- 
cess and an active trade that has expanded year by year in volmne and 
value. He is now in the first rank of business men in the township, 
and is universally respected as a good and useful citizen throughout 
the county. 

Mr. MacEae was married in 1870 to Mary C. Dameron, of College 
Mound. They have had seven children, but only four of them are 
living. These are: W. A., a resident of Macon; Robert H., who lives 
at Ardmore ; Lula, the wife of W. D. Powell, of Excello ; and Edward, 
who also lives at College Mound. All are living upright and useful 
lives, and exemplifying, in the faithful performance of their daily 
duties, the lessons that were given them and the example they found so 
impressive at the family hearthstone. 

Mr. MacEae is a Democrat in political faith and ardently devoted 
to the basic principles of his party. He is at all times active in its 
service, giving its cause the best work he is capable of, both as an 
adviser in council and as a soldier in the field. He served as township 
treasurer three j^ears and city councilman two years, the offices coming 
to him without solicitation on his part, for he is not enamored of 
official station and has plenty to occupy his mind and engage his facul- 
ties in his business and other jirivate affairs. But he is devoted to 
the advancement and improvement of his locality and always willing 
to undergo any exertion and make any sacrifice of his personal prefer- 
ences, within reasonable limits, for the general welfare and the good 
of the public. He has long been a member of the Masonic order and 
found great enjoyment in its social features and profit in its beautiful 
symbolism and elevated moral teachings. All other good agencies in 
his community find in him a cordial friend and ready and liberal helper. 
Neither sectarian nor other considerations of a narrowing tendency 
stay his hand when he is convinced the undertaking is worthy and 
will result in advantage to the people, or any appreciable pai't of 
them. The township has made extensive progress during his residence 
in it, and he has borne his full share of the labor and cost incident to 
bringing this about. None of its citizens is more worthy of high 



HISTOEY OF :MAC0N COUNTY 519 

esteem than "be, and none has it more universally among all classes 
of the people. 

V GEOEGE ^\. BUTLER. 

Coming into being on the border land between the contending 
sections just prior to the Civil war in this country, George W. Butler, 
of Excello, was literally born in the midst of alarms, and his child- 
hood was darkened by the storm clouds of the momentous struggle, 
which culminated for him and the other members of his father's house- 
hold in one of the terrible tragedies which made the location of his 
home a veritable land of sorrow toward the close of the conflict. He 
was orphaned at the age of six years by the violent death of his father, 
who was shot on October 14, 1864, by the Knox and Putnam county 
militia. This cruel injustice and the fatal persecution of his father 
did not sour the boy's disposition, but it intensified his determination 
to win consequence and standing for himself, and by his own life he 
has shown the world around him that the family is loyal to the country, 
according to its views and the light it has, and is worthy of esteem for 
high-minded, patriotic and progressive American citizenship. 

Mr. Butler was born on May 21, 1858, in Randolph county, Mis- 
souri, and is a son of John T. and Susan E. (Darby) Butler, the former 
a native of Macon county, this state, and the latter of Kentucky ances- 
try. The father's people came to Missouri from Virginia. He was 
an industrious and prosperous farmer, with an earnest desire to 
advance his own fortunes and an abiding interest in the welfare and 
development of the county and state in which his lot had been cast. 
He was married in 1857, his wife being a daughter of John S. and 
Lucella (Crutcher) Darby, who were descended from pioneers in Ken- 
tuclcy and themselves became pioneers in Missouri. Johu T. Butler's 
offspring numbered five, four of whom are living: George W., of 
Excello; James M., also a resident of Excello; Nannie E. and Lillie 
J., the last named being the wife of L. G. King, a respected citizen of 
the state of New Mexico. 

The father was an ardent State Rights Democrat and made no 
secret of his views. He lived in troublous times, and if he had been 
less honest, less fearless and less determined to stand upon his right 
to freedom of speech, he might be living yet. But his convictions were 
strong, his courage was high and his freedom he regarded as an inalien- 
able and priceless possession. He therefore gave utterance to his 
thoughts without regard to consequences, and as a result fell a victim 
to the intolerance of the war spirit that was rampant and relentless on 



520 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

the border at the time. After his death his stricken widow removed 
her young family to her former home in Randolph county. She is 
Jiving yet and has her home with her son, George W., on her farm 
near Excello. 

The son grew to manhood in Randolph and Macon counties and 
obtained his education in the public schools. After leaving school he 
worked variously at farming and the carpenter trade for a few years, 
and then settled down for life as a farmer. He has prospered in all 
his undertakings and grown strong in the esteem and good will of all 
the people of the township, in whose behalf a great part of his energy 
has been exjiended with excellent results. He inherited the political 
faith of his father, and in this he has since been confirmed by his own 
study, observation and reflection. He is a wheelhorse in the Demo- 
cratic cause on all occasions, and his wisdom as an adviser and courage 
and resourcefulness as a worker have given him high rank in the 
councils of his party. He has been chairman of the township Demo- 
cratic committee, served on the school board nine years, and is now a 
justice of the peace, an office to which he was elected in 1898, and 
which he has held continuous)}^ since that time. He has also been 
active and prominent in the fraternal life of the community for many 
years. He holds membership in the Masonic order and its adjunct, 
the Order of the Eastern Star, the Modern Woodmen of America and 
the Court of Honor, and he gives a due proportion of his time and 
energy to the service of each of these orders, in all of which his mem- 
bership is highly valued. He is also secretary and one of the directors 
of the Jacksonville Fair Association. In religious affiliation he is con- 
nected with the Baptist church. He is deeply interested in the success 
of the church organization and an able and devoted assistant in all 
branches of church work. 

On January 20, 1889, he was united in marriage with Miss Isadora 
Brock, a daughter of C. K. and ]\Iary C. (McCanne) Brock, residents 
of Randolph county in this state. They have four children, Iva 
Zenella, Estelle May, Lucy Irene and Auda Marie. Their father has 
redeemed the vows of his boyhood and, by steady ap])lication to his 
business and fine capability for conducting it wisely and skillfully, has 
made a pronounced success of his career, securing a competency for 
himself and his family and aiding materially in jiromoting the enduring 
welfare and substantial progress of his locality. He is universally 
recognized as one of the leading citizens of the county, and worthy of 
all respect, both on account of his acquisitions, because they are the 
products of his industry and ability, and on account of liis iniblic serv- 




HUGH P. GILBREATH 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 521 

ices and the stimulatiug example he has given to otliers in this line 
of general utility, for he has been helpful to everj' iniblic interest not 
only in what he has done himself, but also in the forces he has put and 
kept in action among the people generally by his influence and deter- 
mined efforts for the general good and the comfort and convenience of 
the whole community. 

HUGH P. GILBREATH. 

Industrious, enterprising and knowing, with considerable natural 
ability to start with and powers of assimilation, which have enabled 
him to take in and profit by the lessons of experience and practical 
training in his business, Hugh P. Gilbreath, of La Plata township, in 
this county, has won his success by his own efforts and achieved by 
sheer merit and fidelity the high rank he holds as a farmer and stock 
man in this part of the state, and the universal esteem bestowed upon 
him as a citizen. The start his father gave him in the struggle for 
advancement only planted him fii-mly on his feet and gave him a good 
point of view. Thereafter, all his jirogress and achievement were to be 
his own acquisitions, and he has not, by any means, or in any degree, 
disappointed the expectations his earlier life had awakened. 

Mr. Gilbreath was born on the farm which is now his home on 
November 19, 1852, and has passed the whole of his life on it to this 
time (1910.) His jiaternal grandfather, who was also named Hugh, 
was born and reared in North Carolina, and became a resident of what 
it now the state of Missouri, at an early period of its history, while it 
was still almost a virgin wilderness, and all the forms of life within 
its borders were those of barbarism, except here and there, where 
the oncoming host of civilization had established its outposts and begun 
to plan the reduction of the region to the useful purposes of cultivated 
and productive existence. Here he located and took his place in the 
ranks of the civilizing force, and here, in 182.3, his son, James C. Gil- 
breath, was born, the family living at the time in Cooper county. The 
latter remained in that coimty until 1844, then, following the example 
of his father, he struck out into the wilderness, or near wilderness, 
for himself, and, coining to Macon county, began to take part in the work 
of its development and improvement. 

He located in La Plata township on eighty acres of land, which 
his father gave him as a start in life, and with that as a base of opera- 
tions he conducted a flourishing and ])rofital)le industry in general 
farming and raising stock until his death, which occurred on October 
28, 1864. At that time he owned and cultivated 470 acres of hiiid, and 



522 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

his rank in the live-stock trade was high and widely acknowledged. 
In politics he was a firm and faithful Democrat, taking great interest 
and a leading part in the campaigns of his party and doing all in his 
power to bring success to its cause. Fraternally he belonged to the 
Masonic fraternity and was one of the most energetic and helpful mem- 
bers of his lodge in the order. In religious connection he was allied 
with the Cumberland Presbyteiian church and served many years as an 
elder in the congregation in which he worshiped. On March 5, 1845, 
he was married to ]\Iiss Frances Burrus of Cooper County, ^lissouri. 
They had seven children, five of whom are living: Thom.as F., William 
J., Hugh P., Sarah F., the wife of J. A. Ayers, and Laura A., the wife 
of J. E. Dodson, all residents of Macon county and highly esteemed 
among its people. 

Hugh P. Gilbreath received a common school education in what 
is known as White School in La Plata, and, after leaving school, 
remained on the home place, assisting in its labors and helping the 
familj" for a number of years. He then determined to make that place 
his permanent home and in 1881 bought 240 acres of it to farm on his 
own account. Three years later he purchased the other eighty acres. 
He has, therefore, lived on this place all the years of his life, from his 
birth to the present time. He found it well improved and highly pro- 
ductive when he became possessed of it, but he has carried both improve- 
ments and productiveness far beyond what they were when he took 
charge of the place. He has been very successful in all his undertak- 
ings, making progress steadily and holding on with tenacity to every 
foot of ground he has gained in his advance, both in material acqui- 
sitions and in prominence and influence among the people of his town- 
shi]3 and county. 

To the welfare and progress of the region in which he lives Mr. 
Gilbreath has given as close and careful attention as he has to his 
own affairs. He has been constant in his efforts to build up and improve 
his township and county, but has used good judgment and broad intel- 
ligence in his efforts, ardently supporting all worthy undertakings for 
the purpose and as firmly opposing those which have not seemed to him 
judicious or wholesome. He has served as district road commissioner 
and in many other ways has been of benefit to this part of the state in 
the matter of public improvements. He is a stockholder in the Bank 
of La Plata, and, in helping to advance its interests, has been of service 
in promoting those of the tei"ritory throughout which its ])atroiis are 
located. 

Mr. Gilbreath 's political allegiance is given to the Democratic 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 533 

party and he is one of its most reliable and serviceable members in 
this locality. Fraternally he is a Knight of Pythias and a Knight 
of the Maccabees, and in religion he and his wife are zealous working 
members of the Presbyterian church, in which he has served as one 
of the deacons of his congregation. On February 17, 1881, he was 
united in marriage with Miss Nora L. Dodson, a daughter of George 
R. and Louise (Dameron) Dodson, prominent citizens of Macon county, 
this state, until their deaths. In the Gilbreath household two children 
have been born, but only one is living, Lura F., the wife of AVilliam 
0. Daniel, of Clarence, Missouri. She, like her parents, is looked upon 
as among the most estimable and worthy residents of the community 
in which she lives. 

JOHN J. CEYSTA. 

Of sturdy Scotch ancestry on his father's side, John J. Crysta, 
of Macon, has shown in his career in this county that he possesses 
many of the sterling and resourceful characteristics of that alert and 
hardy race, and that in the undeveloped state of this part of the coun- 
try Avhen he began the battle of life he found a suitable tield for their 
employment. Using them to the best advantage for himself and those 
around him, he has won a substantial estate of his own and helped in, 
the most material way to build up and improve the commimitj^ in which 
he has passed the whole of his life up to the present time. 

Mr. Crysta was born on May 15, 1853, in the house in which he 
now lives at Excello. His parents were Richard Stuart and ^Martha J. 
(Powell) Crysta, and he was the fourth of their thirteen children in 
the order of birth. The father was born in AYayne county, Kentucky, 
in 1815, and came to Missouri in 18.37. He located in Macon county. 
Narrows township, and then and there began his long and successful 
career as a farmer and live stock breeder. The mother was a native 
of Caswell county. North Carolina, and belonged to a family that 
settled in that state in early colonial times. They had thirteen chil- 
dren and all of them grew to maturity, though but five are living now. 
They are: James W., a resident of Winslow, Arizona; John J., of 
Macon; Peter R., of Bloomington, Illinois; Emmet P., who lives in 
New Mexico ; and Willie, the wife of B. F. Stampei', of Alacon. 

In his early manhood the father was a Whig in politics, and on 
the demise of the AVliig party he became a Democrat. To the end of 
his days he took great interest in political affairs and was a hard 
worker for the success of his party, although he would never consent 
to accept any office whatever for himself. As a commnuicaiit of the 



524 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Baptist church for many years he became very active in church work 
in his early manhood and continued his zeal and industry in this 
respect to tlie close of his life. He died in 1878 at Macon, and there 
also his widow departed this life, passing away in March, 188G. Their 
lives were upright and useful and their names are revered in all parts 
of the township in which they so long lived and labored. The father 
was prominent in the public affairs of the county. He was a member 
of its first grand jury, and in many other ways aided in getting it well 
started on its way to general progress and high development. 

John J. Crysta was reared on the family homestead in Narrows 
township and obtained his education in the district schools near his 
home. In his boyhood this part of the country had not passed far 
from its frontier stage and all the people in the country were kept 
busy in the effort to smooth this portion of "the New World's rough 
face" and lay the foundation for the comeliness it now exhibits and 
the greater beauty and development and power to which it is advanc- 
ing. The work was arduous and required the help of every hand that 
could hold a plow or wield a hoe. Mr. Crysta 's educational advan- 
tages were therefore very limited in extent and character, and he was 
obliged to rely on the manifestations of nature all around him and the 
teachings of experience for his instruction. These spoke to him in 
voices of potency, and by their aid and his own judicious private 
reading he became a well-informed, alert, ready and resourceful man. 
He selected farming as the pursuit of his life, and he has never been 
tempted successfully to veer from his first choice. He saw great possi- 
bilities in improving and cultivating the land, and to realize those 
possibilities became his leading desire, and the effort to reach the end 
he sought his chief occupation. He began practically with nothing. 
He now owns and farms more than 200 acres of excellent land, has an 
attractive, convenient and valuable collection of farm buildings and 
machinery, and carries on an extensive enterprise in raising superior 
strains of live stock. His acquisitions are all the result of his own 
industry, frugality and fine business capacity. He has studied his 
various de])artments of the farming industry, and has made every 
force a])piied to them tell to his advantage and sulistantial progress. 

Throughout his residence in the township lie has steadfastly 
refused to accept a political office of any kind, or allow the use of his 
name as a candidate, although he is an ardent Democrat and a zealous 
and effective worker for the good of his party. But he has not been 
indifferent to public affairs, either local or general, and has given 
liis aid freely and extensively to all projects for the improvement of 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 525 

the townsbip and county which have commended themselves to his 
judgment. His religious allegiance is given to the Methodist Epis- 
copal church, of which he has long been a member, and his fraternal 
affiliation is with the order of Modern Woodmen of America. In 1883 
he married with Miss Maria Stevens, who was born and reared in 
Macon county and is a daughter of Eobert and Mary A. (Hoffman) 
Stevens. Six children have blessed their union and sanctified their 
family altar. Of the six, five are living: Lindlay C, Eobert Stuart, 
Hallie F., Alpha E. and Harry. 

Mr. Crysta is still in the prime of life, and all his faculties are in 
full vigor and activity. He belongs to the class of men who never halt 
in the way they mark out for themselves, and never dally on the high- 
way that leads to the goal they desire to reach. His success has been 
considerable, but it has not satisfied his appetite. Eather has it only 
whetted that for greater conquests. He has seen the country around 
him reduced to systematic cultivation and grow rich in all the products 
of civilized life, but he desires to see it still more elevated, with its 
material, intellectual and moral forces ex^janded in magnitude, aug- 
mented in power and intensified in purpose, and he is eager to do his 
part toward raising it to that higher elevation. There are many years 
of usefulness apparently before him, and that he will employ them for 
the good of the township and county, as well as for his own advance- 
ment, has abundant proof in his past record and present iDublic spirit. 
In all his endeavors he will have the ready and etfective aid of his 
friends, his neighbors and the people in general. For he is essentially 
a representative man and wields great influence for good. 

PHILIP E. SMITH. 

Born, reared, educated and successful in the community in M-hich 
he now has his home, highly respected by all the people of the town- 
ship, among whom the whole of his life so far has been i)asst'd, owning 
and farming 540 acres of valuable land which he has brought to a state 
of great improvement and advanced productiveness, Philip E. Smith, 
of Excello, has an estate which, in all the ordinary contingencies of 
life, i^laces him above the reach of adverse fortune and indicates a 
record of many years of arduous labor, faithful performance of duty 
and wise and skillful management. 

Mr. Smith's life began at Excello on January 9, 1847. He is the 
son of Captain William C. and Elizabeth (Eowland) Smith, the former 
born in Clark county, Kentucky, on ^fay 4, 1817, and the latter a native 
of Missouri. The father came to Missouri in 1838 and located in 



52G HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Narrows township, this county. He fanned industriouslj' and ijrofit- 
ably until 1878, then during the next ten years manufactured wagons 
extensively. At the end of the latter period he retired from active 
pursuits and lived in the comfortable enjoyment of his acquisitions 
and the general esteem in which he was held until his death, on March 
17, 1909. His wife died on September 21, 1902. They were married 
iu IStItI:. Four children blessed their union and brightened their home. 
Three of them are living: John W., of Macon; Philip E., of Excello; 
and Jay Douglas, of Macon. The father was a stockholder in the State 
Exchange Bank. 

Philip E. Smith grew to manliood at Excello and obtained his edu- 
cation in the jjublic schools of that village. From the time of his 
leaving school he has been actively engaged in farming, and has made 
a pronounced success of his work. He has followed general farming, 
giving attention to every branch of the business suited to this climate, 
and iu addition raising shorthorn cattle, which he has been doing 
extensively for more than twenty years. In this department of his 
business he is as careful as possible, making every elfort and taking 
every precaution to secure the best results and keep up the standard 
of his herd, which is deservedly very high. He cares for his cattle 
with the intelligence gleaned from close observation and extensive 
reading and reflection. On all subjects connected with breeding and 
caring for live stock he is an acknowledged authority, and as hi? judg- 
ment is known to be based on extensive knowledge and intelligent 
deductions, his advice is widely sought and freely given. His zeal 
and enterprise in the matter have done a great deal to raise the stand- 
ard of cattle in the county and inspire the farmers around him to 
efforts for still better and more profitable results. 

In politics Mr. Smith has always been a Democrat, and an active, 
and serviceable one at all times. AYise in counsel and sedulous and 
effective in work, he is a strong man in his party and wields consider- 
able influence in the management of its affairs. He has served the 
people well in ofBcial capacities, although he does not care for political 
oflice. But they know his ability and integrity, and have forced him 
into the party harness. He has been deputy county collector and 
served two years as township collector. He is a member of the Masonic 
order and of the Christian church. In each his membership is service- 
able to a high degree and appreciated at its full value. 

Mr. Smith has been married three times, and twice has death 
invaded his home and taken away the ]iartner of his domestic life. 
His first marriage occurred on January 3, 1870, when he was united 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 527 

with Miss Amanda Walker. Of their two children, only AVilbur M., 
a citizen of Texas, is living. The iirst ^Irs. Smith died in 1879, and 
in 1S81 Mr. Smith was married to ]\Iiss Effie Powell, a native of Excello. 
This marriage also resulted in two children, both of whom are living. 
They are Hugh L., a resident of San Francisco, and Lena, who is living 
at home. Their mother died in 1898. Mr. Smith's third wife, whom 
he married in 1900 and who still abides with him, was ]\Irs. Cora E. 
Jones, of Ten Mile township. 

For more than three score years this successful and representa- 
tive farmer has lived among the people of Narrows towusliip, and 
now there is not one that does not do him honor. His citizenship 
dignifies and adorns the township, his example has been potential for 
good to its people, his services have left their mark on its progress 
in quickening improvements and stimulating development, and all his 
undertakings have ministered to the general welfare in ways that are 
valuable and enduring. If a community is to be judged by its leading 
citizens, the residents of this section might well and safely rest on 
Philip E. Smith as the type and representative of their own standing 
and tendencies, and cite his record as an indication of their spirit, 
their aims and their achievements. For he embodies all that is best 
in their citizenship and is the author and developer of much of it. 
He has built up his own estate substantially and extensively, but at 
the same time he has been of great assistance in making the most of 
the community's resources and raising it to its present high standard 
of progressiveness and enterprise, and its real wealth of material, 
intellectual and moral power. 

JOHN STEVENS CROMWELL. 

Choosing at the dawn of his manhood an occupation for life and 
resolutely adhering to it in spite of all temptations to do otherwise; 
pushing his industry with all his powers, and turning a deaf ear to all 
the blandislmients of persuasion, all the rosy prospects held out in dif- 
ferent lines, all music of every siren that has sought to divert him 
from his purpose, John S. Cromwell, of Excello, Narrows township, 
this county, has made a great success of his imdertaking and is now 
ranked among the most substantial, enterjirising and representative 
farmers and citizens of Macon county. 

Mr. Cromwell came into the world in 1841, in L'nion county, Ken- 
tucky. His parents, Joseph "W. and Martha (Finnic) Cromwell, were 
natives of \'irginia and Kentucky, respectively, and became residents 
of Missouri in 1856. They located in Randolph county, where the 



528 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

father was engaged in merchandising ; he sold his business and retired 
to a farm he had purchased, which he farmed until his death. This 
occurred on the farm in 1894, he having survi\'ed for thirty-six years 
his wife, who died in 1858. All of their nine children grew to maturity 
and four of them are still alive. These are : John Stevens ; Anna, the 
wife of Dr. Dobson, of Lakeland, Missouri; William Oliver; and Susan, 
the wife of John Croakiu. All are prosjierous and respected as upright 
and useful citizens. 

John Stevens Cromwell was but two years old when his mother 
died, and fifteen when the family moved to Missouri. In the public 
schools of this state he comjileted tlie education he had begun in those 
of Kentucky, and immediately after leaving school began farming 
with energy and a settled purpose to make that his life occupation and 
realize the utmost out of his opportunities. As has been noted above, 
he has adhered to his purpose and realized his desires. He has a 
large acreage of very valuable laud, and this he has brought to a high 
state of productiveness and greatly enriched with improvements which 
are substantial in structure, attractive in appearance, convenient in 
arrangement, complete in equipment and noteworthy in value. His 
wisdom and skill as a farmer and in the management of his affairs in 
general has made his name almost a sjmonym for progress and enter- 
prise in the township and given his career the importance of an oft- 
quoted example. He bears his prominence modestly, however, claim- 
ing no credit for anything but the faithful performance of his duty 
and an effort to make the most of his every resource and opportunity. 

In politics Mr. Cromwell has always been a Democrat, devoted to 
the principles of his party and effective in service to its cause on all 
occasions. His interest in the development and improvement of the 
township has been marked and fruitful in benefits to all the people. 
It is much to be a successful and a leading man in any commuuity, but 
it is more to be this and at the same time lielp to make the community 
successful and a leader also. This has been Mr. Cromwell's aim, 
while building his own fortunes, and his aid has been potent and his 
example stimulating in bringing about the desired result. His serv- 
ices to the township and county cannot lie measured alone by what he 
has done himself. A considerable part of the case is the result of 
the forces of enterprise he has awakened and set in motion in others 
by his influence and example. He has never sought office, but has 
served well as road supervisor during the last two years. He was 
married in 1863 to Miss Sarah Powell, a native of Excello. They have 
had three children. Two are living: Maud, the wife of F. R. Switzer, 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 529 

of Excello ; and Nellie, the wife of Dr. Hunt, of Callao. A sketch of 
Mr. Switzer will be found on another page of this volume. 

FREDERICK R. SWITZER. 

Born to a destiny of privation and toil in his childhood, youth aud 
early manhood, facing the dangers and undergoing the hardships of 
bitter and relentless war while he was yet but little more than a boy, 
taking ujj the battle of life for himself soon after he passed the stile 
in life's pathway which admitted him to man's estate, aud doing this 
far from home and friends, yet all the while making substantial prog- 
ress toward his desired condition of comfort and consequence among 
men, Frederick R. Switzer, of Excello, in Narrows township, furnishes 
in his career a fine example of what continued industry and thrift will 
do for a man in this country, and how even Fortune, with a manifest 
disijosition to buffet him, can be won to his support and made to 
minister to his plans. 

Mr. Switzer was born in this county oti April 11, 1844. At that 
time the whole of this part of the state was wild and unsettled; the 
population was sparse and the facilities for living comfortably were 
very meager, even for families well-to-do. His parents, Newton and 
Mary (Reid) Switzer, were natives of Virginia and scions of old fami- 
lies long established in that state. The father was born in 1808 and 
they were married in 1835. They came to Missouri and located in 
this county in 1840. Here they engaged in farming and the father 
operated extensively for that day in raising horses and mules. Twelve 
children were born to them, and of their full dozen all but one grew 
to maturity, although only six are now living. They are: Sarah, the 
wife of Beverly Daniel, of Oregon ; Frederick R., of Excello ; Emma, 
the wife of A. T. Levick, of Illinois; Virginia C, the wife of 11. T. 
Galbraith, of Denver, Colorado; Millard F., who lives at Jacksonville, 
Missouri; and John D., a resident of Houston, Texas. 

Politically the father was an ardent Democrat and always active 
in the service of his party. He showed great interest in the welfare 
and development of the township and devoted himself to its promotion 
with zeal and energy at all times. For many years he served the 
people well and faithfully as a justice of the peace, and for a long time 
also as a member of the school board. He died on February 17, 1887, 
aged nearly eighty years. His wife survived him more than twenty 
years, dying at Houston, Texas, in September, 1907. 

Frederick R. Switzer was reared at Woodville, this county, and 



530 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

educated at the district schools near his home. At the age of sixteen 
he enlisted in the Confederate army, becoming a member of a company 
commanded by Captain Guthrie. He was young in years, but he felt 
a call to duty in defense of the principles he believed in, and when he 
had once entered on the path of obedience to the call, he followed it to 
the bitter end, remaining in the service to the close of the war, follow- 
ing the flag of his choice in victory and defeat until it was finally furled 
forever at Appomattox. He took part in the battles of Lexington, 
Dog-wood, Carthage, Prairie Grove, Helena, Corinth, and many others 
of great or small degree. In many of these engagements death dealt 
with a free hand all around him, but he escaped unhurt. He was cap- 
tured at Helena and confined eighteen months. He bore, however, his 
full share of hardship, privation and toil in camp and on the march, as 
well as in the field, and was glad to bear it all in defense of what he 
conceived to be right, cheerfully offering ease, comfort, opportunity 
and even life itself on the altar of his faith, and in behalf of principle, 
as it appeared to him. 

In Jime, 1865, the war being over, he returned to Woodville and 
went to work on his father's farm. He remained at home about two 
years, then took up his residence in Colorado, where he engaged in 
raising live stock. His life in the Centennial state lasted sixteen years, 
and during it he was at times compelled to fight for his life with the 
wild men of the forest and plains, who were turbulent at all times and 
openly hostile and savage at many. In 1876 he took charge of the 
third herd of cattle that was ever driven in the Panhandle of Texas. 

He wearied of the Colorado life at length, and in 1883 again took 
up his residence at "Woodville in this county. Here he continued for 
five years the industry he had followed in the farther West, farming 
and raising stock with good results until 1888. In that year he moved 
into Narrows township, where he still lives, changing his location but 
not his line of effort. He is yet actively engaged in farming and 
I'earing live stock on a large scale and in a very progressive manner. 

In March, 1886, he was married to Miss Maud Cromwell, a native 
of Macon county and daughter of John and Sarah (Powell) Cromwell. 
They have had seven children, and of these six are living: John Glen, 
Chester Lee, Frank Kellock, William Lloyd, Blanche and Floyd. The 
father of this family has been very successful. He owns and farms 
390 acres of laud in this coimty and 220 in the state of Colorado. He 
is also a stockholder in the State Exchange Bank, and connected in a 
leading way with other institutions high in character and profitable in 



IIISTUHY OF MACOX COUNTY 531 

operation. All bis property shows the skillful management of a mas- 
ter, and all his undertakings work out as his force and ability compel 
them to. He is one of Macon county's most eminent and representative 
farmers, and one of its most influential citizens. 

^ CHARLES S. AYERS. 

A native of that great hive of multiform and all-conquering indus- 
try, Pennsylvania, where his parents were born and reared, and where 
their forefathers lived for generations, Charles S. Ayers, of Macon, 
has shown in his career in this state that he is a worthy son of the 
commonwealth of his nativity and a true representative of the genius 
of its people. Having lived in Pennsylvania until he reached the age 
of nine years, he had opportunity to absorb something of its spirit of 
enterprise, and the seed thus planted in him in his childhood has multi- 
plied and produced good fruit in all his subsequent years and efforts 
for his own advancement and that of those living around him and 
associating with him. 

His life began on November 25, 1876, and he is the son of Lewis J. 
and IMargaret (Cummins) Ayers, who were married in 1867 in the 
Keystone state, where the father was born in 1842. They came to 
Alissouri in 1885, and settled down to industrious and profitable farm- 
ing, the same pursuit they had followed in their former home. Their 
offspring number four: Jessie, the wife of A. H. Carnahan, of Leaven- 
Avorth, Washington; Jefferson, who is a resident of Trinidad, Colo- 
rado; Charles S., of Macon; and Ernest C, of Cimarron, Kansas. 
Politically the father was an ardent Democrat and a hard worker for 
the success of his party. During the Civil war he followed the lead of 
his native state in taking a stand in defense of the Union, and in 1863 
enlisted in the federal army as a member of Company C, Fifth New 
York Heavy Artillery, in which he served until the close of the san- 
guinary and memorable conflict. His service in the araiy was active 
and brought him face to face with death on luany a hard-fought field, 
but he escaped uninjured. After the war he was a prominent member 
of the Grand Army of the Re]niblic until his death, which occurred in 
Pennsylvania in September, 1897. For many years he was a devout 
and faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church. His widow 
still survives and has her home in Macon. 

Their son, Charles S., grew to manhood in Macon and was educated 
in its public schools. Their curriculum was all he had o))i)ortunity for 
in the way of schooling, for his services were needed at home to help 



533 HISTORY OF MACOX ( OUXTY 

in managing the farm. After the death of his father he took entire 
charge of the place, and he is still farming it with excellent results. 
He is a student of agriculture and a close observer and reasoner on the 
subject. To his work in cultivating his land and conducting the indus- 
tries allied with that, he applies intelligence and good judgment, and 
his farm shows the advantage of his methods. He is recognized as 
one of the best and most progressive farmers in the township, and his 
allied enterprise of stock-breeding has given him high rank in that 
department of productiveness also. 

His attention to public affairs, both local and general, has been 
continuous and fruitful of good to the township and county. Nothing 
of value in the way of a project for public imi^rovement or the good of 
the people ever appeals for his aid in vain, or goes without the utmost 
he can do to help it along. In political faith he is an unwavering 
Democrat, true to his part}- and effective in its service. In 1906 he 
was elected a justice of the peace, the first Democrat elected to that 
office in his locality in twenty years. He still fills the office and per- 
forms its duties with general acceptability to the community and great 
credit to himself. Fraternally he belongs to the order of Woodmen of 
the World, and in his camp of the order he is now serving his fifth 
teiTU as the presiding officer. In religious affiliation he is connected 
with the First Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a useful 
member, devoted to its articles of faith and zealous in all its beneficial 
efforts for the good of mankind. On June 3, 1903, he was married to 
Miss Anna Bannam, who was born and grew to maturity in this county, 
and is a daughter of George F. and Martha (Daily) Baunani, esteemed 
residents of Hudson township. Two children have blessed the union 
and brightened the home, George, who is five years old, and Margaret, 
who is three. 

For nearly a quarter of a century i\Ir. Ayers has lived in this 
county and all of the time in the same locality. He is therefore well 
known to the people around him, almost the whole of his life having 
been passed in their midst. The highest tribute to his worth and the 
correctness of his daily walk is the universal esteem in which he is 
held and the good will of all who know him. This is freely bestowed 
on him by friends and acquaintances everywhere, and by the general 
public. For his life has been upright and acceptable, and his services 
to the community have been elevated in tone, extensive in volume and 
considerable in value. He is a representative man in the township and 
one with whom the people are well pleased. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 533 

CHARLES OWEN AVEST, M. D. 

Approaching near to the age of forty years, which is held by many 
reasouers to be the beginning of the best period of a live man's life, 
and living in a community which is rich in the record and recollection 
of his parents and has memorialized the family name in one of its 
towns, Dr. Charles Owen West is particularly fortunate in his sur- 
roundings, his stage of life and the opportunities and promise they 
give him for the future. He is more blessed than in aught else in the 
fact that he measures up to his opportunities and worthily sustains 
the traditions and exemplifies the sterling traits of his parentage and 
more remote ancestry. 

Dr. West was born at Westville, in Chariton county, Missouri, on 
May 8, 1871. He is a son of Dr. W. S. and Mahulda Anne (Haigler) 
West, who were born and reared in Virginia and moved to Missouri in 
1839. They located in a country region and started the nucleus of a 
thriving settlement, which was named in honor of the father because 
of what he did to develop and improve it and the influence for good 
he exercised over its people. Among them he practiced medicine for 
a period of over thirty-eight years, until his death in 1885. He was 
married in his native state, in about 1856, to Miss Mahulda Anne 
Haigler, whose family, like his own, had lived in the Old Dominion for 
generations. They became the jjarents of nine children, six of whom 
are living: Silas W., a resident of Alameda, California; Elizabeth, the 
wife of Elisha Earl, of Blue Grass, Oklahoma; Jennie V., the wife of 
J. M. Wathem, of St. Charles, Missouri ; Catherine M., the wife of R. 
Rowland, of Kansas City; Jessie H., the wife of G. W. Howard, of 
Lexington, Missouri; and Dr. Charles Owen, of New Cambria, the 
immediate subject of this brief memoir. 

The father was frugal as well as industrious and careful in build- 
ing up his own estate while laboring wisely and arduously to improve 
that of the community in which his talents and acquisitions were 
employed. While he was a busy physician and earnestly interested in 
the public affairs of the whole country around him, he also owned and 
operated a large farm successfully, and became one of the leading 
citizens of this part of the state. In political faith he was an ardent 
Democrat of the old school, and at all times ready to do anything and 
dare anything that was right in the service of his party. He was the 
first postmaster of Westville, and in many other ways gave character 
and standing to the municipal bantling that had been baptized in his 



534 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

name. In 1885, at the ripe age of seventy-three years, he laid down 
his trust at the behest of the great Disposer, leaving to his children 
and friends the priceless heritage of a good name and the record of a 
life well spent and highly productive. 

His son, Dr. Charles 0. West, grew to manhood in the locality of 
his birth and began his academic training in the district schools near 
his home. He finished at the Salisbury high school, and then studied 
his profession at the Kansas City Medical College, from which he was 
graduated with the degree of M. D. on March 25, 1895. He at once 
started his practice, locating at Lingo, where he remained three years. 
At the end of that period he moved to Westville, and three years later 
to New Cambria. In that town he has ever since been established, 
building up a large practice and growing steadily in the esteem and 
good will of the people; ministering to their physical betteiment and 
all the while giving close and intelligent attention as well to their 
l^olitical, social and industrial welfare. He is one of the most 
influential and representative men in the township. 

Trained from his childhood in the tenets and principles of the old 
Democratic school, and confiiTued in his faith by his own reading, 
observation and reflection, the doctor has been a lifelong Democrat 
in politics, and while he has neither sought nor desired any of the 
honors or emoluments of public office, has at all times given his political 
views expression in earnest, intelligent and effective work for his party 
and its candidates. He has also long been connected with the fraternal 
life of the community in a leading way, being a member of the Masonic 
order, the Order of Odd Fellows and the Modem Woodmen of America, 
and taking an active part in the work of each of these fraternities. 
Professionally he is medical examiner for the Modern Woodmen of 
America, the Woodmen of the World, and the Equitable, New York, 
Travelers and Penn Mutual life insurance companies, and an active 
and zealous member of the North Missouri Medical Association. He 
was married on November 24, 1901, to Miss Daisy B. Bell, of West- 
ville, who gives the charm of her presence to their comfortable home 
and aids greatly in making it a center of attraction to their hosts of 
friends. 

JOHN G. HUGHES. 

It is a matter of satisfaction to the editors and publishers of this 
historical edition to be able to present within its pages reviews of the 
careers of many representative citizens and business men who are native 
sons of Macon county and who have here found ample scope for sue- 




JOHN G. HUGHES 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 535 

cessful effort along normal industrial and business lines. In this cate- 
gory Mr. Hughes eminently merits classification, as he is incumbent of 
the office of cashier of the State Bank of Bevier, which is his native 
place, and is otherwise prominent and influential as a business man 
of marked acimieu and versatility. lie has won success through his 
own efforts and has so guided his course as to retain at all times the 
inviolable confidence and esteem of the people of his native county. 

John Gilbert Hughes was born in Beviei", Macon county, Missouri, 
on the 3d of December, 1877, and is a son of Joseph R. aud Lenora S. 
(Davis) Hughes. His father was born at Pomeroy, Meigs county, 
Ohio, on the 28th of June, 1850, and was reared and educated in the 
state of Illinois, whither his parents removed when he was a child. He 
was still a youth at the time of his parents' removal from Illinois to 
Bevier, Missouri, and here he learned the trade of carpenter, to which 
he devoted his attention until the early seventies, when he engaged in 
the general merchandise business, in which he continued for a few 
years. Thereafter he resumed operations in the line of liis ft-ade, becom- 
ing one of the successful contractors and builders of Bevier, where he 
continued operations along this line until his death, on the 32th of 
February, 1882, at which time he was only thirty-two years of age. 
He was a staunch Republican in his political proclivities and was an 
active worker in the party cause. He had the distinction of serving as 
the first clerk of the village of Bevier, after its incorporation, and was 
a citizen who ever commanded the respect and high esteem of the com- 
munity aud was eminently worthy of the slight tribute which it is pos- 
sible to pay his memory in a sketch of the limitations necessarily pre- 
scribed for the one at hand. He was a member of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows and his religious faith was that of the Congre- 
gational church. On the 7th of September, 1875, was solemnized the 
marriage of Joseph R. Hughes to Miss Lenora S. Davis, who, like him- 
self, was born in the state of Ohio, and wlio is now the wife of Edward 
Elias, of Bevier, individually mentioned elsewhere in this volume. 
Joseph R. and Lenora S. Hughes became the parents of three children, 
of whom two are living — John G., subject of this sketch, and Ruth L. 

Jolin Gilliert TTnghes was aliout four years of age at tlie time of 
his father's deatli and he was reared to manhood in Bevier, to whose 
]5ublic schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline, which 
was sui)plemented by a course in the Spaulding Business College, in 
Kansas C'ity. In September, 1894, he became bookkeeix'r in tlio State 
Bank of Bevier, where he soon proved his ability and gained the implicit 



53G HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

confidence of the interested principals. In April, 1898, he was advanced 
to the position of assistant cashier, in "which he continued until May, 
1901, when he was chosen to fill the responsible ofiRce of cashier, 
of which he has since been incumbent. As a financier and execu- 
tive officer he has shown much initiative power and marked discrimina- 
tion, and it has been in large degree due to his well-directed policy 
that the State Bank has become one of the substantial and jjopular 
financial institutions of this section of the state. It controls a large 
business and in capitalistic reinforcement and administrative control 
leaves nothing to be desired in covering its field. ^h\ Hughes is now 
one of the stockholders and directors of the bank and gives to the 
same the major portion of his time and attention. In April, 1898, he 
became secretary of the Bevier Building & Loan Association and he 
gave effective service to this beneficent organization, retaining the office 
noted for a period of about five years. He is a valued member of 
the Missouri Bankers' Association, and during 1905-6 was secretary of 
Group 1, of this organization; in 1906-7 he was chairman of the same 
body, and he continued to be actively identified with the affairs of the 
association. Mr. Hughes is a member of the directorate of the New 
Cambria Land Company, which is incorporated under the laws of 
Missouri, with a capital stock of $10,000. He is liberal and progressive 
as a citizen and his influence is ever given in support of all enterprises 
and measures tending to advance the civic and material welfare of his 
home city and county. 

In politics Mr. Hughes gives an unfaltering allegiance to the Repub- 
lican party and, while he shows a loyal interest in its cause, he has inva- 
riably refused to permit the consideration of his name in connection 
with public office, save those of a purely local order. In April, 1899, he 
was appointed city clerk of Bevier, of which office he continued in tenure 
for two years, having been reappointed in 1900. In 1903 he filled out 
an unexpired term as city treasurer. He is affiliated with the ^lasouic 
fraternity, in which he is identified with the local lodge, and he is also 
identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias. Mrs. 
Hughes belongs to the First Ba])tist church of Bevier. 

On the 12th of June, 1907, Mr. Hughes was united in marriage to 
Miss Mary Emma Walker, who was born in Clinton county, Missouri, 
in which state she was reared and educated, being a daughter of Judge 
T. "\V. AValker, who is now a resident of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Mi-, 
and Mrs. Hughes have one child, Ruth Lindsay. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 537 

SAMUEL E. MORRIS. 

From the time when he was a boy of six years old, a period of 
forty-four years, Samuel R. Morris, of New Cambria, has been a resi- 
dent of this county, and during all of his mature life has been an active 
and fruitful contributor to the advancement of the county and the 
improvement of all its material, mental and moral agencies for the 
good of the people. Until live years ago he was an industrious and 
progressive farmer; then, believing he had earned a quieter and less 
active life, he sold his farm and took up his residence in the town of 
New Cambria, where he has since been living retired from all active 
pursuits. 

Mr. Morris is a native of Utica, New York, where he was born on 
June 12, 1859. His father, John Morris, was born and reared in AVales 
and came to the United States in 1840, when he was thirteen years of 
age. He found a home in Utica, New York, where he grew to man- 
hood and finished the education he had begun in his native land. He 
passed his youth on a farm, and when he attained his maturity he 
began farming on his own account, an occupation he adhered to until 
the end of his life. In April, 1865, he brought his family to Missouri 
and located at New Cambria. Here he continued farming and also 
conducted a cheese factory. 

In 1855 he was married to Miss Jane Evans, a native of North 
Wales and a daughter of John and Mary Evans. They became the 
parents of seven children, five of whom are living: Samuel R. ; Mar- 
garet, the wife of John Reese, of New Cambria; Mary, the wife of 
John Davis, also of New Camliria ; Catherine, the wife of Harry Row- 
land, who is a citizen of New Cambria ; Henry J., who also lives there 
and is the proprietor of "Shadyside," a well known Jersey farm. In 
])olitics the father was a staunch Republican. He died in 1901, and 
his widow in 1905. 

Their son, Samuel R., grew to manhood and was educated at New 
Cambria. He assisted his father on the farm while attending school, 
and when he reached man's estate began farming on his own account. 
He continued his operations in this line of productive effort until 1904, 
when he sold his farm and gave up all active business. That year he 
also went to Europe and visited all the places of leading interest in 
that part of the world. The tour was an extended one, and was then 
and still is a source of great pleasure and profit to him, giving him a 
clear view of foreign peoples in their own land, amid their customary 
surroundings and engaged in their usual vocations. He learned nnicli 



538 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

of their condition, customs and tendencies, and the economic views 
which animate and govern them. This gave him a clearer and better 
basis of comparison with affairs in his own country than he had ever 
had, and he returned home a truer and more loyal American citizen, 
a more devoted lover of his coimtry and a more determined promoter 
of its welfare than he had been before, if that were possible. 

In politics Mr. Morris has always been a Republican. He served 
two terms as township clerk and two as township assessor, and was 
district clerk for many years. He belongs to the First Congregational 
church, is one of its elders, and has been its clerk for fourteen years. 
He is also superintendent of the Sunday school and has been the leader 
of the church choir for a long time. In addition, he is a charter mem- 
ber of the American Bible Society and treasurer of the township Sun- 
day School Association. His zealous and untiring work in church rela- 
tions has covered a long period beginning with the dawn of his 
manhood and extending to the present time. 

It has been said in this review that Mr. jNIorris is living retired 
from all active pursuits, but the statement needs qualification. As has 
been shown, he is very active in church work, and he is also intimately 
connected with several financial and industrial institutions. He is a 
stockholder in the Merchants and Farmers Bank, the Live Stock 
Improvement Company, of New Cambria, and the Pioneer Gold Mining 
Company, being a director of the latter, and he gives the affairs of each 
a fair share of his attention. 

In 1890 he was married to Miss Jennie Evans, a daughter of David 
and Jane (Jones) Evans, all natives of Wales. He and his wife were 
the pai-ents of one child, which is deceased. In all the relations of life 
Mr. IMorris has proven himself to be a straightforward, upright and 
manly man. His life has been consistently clean and commendable, 
and by reason of it he has the esteem of all the peojile and is ranked 
among their best and most influential citizens. His industry has been 
great, but it has not been exerted solely in his own behalf. His efforts 
have been productive, and while they have been profitable to him, they 
have also multiplied in benefits to the people around him. He has 
turned his back upon no public duty and no proper claim of the com- 
munity on his time, energy or resources. Its good has been an object 
of the greatest moment to him, and he has wisely aided in advancing it 
by every means in his i)0wer, as he is still doing. His record furnishes 
a fine illustration of what is i)ossible to capacity, industry and frugality 
in this land of opportunities, and his examjile is well worthy of imita- 
tion by the young and the more mature, for it contains the elements of 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 539 

certain success — wise conduct, good judgment and steady perseverance 
in the right course, over all obstacles and against all insidious 
persuasions to quixotic or speculative diversions. 

JOHN WILLIAM AYEES. 

John William Ayers, the i)resent postmaster of Callao (1909). is a 
native of Macon coimty and has passed the whole of his life so far 
among its people, showing a deep and serviceable interest in their wel- 
fare and doing all in his power to promote it. He is recognized as one 
of the leading and most useful citizens of the town, and is held in the 
highest esteem by all classes of its residents. As a farmer in their 
vicinity and a merchant in their midst, he has dignified and adorned 
the walks of life he has followed, and as a man of affairs and progress- 
iveness he has contributed measurably to their comfort and benefit in 
many ways. 

Mr. Ayers was born on November 5, 1874, the son of Silvester D. 
and Nancy Frances (Gooding) Ayers, the father a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, where his life began in 1840, and the mother born and reared 
in this county. They were married in 1866 and have had ten children, 
eight of whom are living: Flora, the wife of John B. McDuffie, of 
Atlanta, this coimty; George J.; Walter E. ; John William, the subject 
of these paragraphs ; Clinton Lewis, a resident of Nebraska ; and Harry 
E., Edith and Joseph, who still reside under the shelter of the family 
rooftree. The father has been a member of the Eejniblican jiarty 
from the dawn of his manhood and always a zealous worker for its 
success and supremacy. He and his wife are members of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church and live near Atlanta. The father came to 
Missouri and became a farmer when he was twenty-three years old. 
He is still farming. 

Their son, John William, grew to manhood at Atlanta and obtained 
his education there, attending the public schoqls when he could be 
spared from work on his father's farm. After leaving school he 
passed a number of years assisting his father in the management of 
the farm. Then, in 1902, went to Bucklin, in Linn county, and for 
something over a year carried on a livery business of considerable 
extent and activity. His tendency was, however, to mercantile pur- 
suits, and in 1905 he found a satisfactory opportunity to gratify his 
desires in this respect. In that year he formed a partnership with 
N'ictor Grove, under the firm name of Grove & Ayers, for the yiurjiose 
of carrying on an enterprise in the hardware trade in Callao, and 
handling farming implements in connection with it. Two years later 



& 



540 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

tlie firm sold out the hardware branch of the business and it has since 
devoted its energies entirely to the implement trade, including all kinds 
of road vehicles for use and pleasure. The house has been very enter- 
Ijrising in this line of traffic, and has won a gratifying and well- 
deserved success, occupying now a leading position in the trade in this 
part of the state and operating very extensively, its patronage coming 
from a wide scope of territory in this and adjoining counties, and some 
from other states. 

Mr. Ayers has been an indefatigable worker in his business, pay- 
ing the full price in application and a study of requirements for the 
success he has achieved. But he has been more than a business man 
or merchant. He has taken an active part in public affairs, local and 
general, and has shown first rate capacity for participation in them to 
the advantage of the public. AVhile he trains with the Republican 
party in political matters, he is above all partisan considerations in 
local affairs and looks first in all cases to the substantial good of the 
conmiuuity. He aids his party in all respects to the full extent of his 
power where the interests are purely political, but he holds himself 
free to do the best he can for the people around him where only local 
interests are concerned. He served on the town board for three years, 
and in December, 1908, was appointed postmaster of Callao, a post 
of duty he is now filling with great satisfaction to the patrons of the 
office and pronounced credit to himself. 

In the fraternal and religious life of the community Mr. Ayers has 
taken considerable interest. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen of 
America in his fraternal relations, and the Methodist Episcopal church 
in his religious allegiance. Both organizations are enriched by his 
membership and each has the benefit of his judicious counsel and his 
zealous assistance in all of its undertakings of worth and moment. 
And he is also helpful to all other agencies for the advancement of 
the community and the benefit of its people, allowing no sectarian or 
other arbitrary considerations to interfere with his usefulness or with- 
hold his liand where he can aid good work. On April 1, 1896, he was 
joined in marriage with ]\riss Jessie F. Grove, a native of Macon county. 
They have one child, their son, Koscoe G., who is now twelve years old. 
The parents are among the progressive elements of the town, con- 
nected in holi)ful ways with every educational and moral agency at 
work in it, warmly welcomed and held in cordial regard in the best 
social circles, and numbering their friends and admirers among every 
class of its inhabitants. Closely in touch with all that is good and 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 541 

fruitful in the community, they are representative of it in the best 
sense of the term. 

V WILLIAM DEWITT ROBERTS. 

William Dewitt Roberts, of New Cambria, has the double distinc- 
tion of having built the first house in that progressive town and of now 
being its oldest and most venerated inhabitant. And he is looked upon 
by the people with the esteem and affection which naturally belong to 
him on account of these two facts in his record, biit also with that 
which springs from the knowledge of his long service to the community 
and his uniformly upright and commendable life among its people. 

i\Ir. Roberts was born in Wales on December 31, 1824. When lie 
was but five years old his parents, David AV. and Miriam (Williams) 
Roberts, emigrated to the United States and located in Oneida county, 
New York. A voyage across the Atlantic in this day of steam naviga- 
tion, floating iDalaces and electric speed, is a matter of little moment ; q 
but it was not so when the elder Roberts, with his household Gods ■ 
about him, his young wife and little family, turned their backs upon 
the scenes and associations amid which their forefathers had dwelt for 
generations, and embarked their hopes and all in a quest for a new 
home in a distant and unknown land. In their vision of hopefulness 
and youthful aspiration the land across the sea wore a winning smile, 
and the accounts which they had heard of its boundless opportunities, 
political freedom and equality for all before the law, gilded every 
prospect that might otherwise have been forbidding. It held out to 
them a warm and open hand to welcome them to better fortunes than 
their own country coiTld promise, and they rejoiced in the invitation. 
But the angry waters rolled between it and them, and before they could 
reach it they would have to undergo all the inconvenience and face all 
the hazards of a long voyage in a sailing vessel. If their hearts quailed 
before the outlook it is not to be wondered at. 

But their nerve was good, their fiber was firm, and high hope sus- 
tained them. They made the voyage and arrived in safety, even 
though the trip was trying and the time consumed in it long. On 
reaching their new home in the interior of New York, which was then 
in a very undeveloped condition, they engaged in farming, which they 
followed in that part of the country for fifteen years. By the end of 
that period the farther West had risen somewhat from its sleep of ages, 
and, with siren voice, was inducing thousands to enlist in its great 
army of industrial conquest and hasten to subdue its still untrodden 
wilds. In 1844, the twenty-first year of their married life, the hardy 



542 HISTORY OF ilACOX COUNTY 

emigrants who had braved the stormy ocean before, determined to 
brave the wilderness also, and moved to Wisconsin. There they rested 
and passed the remainder of their days, the father dying in 1854 and 
the mother about 1866. 

They had five children, two daughters and three sons. Of this 
number William D. is the only one now living. He grew to manhood 
and obtained his limited education in New York and AVisconsin. His 
opportunities for schooling were few and primitive. The exigency 
of the times and the necessities of the family in their frontier life made 
it requisite that every hand should be busy in supplying the primary 
wants of the household, and the son, even at an eai-ly age, was obliged 
to work on the farm whenever there was auy thing to do there. He did 
his part faithfully and found his reward in the vigor of his body 
and clearness and force of his mind when he reached man's estate. 
After attaining his maturity he continued to do farm work and also 
labored as a carpenter for many years in the state of AVisconsin. 

On June 5, 1864, he arrived in Missouri and located at what is 
now New Cambria, whei-e, as has been stated, he built the first house 
in what was destined to become a very progressive and desirable center 
of population, business euterjirise and social life. He again engaged 
in farming and continued his operations in this independent and profit- 
able occupation for thirty-five years, meanwhile seeing the country, 
grow in grace and productiveness around him and helping with might 
and main to aid the progress. 

Being a man of more than ordinary information and force of 
character, he rose early to prominence and influence in the community. 
In 1866 he was elected county judge for a term of four years. At the 
end of his term he retired to private life and dwelt in comfort and 
contentment on his farm for a ]ieriod of twelve years. In 1882 he was 
again called to the service of the people as a justice of the peace, an 
office to which he has been chosen at every election since that time 
He also served on the school board for a number of years. 

In 1854 JNIr. Roberts was married to Miss Catherine Williams, 
who was born and grew to womanhood in New York state. They be- 
came the parents of four children, three of whom are living and all 
residents of New Cambria. They are David A. ; Minnie, the wife of 
William Bundren; and Maggie C, the wife of David M. Jones. Ex- 
emplifying in their daily lives the domestic and social virtues inculcated 
by the teachings and example of their parents^ and serviceably inter- 
ested in the welfare of the town and its people, they are among tlie 
most respected and influential citizens of the townsliij). Their father, 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 543 

as has been said, is tlie oldest resident of New Cambria, and he is 
esteemed in full accordance with his years, his character and his long 
and faithful service to the community. There is none so high as not 
to do him reverence. 

NAT. L. GOODEICH. 

"Every man to his trade" is a trite and well-worn saying whose 
very triteness and general acceptance proves its force. The mind is 
best occupied when it linds pleasure in its duties and all its faculties 
are devoted to reaching the end it has in view. Nat. L. Goodrich 
found his proper place among the activities of life at an early age, and 
he has stuck to it and made a ])re-eniinent success of his career by 
doing so. He was manifestly fashioned by Nature for mercantile pur- 
suits, and she did not leave him in ignorance of the fact. He is now 
accounted one of the shrewdest and most enterprising merchants and 
business men in Macon county, the estimation in which he is held being 
based on what he has achieved in Ids line and the complete mastery of 
it which he exhibits on all occasions. 

Mr. Goodrich became a resident of Missouri in 18G7, when he was 
but two years old. He was born in Madison, Indiana, in 1865, the son 
of Eene S. and Martha (Woodlill) Goodrich, the former a native of 
Frankfort, Kentucky, and the latter of Pennsylvania. Before coming 
to Missouri the father was a manufacturer of tobacco in partnership 
with N. Hunt. In this state he followed farming with enterprise and 
profit, becoming one of the leading farmers of this county. Two chil- 
dren were born in the family, Nat. L. and his sister, Alice E., who is 
now the wife of T. W. McCully, of Callao. The father died in 1871. 
The mother is living and has her home Avith her daughter in Callao. 

Nat. L. Goodrich grew to manhood in Callao and obtained his edu- 
cation in its schools. In that town also he began the luminous and 
successful business career for which he is distinguished, and in that 
town he has worked out all its subsequent develoi^meuts. All that he 
is, he is Callao 's own, and its people esteem him accordingly. 

After leaving school he wasted no time in looking around to find 
a soft snap or easy opportunity. He took hold of the first thing that 
presented itself, and the manner in which he handled it proved that 
circumstances were his obedient ministrants and willing, when he made 
them so, to contribute to his advancement. He was able to turn even 
adversities to his advantage and make them wings and weapons for his 
progress. He studied telegraphy, and, having mastered the art, 
entered the employ of one of the railroad companies with a station in 



544 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

his home town. He worked as an operator for the AVabash and the 
Hannibal & St. Joseph roads until he quit the business, and this was 
not until he found something more congenial to his taste and better 
suited to his faculties. 

In 1888 he entered the employment of J. H. "Wright & Co., general 
merchants, and was soon afterward given charge of the clothing 
department of the establishment. He managed this until the business 
changed, when he formed a partnership for a similar enterprise with 
T. C. Wright and William Fillers, under the finn name of T. C. Wright 
& Co. One year and a half later Mr. Wright sold his interest in 
the business to Johnson Morrow, and the firm name was changed 
to Morrow, Fillers & Goodrich. On February 1, 1909, another change 
came through the retirement of Mr. Morrow from the firm, his partners 
having bought his interest. Since then the house has been doing 
business as Fillers & Goodrich. ■ Its trade is extensive and its name 
is high in mercantile circles. For it meets every requirement of the 
community in its department of public utility in the most complete 
and satisfactory manner, cultivating and develoiaing the taste of the 
peo2:)le while catering to their needs and desires. 

Mr. Goodrich was married in 1889 to Miss Lena Stolp, a native 
of this state and daughter of Orlando and Betsey (Graves) Stolp. 
They have two children, their twin sons, Rene S. and Eoland N. The 
father takes an active part in all that concerns the welfare of the com- 
munity, and is ever among the foremost of its people in jsromoting 
any good enterprise for its improvement and the benefit of its resi- 
dents. He studies how he may minister to their comfort and enjoy- 
ment in his business, and in every other way has their enduring good 
constantly in his mind. He is a stockholder in the Bank of Callao and 
connected with otlior institutions of value to the town. In fraternal 
life he is a Knight of Fythias and a Modern Woodman of America. 
In the fraternal societies to which he belongs he mingles freely and 
pleasantly with their members, looks with favor and serviceable aid on 
all their proper aspirations, and helps to give them character and 
standing in the community. In politics he is nominally a Kepublican, 
but he has never sought or been willing to accept a political office or 
been an active i>artisan, although he has never neglected a good citi- 
zen's duty in reference to i^ublic affairs, whether local, state or national 
in their bearing. He is a gentU'man of high character, strong person- 
ality, broad public spirit and commanding influence. In his dailj'^ walk 
he exemplifies at all times the attributes of the best American 
citizenship. 



HISTOllY OF MACOX COUNTY 545 

JOHN 0. JONES. 

This venerated pioneer and patriarcli of New Cambria, who has 
had his abiding place at that town for 44 years and is now one of the 
six inhabitants of it still living who were there when he became one, has 
passed by a number of years the limit of human life as fixed by the 
psalmist, but is still hale, hearty and vigorous, with all his faculties 
unimpaired. His own experience and that of his pioneer friends in the 
town have taught him that there is, even on this side of the grave a 
haven where the storms of life break not, where the water is unruffled, 
and where the air is all balm. That haven is a quiet, a serene, a peaceful 
old age, following a useful and well-spent youth and manhood, in which 
all the activities were employed in productive industry and the service 
of the coimnunity. 

Mr. Jones is a native of Northern Wales, where he was born in 
1831. His parents, Owen W. and Margaret (Evans) Jones, were also 
natives of Northern Wales, and were reared, educated and married 
in that portion of the British empire. The father was born in 1790 and 
the family came to the United States in 1831, their son John being 
an infant at the time and crossing the heaving Atlantic as such. Steam 
had not then depoetized commerce and ocean travel, and they made 
their passage to this country in a sailing vessel. The voyage was long 
and somewhat stormy, and the adventurous emigrants from the scenes 
and associations of their early years were pleased when it came to an 
end and they found themselves once more on solid ground, even though 
it was in a strange country and among an alien people. They landed 
in the city of New York and soon afterward took up their residence 
in Oneida county in the same state, where their family of eight chil- 
dren grew to maturity and obtained their education. All of the cliildren 
grew to good old ages but only three of them are now living. These 
are John 0. and his brothers Owen W. and Watkin C. The father 
died in 1866 and the mother in 1889. 

Their son John, after completing his schooling, became a car- 
penter and for many years worked at his trade and as a contractor, 
and builder. He came to Missouri in 1866, soon after the death of 
his father, and engaged in mercantile ]nirsuits. After passing three 
years in this line of endeavor, he sold his business to a younger brother 
and turned his attention to the real estate, loan and insurance business, 
which he has followed steadily ever since. For a period of twenty 
years he was land agent of the Hannibal & St. Joseph railroad, and he 
is still actively engaged in the laud business in addition to practicing 



•540 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

law and canying on his other operations. He is a very extensive 
land owner. 

He has taken broad views of life in all respects, and in none more 
than with reference to public affairs. AVhile nominally a Republican 
in politics, he is in fact thoroughly independent and always exercises 
his suffrage and political activity in behalf of the candidate he believes 
best qualified for the office sought and most likely to prove service- 
able to the people, making partisan considerations secondary to the 
good of the community, or the enduring welfare of the country. He 
has borne his own part well in the matter of official service to his fellow 
men, having held the office of justice of the peace for many years and 
that of notary public for more than forty. Long years he has been a 
member of the Masonic order and enjoyed the privilege of its social 
festivities and the benefit of its moral teachings. He has also been 
long connected with the Congregational church and zealous in all 
its benevolent undertakings. But he has not confined his benevolence 
to this sect. He has helped all worthy church and other enterprises with 
an earger desire for the advancement of every useful agency in the 
community and an untiring industry in helping to promote it. 

Mr. Jones was married in ]S()2 to Miss Clara Potter, a daughter of 
William and Melinda Potter or Oneida county. New York, wJiere 
she was born, educated and grew to maturity. They have four children : 
Jerome W., who is postmaster of Brookfield, Missouri; Fred P., who is 
engaged in farming near New Cambiia; Melinda, who is the wife of 
John E. Gilleland, postmaster of New Cambria, a sketch of whom will 
be foimd elsewhere in this volume; and Freda, who is living at home 
with her father. 

How interesting is the story of this man's life, even when told 
briefly as it is here. He is far from the land of his birth and the home 
of his ancestors for many generations. Their work passed into the 
history of that laud and his is a part of the history of this country, 
the particular section of it in which he has lived so many years having 
been largely developed and built up through the aid of his efforts and 
inspiring exami)le. Ilis infant eyes looked out over the broad Athuitic, 
on which an eventful jieriod of his life's morning was passed. His 
vision in the evening of his days is rewarded by a prospect of growth 
and imi)rovement in a new world whicli is, in considerable measure, iho 
work of his mind and hands. As a young man he saw New Cambria 
a straggling country hamlet in the midst of what was largely yet a 
wilderness of unopened possibilities. He looks upon it and tlie region 
around it now and sees them rich in material and intellectual develo])- 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 547 

nient, smiling witii plenty, strident in jji-ogress and pouring their 
streams of production out toward the mighty currents of industrial 
and commercial wealth with which this bountiful land is brightening 
and blessing the world. He is a connecting link between the Old World 
and the New, between our pioneer i)eriod and the radiant advancement 
We enjoy in this twentieth century dawn. 

JOHN E. GILLELAND. 

John E. GiHeland, who has been the postmaster of New Cambria 
continuously during the last twelve years, and has long been very 
active and serviceable in behalf of the political party to which he 
belongs, is not only a leading light in the counsels of that party, but 
one of the most prominent and intluential citizens of the townshij) in 
which he lives. He is also engaged in merchandising and holds a high 
rank in business circles. 

Mr. Gilleland was born in ^Nlacon county, in December, I8fi.1, being 
a native of Lingo township. He is a son of John \V. and Margaret 
(Jobson) Gilleland, who were born in St. Catherine's in the province 
of Ontario, Canada, the father's life having begun there in 1828. He 
came to Missouri and located in ]\racon county in 1850, and for a 
while after his arrival in this section followed farming with success. 
He then turned liis attention to merchandising at New Cambria. In 
1856 he was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Jobson. a daughter 
of Robert and Judith Jobson. Her father, Kobert Jobson, was one 
of the contractors for the construction of the Hannibal and St. Joseph 
railroad, and was connected with other works of improvement in this 
])ortion of the country, to which he moved with his family from St. 
Catherines, Ontario, Canada. 

Mr. and Mrs. John W. Gilleland had five children, all of whom are 
living. They are: Melta, the wife of Albert Mervin, of Brooklield, 
Missouri; John E., of New Cambria; Belle, the wife of Dr. J. P. Foster, 
of Lacrosse, Missouri ; Harvey, who is emjjloyed in the rairoad service 
in Colorado; and George, who is living at Taylorville, Arkansas. The 
mother died in 1876 and the father in 1908, both leaving as memorials 
to their children what is more precious than gold or lands, good names 
and the stimulus of excellent examples in upright living and the faithful 
performance of every duty. 

Their son, John E. Gilleland, was reared in his native place and 
began his education in the ])ublic schools near his home. He su])ple- 
mented and enlarged the instruction they gave him by a course at the 
Kii'ksville Normal school, and when he had completed that, at once 



348 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

entered upon the active duties of life as an optician and jeweler, con- 
ducting liis undertaking on a small scale and in a modest way. This 
was in 1882_ Some little time afterward he added to his lines of mer- 
chandise a complete stock of house furnishings, and he has ever since 
carried on an increasing business in all. 

Public affairs have deeply interested him from his boyhood, and 
ever since he reached man's estate he has taken an earnest and active 
part in political contests as a Eepublican. He early won confidence and 
esteem in his party, both among the leaders and the rank and file, and 
by steady jjrogress and efficient service has risen to a position of lead- 
ership himself. He is at i^resent chairman of the Eepublican county 
central committee and has a potential voice in the councils of the party, 
helping to direct all its movements and select all its canciidates. In 
1897 he was appointed ijostmaster of New Cambria, and so satisfactory 
have his services been in connection with the ofBce that he still liolds it 
and almost without opposition. He also served as a member of the 
town board for many years, and much of the improvement made in the 
town during his tenure of this office is attributable to his enterprise 
and progressiveness. His fraternal affiliation is with the Masonic order, 
in which he takes great interest. In 1891 he was married to Miss Lin- 
nie Jones, a native of New Cambria and a daughter of John 0. and 
Clara (Potter) Jones. They have one child, their son, Howard J., aged 
seven years, a very bright and promising boy. 

GEORGE H. HASTINGS. 

Inheriting a martial spirit from his ancestors, and impelled by 
strong loyalty to the Union and the best interests of his country in 
every way, George H. Hastings of Richland township, who is one of the 
most extensive and successful farmers of this part of Missouri, and 
whose live-stock industry is one of the most considerable in the state, 
enlisted in the Federal anny at the age of eighteen, and during the 
succeeding years of our terrible civil war fought valiantly to save from 
dismemberment the mighty nation, which his grandfather, Ambrose 
Hastings, aided in fnimding after he had hel]ied to wrest the earlier 
portion of its fair domain from the tyranny of Great Britain on the 
battlefields of the Revolution. 

Since the war, in which he took a part, he has been energetically 
and profitably engaged in the pursuits of peaceful industry, and. while 
his efifoi'ts have redounded greatly to his own advantage, they have ahso 
been of substantial and enduring benefit to the portion of the country in 
■which they have been expended. He has been of great and lasting 



HISTOHY OF MACOX COUNTY 549 

service in hei])iiiii: to build up and develop Macon county and all of 
Northeastern ^lissouri, adding by his operations to the wealth and 
connuercial importance of the section and fostering a zealous spirit 
of progress and improvement among its people by his energy, influence 
and example in all undertakings to make the most that has been pos- 
sible of its resources and elevate its intellectual and moral status. 

Mr. Hastings was born in Lee County, Illinois, on March 2, 1844, 
and is a son of Willard and Lorinda (Ives) Hastings, the foi-mer born 
and reared in Yermout and the latter in Massachusetts. The father's 
life began in Caledonia county, Vermont, in 1800, and his forefathers 
lived there from early colonial times. Early in his manhood New Eng- 
land became too cramped and narrow for his enterprising and adven- 
turous spirit, which longed and was fitted for amplitude of opportunity 
and effort, and he gave a willing ear to the persuasive voice of the 
great West, as it was then, which called for volunteers for its amiy 
of peaceful conquest and develo])ment, and promised rewards commen- 
surate with the magnitude and danger of the struggle necessary to win 
them. In 1835 he migrated to Lee county, Illinois, and devoted himself 
to the task of wresting from the virgin soil of the prairie the bounty it 
held in store for patient industry, frugality and endurance. He was 
successful in his day, winning a comiietency in worldly wealth for him- 
self and rising to jDrominence and influence as a citizen. He served 
as county surveyor in the early days and acceptably and ably filled 
many other county and townshij) offices. He also became a mail route 
contractor and, both personally and officially, became one of the leading 
men in that part of the state. 

In about 1830 he was united in marriage with Miss Lorinda Ives, 
and through this union became the father of seven children, only two 
of whom are now living, (jeorge H. and his older brother, Sidney, 
whose residence is in Osage, Iowa. The father died in August, 1873, 
and the mother in about 1848. He was a Republican from the start 
of the ]>arty and a great worker for its success ; and being a man of wide 
general information, he became a very able and forcible advocate of its 
principles. He was also a member of the Masonic fraternity for many 
years, and recognized as a man of force in the order. 

His son, George H. Hastings, grew to manhood in his native countj^ 
and obtained his education in part at an excellent seminary in Paw 
Paw there, and in part in high grade subscri])tion schools in Osage, 
Iowa. But his scholastic training was cut short by the Civil war. For, 
in 1862, he enlisted in the Federal army at Osage, Iowa, joining Com- 
pany II, Fourth Iowa Cavalry, under General "Wilson. The regiment 



r.50 HISTOlir OF MACON COUNTY 

was soon at the front as a part of the army of the Mississippi, and from 
then to the close of the momentous and sanguinary conflict Mr. Hastings 
was almost continually on the march or in the field. He took part in 
the battles of Gvmtown and Tupelo, Mississippi, Selma, Alabama, 
Montgomery and Columbus, Georgia, and many engagements of minor 
importance. He was mustered out of the service at Atlanta, Georgia, 
and discharged at Davenport, Iowa, in 1865. 

After leaving the army he dwelt for a short time at Osage, Iowa, 
then went to Earlville, Illinois, where he learned the blacksmith trade, 
remaining until 1870. In that year he came to Missouri and located in 
Macon county, where he has ever since resided. Since his arrival in 
this county he has been continuouslj' and very energetically and success- 
fully engaged in farming and raising live-stock, carrying on both lines 
of industry on a steadily enlarging scale and with steadily augmenting 
prosperity. His first purchase in this county was 209 acres of very 
promising land, and he now owns 1,900 acres, all of which he cultivates, 
but much of it is farmed by tenants under his sujiervision. He is one 
of the most extensive, as he is one of the most progressive, farmers in 
this part of the country, and his stock industry is commensurate with 
his farming operations. 

Great and exacting as are Mr. Hastings' business operations, they 
have not been allowed to wholly absorb his time and faculties. He has 
taken a very active and helpful part in the affairs of the township and 
county in which he lives, as has been stated, and has rendered both 
excellent service in public and private life. Under the township organi- 
zation he was township clerk and assessor, liut he has never cared for 
public office of any kind, and only consented to sei-\'e in those mentioned 
under the importunity of the people and for the good of the township. 
His political faith is firmly anchored to the Republican party, and he is 
an ardent believer in its princi]iles and an energetic and effective 
worker in their behalf. Fraternally he is allied witli the (Jraud Army 
of the Eepublic and the Masonic frateraity, and, while not a member of 
any church, he is liberal in his support of all. He donated the ground 
for the Universalist church in the vicinity of his homo and ])aid the 
whole cost of the church edifice tliat stands on it. 

Mr. Hastings lives in what is now called La Crosse and owns the 
whole town. He was married on November 19, 1871, to IMiss Phoebe J. 
Buck, a daughter of James and Catherine (Persons) Buck, natives of 
Ohio, but for many years esteemed residents of Macon county, Mis- 
souri. One child was born of this union, a son named George S.. wlio 
died on November 10, 1889. Mr. Hastings has secured consequence and 




GEORGE H. HASTINGS 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 551 

influeuce among the people by his extensive business anil large landed 
estate, but these are not the only or the main elements of his popularity, 
or sources of his strength and standing in the county. His worth and 
u|)rightuess as a man and his generous usefulness as a citizen have 
giveu him a hold on the regard and good will of the people, wholly inde- 
pendent of any considerations of business or property. He is an orna- 
ment to his community in every phase of its life and activity and a high 
credit to the citizenship of the state from all points of view. 

PETER N. DECREE. 

Among the ]irosperous and progressive farmers of ^facon county 
none is entitled to higher respect and more general esteem than Peter N. 
Decker, whose land is in section 56, Morrow township, and none stands 
better among all classes of the peoiiie. He has shown a spirit of enter- 
prise in improving his property and cultivating it according to the most 
elevated standards tliat has brought him warm commendation and has 
given a stimulus to others which has resulted in good to them. He 
has also been zealous in his efforts to improve the live-stock of the 
township by exhibiting in his own breeding operations the advantages 
of giving attention to good strains and desirable qualities in the prod- 
uct, and by this means has also I)een of sei'vice to the agrieultui-al 
interests of the township. 

Mr. Decker is a native of the state of New York, and was born at 
Nassau, Rensselaer county, that state, in 1859. He was reared and 
educated at Grand Rapids, Michigan. The experience he acquired in 
relation to the West while he was growing to manhood made him long 
for a more extended and si)ecitic knowledge of the section in some 
locality still redolent of its wildness and raciness, and when he was 
but twenty years old he came to Missouri and located at Callao, or in 
that neighborhood, where he at once began the career as a fai'mer that 
has given him substance of a material kind and consequence as a citizen. 
He has steadfastly adhered to the occujDation of his first choice, gen- 
eral farming and cattle-breeding, and has f(Uind contentment and ]>ros- 
perity in it. His parents were Nicholas and Margaret (Freidenburg) 
Decker, an account of whose lives appears on another jiage of this 
work. 

From his youth ^Ir. Decker has lieen a Rejiublican in national 
affairs and, while never desirous of anything in the way of office for 
himself, has always rendered efficient aid toward the success of his 
party and the trium]>h of its candidates. He has taken, a deej) and 
intelligent interest also in the fraternal life of the connnunily. holding 



552 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

active membership in the orders of Knights of Pythias, Modern "Wood- 
men of America and Eoyal Neighbors. In the doing of these several 
fraternities he finds profitable enjoyment and substantial benefit, and 
Ins membership in each is a source of streugtli and influence to it. He 
has served as county conmiitteeman of his political organization with 
advantage to the committee and credit to himself, his sei-vices in that 
capacity being valued by his associates and the rank and file of the 
])arty as well, for they have been wise in kind and considerable in 
volmne. 

Mr. Decker was married in 1888 to Miss Lena E. Eandall, a 
daughter of James and Martha (Pollard) Eandall, and a native of 
"Wisconsin, born in 1866. They have six children, their sons, Frank, 
Clinton and Charles, and their daughters, Edith, Ellen and Margerie. 
In all his operations he has been ably assisted by his wife, who has also 
brought social life and enjoyment to his home and aided in binding 
to him more firmly his hosts of friends. Their farm is well improved 
and furnished with modern conveniences. It is skillfully cultivated and 
has been brought to a high state of productiveness. And all that it is in 
attractiveness, comfort and value, it is the result of their own industry 
and wise management. 

HAELEY E. TEADEE. 

Beginning the struggle for advancement in a humble sphere of 
activity, and accepting with alacrity and a determination to make 
the most of it whatever fell to his lot, Harley E. Trader, of New Cam- 
bria, this coimty, has steadily worked his way u))ward to high stand- 
ing in the business communitj- and a well established position in the 
regard and good will of the people. AVhile he has not had any particu- 
larly burdensome experience in hardship and privation, he has always 
had to contend for his advancement, and has won it solely by bis own 
efforts and on his own merits. 

Mr. Trader was born on December 13, 1876, at Linneus. Linn 
county, Missouri, and is a son of Samuel P. and Anna (Kisiah) Trader, 
the former a native of Lijin county, born in 1848. He was in early life 
a well-to-do farmer, but is now living in Kansas City. He and his wife 
were the parents of three children, two of whom are living, Harley 
E. and his brother, Eobey 1). Their mother died in 1881, and in 1899 
the father took unto himself another wife, with whom he is still living. 

Harley E. Trader was reared by his grandfather and grandmother 
at Linneus, Missouri, and from early in life hel]H'd to make his own 
living. By so doing he learned self-reliance and gained resourcefulness 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 553 

in the nso of liis uatuial faculties, lie obtained liis edncation in the 
public school of Linneus, and after comjiletiug its course, studied teleg- 
raphy. After mastering the art he secured employment at various 
points on the Burlington railroad, continuing in the service for a period 
of seven years. 

In 1899 he turned his attention to the packing industry, accepting 
a position in the establishment of Swift & Co., of Chicago, located at 
St. Joseph. Missouri, where he worked under the direction of the super- 
intendent as assistant cashier and chief clerk for more than four years. 
In 1903 he was appointed cashier, and later became a director of the 
New Cambria State bank, a position he is still filling with great accept- 
ability to all the persons concerned in the management of the bank and 
all who have dealings with it. 

The affairs of this bank have greatly prospered under the manage- 
ment of Mr. Trader, and it now stands firmly anchored am^ug the strong 
and reliable liscal institutions of the state. It has not, however, taken 
up the whole of his time and attention. His mind is active and could 
never rest contented upon a single line of enterprise, and he has given 
considerable of its activity to advancing his fortunes in other direc- 
tions. He owns considerable farm land in Oklahoma and other prop- 
erty, and is treasurer and director of the New Cambria Fair Associa- 
tion. He is also an active member of the State and American Bank- 
ing Associations, and takes a zealous interest in their proceedings, 
occupying a rank of influence among their members and justifying 
the regard in which they hold him by valuable contributions to their 
deliberations and the discussions in which their views are expressed. 
He is a close and thoughtful student of financial matters, always bring- 
ing to their examination a mind alert and active and a determined 
purpose to learn the truth concerning them without regard to any 
previoiis opinions on the subject. The results of his studies are fre- 
c^uently published in contributions to fiscal and mercantile journals, 
and they often bring him higli praise as a master of the subject, com- 
prehensive in his knowledge and clear and strong in the statement of 
it. One essay in particular on banking, his favorite theme, secured 
him national recognition. This was entitled "A Plan for a Sound, 
Uniform and Elastic Currency in the United States," and was highly 
commended by letters from United States Senators Stone, of ^Missouri, 
Burton, of Ohio, and Kepresentative Burgess, of Texas, and other mem- 
bers of Congi'ess, and other prominent men and ))ublished in the Sen- 
ate proceedings of the Congressional Kecord on July 8, 1909. 

In ])olitical relations Mr. Trader is a Rei)ublican, hut he is not a 



55-1 HISTORY (^F .MACOX COUNTY 

hide-bound partisan. While averse to official life, he at one time served 
three years as a member of the town board of trustees. His progres- 
siveness is sliown by the fact that lie was the first citizen of New Cam- 
bria, a very old town, to have a granitoid sidewalk laid in front of his 
premises, and was largely instrumental in having cement sidewalks 
generally used in the town. This is only one instance of his public 
spii'it and breadth of view. In every way he has shown an earnest inter- 
est in the improvement of the town and in promoting the enduring 
welfare of its people. He was married in 1901 to Miss Agnes B. Par- 
rott, who also was born and reared in Missouri, and with whom he 
still lives. 

HORACE R. SOUTHWICK. 

Horace R. Southwick, of New Cambria, who is one of the most 
substantial and influential citizens of Macon county, came to his ])res- 
ent estate and rank in public esteem through a variety of vicissitudes, 
over all of which he triumphed by his industry, capacity, frugality and 
great force of character. 

To begin with, ]\Ir. Southwick was left an orphan at the age of 
ten by the sudden and tragic death of his father while that gentle- 
man was still in the full vigor of his manhood and at the age of but 
fifty-nine years. This cut ofl" a large ]iart of the boy's ojiportunities and 
left him to make his own way in the world largely through his own 
endeavors. It was, however, a heroic age in the portion of the country 
in which he was living, and all his surroundings were of a character to 
develop and cultivate the virtues of self-reliance and independence 
and give him resources and readiness for any emergency. 

Mr. Southwick was born at Shullsburg, Wisconsin, on August 16, 
1849, and is a son of David and Angeline E. (Kneeland) Southwick, 
the former born in Pennsylvania in 1800, and tiie latter in the state 
of New York in 1810. The father moved to Wisconsin in early days, 
while the eountrj^ was still wild and unpeopled, and the savage denizens 
of the forest were still unsubdued. He was a young man when lie 
located in what was then the far Northwest, and soon afterward tJie 
Black Hawk Indian war broke out and terrorized the whole section 
of the country. The elder Southwick, father of Horace, prom])tly 
joined the forces sent into the contest, bearing a major's commission. 
He took an active part in the war, participating in most of its important 
engagements. 

After the war he returned to the cultivation of the land he had 
become jjosscssod of and foi- a time i)ros])cn'd in the ])ursuits of ])eace- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 555 

fill industry. He was married iu Wisconsin, after the Black Ilawk 
war, to Miss Angeline E. Kneeland, a native of New York state, as lias 
been noted, and they became the parents of six children. Two of these 
are living-: Horace R., and Mary C, the wife of Jonathan Lane, of 
Milton, Iowa. The father was killed in 1859 by a cave-in at a stone 
quarry near Shullsburg. He had, however, been successful in his 
undertakings and owned at the time of his death a tract of more than 
400 acres of land, but a great part of it was still undeveloped. His 
wife survived him twenty-nine years, dying on April 2, 1888. On the 
breaking out of the rebellion, two of his sous and three of his step-sons 
enlisted in Wisconsin regiments. One was killed at Dallas, Geoi'gia, 
and two wounded. This left our suliject and his mother to operate the 
farm. 

Their son, Horace, obtained a limited education in the public schools 
ill the neighborhood of his home, and after completing the course of 
instruction they afforded, studied telegraphy at Warren, Illinois. As 
soon as he became jjroticient in the art he was given a position as opera- 
tor at New Boston, in the same state, where he remained until 1869. 
He then became connected with the telegraph service on the Hannibal 
& St. Jose])h railroad, and worked at Callao, Clarence, Bevier and other 
points along the line until March, 1871. In that year he became agent 
for the company at New Cambria, a position in which he served faith- 
fully for a period of fifteen years. 

In 1872 he formed a partnershi]) with George Goodale in the 
lumber business, the name and style of the firm being Southwick & Co. 
This partnership lasted until 1873. Mr. Southwick continued tlie lum- 
ber business alone and in 1882 he turned his attention to the creamery 
industry, associating himself in it with l^ee Lingo, of whom he was 
a partner for five years. In 1893 he took as a jjartner in the lumber 
business T. B. Wright, who was associated with him ten years. At the 
end of that jieviod ^\v. Wright sold his interest in the business to John 
Bevan, who then became Mr. vSouthwick's i)artner, and the firm name 
was changed to Southwick & Bevan, which it still is. 

These gentlemen deal extensively in lumber of all kinds suited 
to the market they have to supply, and carry on a very active trade. 
They also handle a complete line of first-class agricultural implements, 
and do an active business with them. But their operations are not lim- 
ited to the commodities named or to mercantile life. They own and 
operate the Macon & Chariton County Telephone Company, of which 
Mr. Southwick is the secretary. Ho is also vice-president of the New 



556 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Cambria State Bank, and connected with various other financial and 
productive institutions. 

A mind so energetic and comprehensive as Mv. Southwick's could 
not at any time be indifferent to public afl'airs, local and general. His 
interests have for years been so extensive and so various that the 
welfare of the communities in which they are located has been a matter 
of prime importance to him, and tlie policy of the state and national 
government has necessarily had an important bearing on his personal 
prosperity. But aside from all this he is eminently patriotic and 
earnestly devoted to the state and country in which he lives and has 
found his opportunities. He has therefore taken a deep and helpful 
interest in all matters pertaining to the development and improvement 
of the county and in all subjects connected with national affairs. He 
is a zealous Eepublican in political faith, and, while never desiring 
public office, gives his party cordial and loyal support at all times. At 
one tune, overbearing his aversion to official life, his friends made him 
township collector, and he filled the office with great acceptability to the 
people for six years. Fraternally he is connected with the jNla sonic 
order, and has the rank of a Knight Templar. He was married in 
1900 to Miss May Davidson, who was born in Virginia, but grew to 
womanhood in Missouri, where she has ever since resided. She came to 
Missouri with her parents as a child. 

WILLAED M. ENGLAND. 

Owning and farming vigorously and skillfully 165 acres of excel- 
lent land in Callao township, which he has transformed from a state 
of semi-wildness into one of the best, most productive and most valu- 
able farms in the county, and with fine herds of registered cattle and 
other live-stock and high grade poultry, in which he takes great delight, 
AVillard M. England would seem to be one of the most fortunately 
situated of men and beyond the reach of adversity. And his safety in 
tliis respect is fortified and given additional assurance by the sterling 
(|ualities of head and heart which enabled him to win his estate and 
his exalted place in the esteem of all the jieople among whom he has 
lived and labored. 

^Ir. England was born at Callao on April 27. 18G8, and is an older 
brotlier of John M. England, whose sketch in this work contains a more 
extended account of the family and a brief narrative of its history. He 
began his education in the district schools near his home and finished 
it, so far as mere book learning is concerned, at the Kii'ksville State 
Normal School. His schooling, liowever, has been sup]ilemented and 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 557 

enlarged by the severe but thorougb lessons of experience, and he has 
laid all the admonitions of this stern instructor and taskmaster to 
heart in the most practical way. 

After leaving school he began the work in which he has ever since 
been engaged by assisting his father on the farm for about three years. 
At the end of that period he started farming for himself, and he has 
ever since held on to that line of productive usefulness. He keeps 
abi'east with the latest thought and discovery in his business, reading 
attentively all the worthy publications on the subject that come to 
his hand and applying -^ith good sense and excellent judgment the 
hints he gathers from them and the teachings of his own observation 
and experiments. 

In addition to his regular farming operations, which he never 
on any account neglects, he is extensively engaged in raising fine reg- 
istered Angus cattle, Poland-China hogs and Plymouth Eock and BntT 
Orpington chickens. He has been very successful in this line of his 
enterprise, his stock and poultry having the highest rank in the markets 
and his farm being known far and wide as the home of live-stock whose 
grade and pedigrees can be absolutely relied on. His sales are ]^ei-i- 
odical and his offerings always bring high i^rices. But he does not sell 
his stock as fast as he raises it. He keeps for his own use and care an 
average of sixtj' head all the year round. 

While Mr. England is sedulously attentive to his own interests and 
the work he has marked out for himself, he is by no means indifferent to 
the welfare of the community. On the contrary, he shows himself, both 
in sentiment and action, to be deeply interested in everything that ]ier- 
tains to its enduring good and the development and improvement of the 
township and county. He is a Republican in political faith and is 
loyal and firm in the support of his party, and zealous and industrious 
in its service in every campaign. But he is not hide-bound or narrow, in 
reference to local aifairs, and gives himself to the care of them without 
regard to party requirements or any other consideration except the 
public good. He has been a member of the local school board for ten 
years, and in the performance of the duties of the office has so borne 
himself that he has won only approval and commendation, and the peo- 
ple have rejoiced in the results of his fidelity to their interests and his 
zeal in behalf of a public institution in which they are all deeply and 
even vitally interested. 

In January, 1892, he married with Miss Mary E. Williams, who 
was born and grew to maturity in Illinois. In fraternal relations he is 
allied with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of Amer- 



5.38 HISTORY OF iFACOX COUNTY 

iea. He gives both orders a fair share of his time and attention, and in 
each liis memberf?hip is valued because of the wisdom it brings in eouusp! 
and the energy it inspires in action in behalf of all tliat is worthy in 
the aspirations of the fraternity. Mr. England is one of the most 
progressive and broad-minded farmers in the county and one of its 
most esteemed and influential citizens. His advice is widely sought 
and his opinion is highly valued in reference to all matters of public 
import and many lines of private business. For he is a gentleman of 
fine intelligence and excellent judgTnent. 

JOHN M. ENGLAND. 

Although himself a man of peace and altogether averse to wai", 
John M. England, of Callao, has inherited from his father a martial 
strain and shows it in the management of his affairs. His contests, 
however, ai'e for supi'emacy in business and all his victories are won 
in that field of endeavor. In it he has proven himself a valiant sol- 
dier, resourceful in strategy and courageous in conflict, and his triumphs 
have been signal and continuous. 

John I\I. England was born in Callao township, this county, on 
June 12, 1870. His father, James G. England, was born in Kandolph 
county, Missouri, on August 14, 1836, and came to Macon county to 
live when he was but two years old. Here he grew to manhood and 
made his preparation for the battle of life, obtaining his education in 
the public schools and serving a long apj^renticeship in farm work, 
which, with raising live-stock, became his lifelong occupation. In 
1866 he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah C. Patrick, also a 
native of Missouri. Of their three children one died in infancy and 
two are living, their sons, Willard M. and the subject of these 
paragi-aplis. 

The father served three years in the Union army during the Civil 
war, suffering all the hardships and jDrivations of military life in camp 
and on the march, and facing death on many a well fought field. He 
was a member of Comi)any F, Second Missouri Cavalry. In ])olitics 
he was an active and zealous Republican, serving his jiarty in the 
ranks and in posts of honor and responsibility, among them member- 
ship on the school board for many years. In the discharge of his 
official duties, however, only the public good was considered and parti- 
sanship was ignored. Throughout his manhood he was a devout and 
consistent member of the Christian church. His life ended on March 
25, 1907. His widow died December 8, 1909. The father was very 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 559 

successful in business and had the respect of all who knew him, and 
tliat was almost everybody in the county. 

John ]\I. England, like his father, grew to manhood in this county 
and was educated in its public schools. He also attended a business 
college and took a course of special training at the Kirksville State 
Normal School. After returning from that institution he assisted his 
father in the work of the farm for a period of two years, and then 
assumed the management of the farm, and until 1905 he conducted it 
with great success and profit, winning high commendation for his 
skill and energy as a farmer and his breadth of view and progressive- 
ness as an advanced breeder of choice live-stock and i)Oultry. ITe is 
the pioneer dairyman of Macon county, having shipped the first cream 
ever sent out of the county commercially. He also owned the first 
cream separator and the second herd of Jersej' cattle in the county. 

The dairying industry and the lines of business activity allied 
with it have interested him for many years. He has been the ])resid('nt 
of the Macon Creamery Company from the time it was founded. In 
1905 he was appointed traveling i-epresentative of the Colonial Cream- 
ery Company of St. Louis, his duties being to promote the estalilishment 
of the agency system thi'oughout Northern JNtissouri. During the same 
year he began breeding registered cattle, and from his large and grow- 
ing herd he has annual sales which are largely attended and well 
patronized, for his cattle stand at the head of the market and always 
command great and widespread attention. He is also a director of the 
Callao Pair Association, owning a liberal share of the capital stock 
of this institution. In politics he has been very active as a Republican, 
zealous for the success of his party and the supremacy of its ]n-inciples. 
At the same time he is earnestly alive to the enduring good of the com- 
munity aroniid him without regard to partisan considerations or inter- 
ests, and as a member of the local school board dui-ing the past three 
years, he has-rendered excellent service to the whole i)eople and one of 
their most cherished institutions. 

On January 7, 1895, Mr. England was united in marriage with Miss 
Etta H. Davis, all her life a resident of ^lacoii county. They have three 
children living, their son, John Kenton, aged eleven, their daughter, 
Margaret S., aged nine, and their daughter, Maliel Lillian, aged two. 
The father is a member of the Christian chui'ch and belongs to the 
Knights' of Pythias and the ^fodern Woodmen of America. He owns 
and farms 255 acres of land of which he has made a model farm in its 
cultivation and improvements, and which, as his home, is a rallying 



560 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

point of social and intellectual enjojTnent for the host of friends he and 
his wife have throughout all the surrounding counti-y. 

Mr. England has neglected no opportunity that has presented itself 
to him to aid in the development and improvement of the county. He 
has always been foremost in all commendable undertakings for the 
good of the people and in helping to promote them he has shown excel- 
lent judgment, fine enterprise and an energy that has accomplished much 
by its own force and more by the i^oteucies it has stimulated into activ- 
ity in others. He is universally regarded as one of the most useful 
and representative citizens of the county — one who, while advancing 
his personal fortunes, has never been unmindful of the general weal 
or indifferent to the comfort and convenience of the public. His life and 
achievements in the county are an inspiring example to others, and their 
recital should be of great benefit to poor but ambitious young men 
wherever they read it. 

Mr. England was the Eepublican candidate for Recorder of Deeds 
in Macon county in 1906 ; although defeated, he ran ahead of the Eepub- 
lican ticket. He was also the vice-president of the Missouri Dairj- 
Association for many years. 

JAMES W. LIXDLEY. 

James "W. Lindley, of Callao, is one of the successful and progress- 
ive men of Macon county, by hard work, perseverance and good busi- 
ness capacity making every line of effort to which he puts his hand yield 
its tribute to his industry and zeal, and by his own success. helping 
to improve the county and enlarge its mercantile and commercial activ- 
ity and power. As a farmer he was one of the best and most progress- 
ive in the county; and as a merchant he ranks high in the business 
world, carrying on extensive operations and always to his own advan- 
tage and that of the community in which he operates. 

Mr. Lindley is a native of Macon county and was born in 1856. 
His father, Pitman Lindley, was a native of Kentucky, and so was his 
mothei", whose maiden name was Amanda AVaddell. The father was 
born in 1808 and became a resident of Missouri in 1840. He passed the 
remainder of his days in this state, comfortably employed in the voca- 
tion of the old patriarchs, tilling the soil. He was married twice, his 
first wife being Miss AA'illiaras, who was, like himself, born and reared 
in Kentucky. They were the parents of six children, of whom four are 
living: Polly, the wife of Thomas Eodley, of Arkansas; Margaret, the 
wife of William P. Waddell. of ]\[ober]y; Nancy, the wife of W. J. 
Cooly, of Macon county, and Benjamin, also a resident of this coimty. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 5G1 

By tlie second marriage ^Mr. l>indley became the father of three chil- 
dren, all sons, and all living. They are James AV., John "W. and Pit- 
man S. In politics the father was a Republican, but he was never 
an active partisan. He died in March, 1897, and his wife on April 
29, 1907. 

Their son, James W., grew to manhood in this county and obtained 
his education in its public schools. After leaving school he farmed with 
success until he reached the age of thirty-five. In 1901 he turned Ms 
attention to the general produce business in which he is still exten- 
sively engaged. In company with his sons, he carries on his establish- 
ment at Callao in this business and four other agencies, one at La Plata, 
in Macon county, one at Bucklin, in Linn county, one at Ethel, in ^lacon 
county, and one at Mendon, in Chariton county. In addition to his 
mercantile operations he is interested in other ventures of a financial 
and productive character. He is a director and the president of the 
Callao bank and connected with other enterprises which minister to the 
good of the community and the benefit of its people. In all of these 
he takes an earnest and helpful interest, aiding in their management 
and helping to make them the best the circumstances will allow, and 
they are all of high rauk in their lines. 

His political aifiliation is with the Republican party, to which he 
is ardently attached and in whose service he is at all times active and 
effective, helping to bear its biirdeus of work and responsibility, both 
as a member of the rank and file and in public office. He served on the 
school board five years and as one of the trustees of the town four, win- 
ning golden opinions in bom offices by the upright, far-seeing and 
progressive manner in which he administered their affairs. 

He was married in 1876 to Miss Josephine Varner, whose life from 
her birth has been passed in Macon county. They have five children: 
Orla F. and Drew M., who are associated with their father in the prod- 
uce business; Carrie M., who is living at home; Delia, the wife of 
Charles Dunham, of Kern, in Callao township, and Annis, who also is 
living at home. The family stands well in the community, every mem- 
ber of it active in efforts to promote the welfare of the people and all 
held in the highest esteem. 

•^ IVES B. JONES. 

Ives B. Jones, as his name indicates, is of "Welsh ancestry on his 
father's side, and in his character and career he exemplifies all the 
sterling traits of that hardy, n'sourceful arid all-enduring race. He 
has been very suecesfull in many lines of endeavor, and in all has shown 



562 HISTORY OF ilACOX COUNTY 

an elevated and upright manhood and a commendable and highly appre- 
ciated citizenship. As a merchant, a banker, a real estate dealer and 
broker, and in various other capacities, he has dignified and adorned 
the realm of business,-and in all the relations of private life he has borne 
himself above repi'oach. 

Mr. Jones "was born in October, 1872, at Callao, in this county. He 
is a son of George M. and Elsie A. (Williams) Jones, the former born 
in "Wales in 1829, and the latter in the state of Ohio. The father came 
to the United States in 1853 and located in Portage county, Ohio. There 
he secured employment in a rolling mill for a number of years, and 
there, also, he met and married with the lady who was to share his trials 
and triumphs for more than a fifth of a century, the marriage occurring 
in 1862. They moved to ^lissouri in 1863, and, taking up their resi- 
dence in this county, devoted their energies to farming. The father 
was also a Congi-egational minister, with pastorates at Callao, New 
Cambria and Bevier. He founded the first Sunday-school in Callao, 
and, in addition to his local work in the ministry, did a considerable 
amount of missionary work in many places, among them Coalereek, in 
what is now the state of Colorado. He was a great advocate of the 
temperance movement and gave it strong impulses to greater activity 
wherever he talked on the subject. He died in July, 1882. His widow 
is still living and makes her home at Callao. They had five children, all 
of whom are living. They are : David R. and George S., residents of 
Macon; and Edwin T., Emlyn J. and Ives B., who lives at Callao. 

Ives B. Jones was reared and educated in Macon county, receiving 
his academic training in the public schools. For some years after leav- 
ing school he was employed in various capacities, being only a youth and 
not as yet definitely interpreting tlie forces within him, which were 
calling him to better things in settled lines of action, especially adapted 
to his gifts and the bent of his mind. In 1890 he entered into a partner- 
ship with C. A. Poole and started a hardware business under the firm 
name of Jones & Poole. The enterprise flourished and made steady 
headway, but at the end of eighteen months Mr. Jones sold his interest 
in it and became assistant cashier of the Bank of Callao. In 1905 he 
was elected cashier and also became a stockholder and director of the 
bank. He served the institution faithfully in this triple capacity until 
June 12, 1909, when he disposed of his holdings in the bank and turned 
his attention to the real estate, loan and brokerage business. For 
this purpose he formed a partnership with E. E. Cramer, conducting the 
operations of the firm under the name of Jones & Cramer. The firm is 
still in active operation and doing a large and profitable business. 




IVES B JONES 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 563 

lu ijolitics Mr. Jones is a Democrat, and, although he has never 
filled or desired a public office of any kind, he takes an active and help- 
ful interest in the att'airs of his party and does his part to keep up its 
organization and win its victories. He has an earnest and abiding- 
devotion to its principles and sees in the proper application of them the 
best hope for the perpetuity of American institutions and the lasting 
good of the country. His fraternal relations are with the order of 
the Knights of Pythias and his religious affiliation is with the Christian 
church. He is one of Macon county's most substantial and resj^ected 
citizens. 

^ EMLYN G. JONES. 

This gentleman is a son of Eev. George M. and Elsie A. (Williams) 
Jones and a brother of Ives B. Jones, of Callao, an account of whose 
life is to be found elsewhere in this volume. The reader is referred 
to that sketch for the history of the family. The father was a native 
of "Wales and the mother of the state of Ohio, where their marriage 
took place. 

Emlyn G. Jones was born at Callao, this county, in 1870, and grew 
to manhood and obtained his education in that town. The public schools 
furnished the full measure of his opportunities for scholastic training, 
but he employed them wisely to his advantage and entered upon the 
active duties of life as well prepared for their performance as these 
schools and his own reading and reflection could make him. 

After leaving school Mr. Jones worked on a farm and in the mines 
for about two years, then entered into pax'tnership with his brother, 
Edwin T. Jones, in the hardware,' furniture and undertaking business. 
Some time afterward his brother sold his interests in the business to 
A. B. English, and from that time on the firm has been trading under 
the name and style of Jones & English. Its business is extensive and 
its trade active, increasing in magnitude from year to year and growing 
in ]iopular favor all the time. It has won a high place in business 
circles and laid under tribute to its coffers an extended patronage 
throughout the town and all the surrounding country. The reputation 
the house enjoys is that of handling the best goods that can be had for 
the money at which they are sold, and of meeting the delicate and exact- 
ing duties of directing funerals with all the skill known to the art and 
every consideration for the wishes and feelings of those most interested 
in the woi'k. 

Mr. Jones does not allow his business, exacting as it is, to absorb 
the whole of his time and attention. With a good citizen's love of his 



564 HISTORY OF MACON COTJMTY 

county, state and country, lie takes an earnest interest in public affairs, 
and does -what he can to advance the best interests of all classes of the 
people, locally and generally. In politics he is independent, looking 
always to the general welfare without regard to partisan considerations. 
He believes in having the best men available to administer the affairs 
of the people and, according to the light he has, he always aids to the 
limit of his power in the selection of such men for official trusts. 

In the fraternal life of the community he has taken an active part as 
a member of the order of the Knights of Pythias, helping to give that 
energetic and progressive organization the highest standing it can 
attain and guidance to the largest and most wholesome development 
and usefulness. Socially Mr. Jones is everywhere admired as a genial 
and resourceful gentleman, wliose presence in any gathering is an 
addition to its forces for enjoyment and improvement. In business, 
in social and civic affairs and in fraternal relations he is a busy man, 
and in all he exemplifies with general approval and esteem the elevated 
traits of the best American citizenship, although his modesty will not 
approve of its being said so conspicuously in print. For he is unosten- 
tatious in all his bearing, finding his greatest pleasure in the complete 
and prompt discharge of every duty to the full extent of his powers. 

VICTOE GROVE. 

With his hand in several lines of mercantile business and giving 
each such attention that he is succeeding iu all, Victor Grove, of Callao, 
is fully entitled to the high place he holds in the regard and good will 
of the business circles of the town and all other classes of the people. 
He is yet young in years, but his reputation as a business man and 
citizen is firmly fixed and its standard is deservedly high. 

Mr. Grove's life began in this county at Bloomington, where he wag 
born on December 23, 1875. He grew to manhood in his native place 
and began his education in its public schools. After leaving school 
he gave his atteution for a short time to the occupation of the old 
patriarchs, tilling the soil. But the goniiis within him cried out for 
business opjjortunities and he sought and found a way to gratify it. 
For a time he occupied himself in conducting a flourishing trade in 
timber, then turned his energies to the hardware trade, with furniture 
and fanning implements included, beginning this venture in 1903 at 
Callao with Jethro Leffler as a partner. Some time afterward he bought 
Mr. LefHer's interest in the business and for a year thereafter con- 
ducted it alone. In lOO.'j he took in a new ]iartner in the person of 
J. W. Ayers. One year later they sold the hardware and furnitui-e 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 565 

departments and devoted themselves exclusively to handling vehicles 
and farming implements. Then, in connection witli this line of trade, 
they became tlie purchasing agents for the Central Coal & Coke Com- 
pany of Bevier for timber at Callao, Kern, New Cambria & Lingo 
all in Macon county, and also handled railroad timbers. They are 
actively engaged in all these lines of trade at tlie present time and 
they push their business with an enterprise and energy that is worthy 
of and receives the highest commendation. In addition to his other 
imdortakings, Mr. Grove owns and o]>erates a handle factory at Kern, 
in this state, in which he manufactures extensively all kinds of handles 
for tools and implements of husbandry. 

Mr. Grove has a good citizen's interest in the public affairs of his 
community, his state and the country at large, and does a good citizen's 
part toward promoting the welfare of all. But he is non-partisan in 
politics, holding himself free at all times to vote according to liis 
judgment of men and measures, and without anj' regard whatever to 
partisan considerations. He also takes an interest in fraternal affairs 
as a Woodman, a Knight of Pythias and a member of the Pythian 
Sisters, giving to each order a fair share of his time and attention and 
doing what he can in his modest way to heli) them all along in all their 
worthy aspirations. 

Through close application and hard work he has been very success- 
ful in business, but his success is the result of his own capacity and 
efforts. For he has had no special favors from fortune or adventitious 
circumstances. He has been quick to see and alert to seize and turn to 
his advantage ever}^ opportunity that presented itself, and so has l)uilt 
up his large trade, his excellent reputation and his ])rosperous business 
solely through his own energy, zeal and upright and useful life. The 
people who know him best esteem him most, and it is manifest that he 
is worthy of the regard all classes bestow upon him. Moreover, his 
star is still ascending and his capacity appears to grow by use. He 
is constantly on the lookout for larger opportunities and greater 
undertakings, and it is more than probable that he will yet write his 
name still higher on the business records of the community, and prove 
himself still more useful to its people. 

^ AUBERT B. ENGLISH. 

Performing well his part in all relations, whether as public official 
or private citizen, as business man or social light, around his domestic 
hearth or with reference to the affairs of the whole community, Aubert 
B. English has won a high ])laco in the regard of the people among 



566 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

whom Lie lias lived and labored and well deserves the esteem in which 
he is held. He is one of the enterprising and progressive merchants 
of Callao and one of its most promising and representative citizens. 

Mr. English was born at Callao on February 15, 1879, and is the son 
of Samuel A. and Lucinda M. (Hinds) English, the father born in 
South Carolina on January 13, 1829, and the mother in Indiana on 
November 9, 1840. They were married on January 1, 1861, the father 
having come to this section of the country with a hope of finding better 
opportmiities to advance his fortunes than his own state seemed to 
aflford. Soon after their marriage they moved into Missouri, but a little 
while afterward returned to Indiana, where they continued to reside 
until 1865. In that year they again took up their residence in this 
state and it proved to be a permanent one. The father was a cari^enter 
and worked at his trade until near the time of his death, which occurred 
on September 26, 1889. His widow is still living. They were the par- 
ents of seven children, of wliom six are living: James P., a resident 
of Kansas ; Alonzo, one of the esteemed citizens of Macon ; AYilliam M., 
who lives in Oklahoma; Carrie L., wife of H. B. Clifton, of Twin Falls, 
Idaho ; Estella "\Y., wife of Zell Dice, of Lafayette, Colorado, and Aubert 
B., the immediate subject of this brief review. 

Aubert B. English was reared at Callao and obtained his education 
at the public schools of that town and Macon in part, completing it at 
the University of Michigan at Ann Ai'bor. He used his educational 
advantages to good purpose and entered upon the course of active life 
as his own pilot and steersman, well equipped for the voyage of trial 
and triumph that lay before him. In 1900 he was appointed postmaster 
of Callao, and was at the time the youngest postmaster in the United 
States. His service to the government in that capacity lasted over 
eight years and was wholly to his credit and the advantage of the people 
of the town by whom his administration of the office was highly 
commended. 

In 1908, with a view to making a permanent business arrangement 
for himself outside of the imcertain domain of politics, he entered into 
a partnership with E. G. Jones for the purjiose of carrying on a 
mercantile enterprise in the furniture and hardware trade and the 
undertaking industry. The firm is still in active operation and its busi- 
ness has been steadily increasing from the start. Both members are 
enterprising and progressive. They make a study of their trade and its 
requirements and do all in their power to meet the demands in every 
particular. They are everywhere acknowledged to be good business 
men who handle first-rate merchandise and sell it at fair ]irices. And 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 567 

in the undertakiug part of their business they are accomplished and 
attentive to the last degree. 

In politics Mr. English has been a staunch Republican from the 
dawn of his manhood and active in the service of his party. He has 
been trustee of Callao during the past five years. He belongs to the 
Christian church, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern "Woodmen 
of America. On June 18, 1902, he was married to Miss Addie V. Fans- 
ler, who was born and reared at Texas county, in this state. 

h:aevey a. riggs. 

With gifts of special value in the line of banking, bookkeeping and 
accoimts, and having received special training in the development and 
use of those natural endowments, Harvey G. Riggs, cashier of the Mer- 
cantile Trust & Savings Bank, of Quincy, Illinois, which he founded, 
entered upon the battle of life for himself well prepared for the contest, 
and every stage of his career since then has proven his judgment and 
good sense in choosing his occupation and sticking to it with steadfast 
devotion. 

Mr. Riggs is a native of Missouri and was born in Carroll county 
in 1867. His father died while the son was yet but a small boy, and he 
was left largely to shift for himself soon afterward. He obtained his 
academic training in the public schools of his birthplace, and after 
completing their coiirse of instruction pursued a special course of busi- 
ness training at the Gem City Business College, of Quincy, Illinois. 
As soon as he had completed this he accepted a position as bookkeeper 
in the employ of the Totle-Lemon Company, of St. Josejih, Missouri. 
Later he represented R. G. Dun & Co. for a time with credit to himself 
and advantage to the company. 

But he had a genius for the banking business and longed for the 
opportimity to give it expression. After waiting for the chance to 
come until he wearied of the delay, he determined to force circum- 
stances to his service and challenged Fate into the lists. In 1892 he 
organized the New Cambi-ia State Bank and became its cashier. He 
managed its affairs with success and proiit to its promoters for a period 
of two years, then went to Macon and was made cashier of the Bank 
of Macon. Two years later he abandoned banking temporarily and 
carried on a successful real estate business for four years. 

His taste was still, however, decidedly in the banking line, and in 
1900 he returned to that field of endeavor, starting a banking business 
at Callao, which he conducted as cashier for about four years. By 
this time a larger field of operation was white with the harvest and 



5G8 HISTORY OF MA'CON COUNTY 

ready for his sickle. In 1904: he moved to Quincy, Illinois, and founded 
the Mercantile Trust & Savings Bank, of which he became then and is 
yet the cashier. The bank has a capital stock of $200,000 and does a 
very extensive general banking business, including all features of 
such an enterprise. Mr. Eiggs has been very successful in the manage- 
ment of its business and shown that he is well up in eveiy department 
of banking, according to the most approved modern methods. It will 
be seen that Mr. Eiggs has lived in a number of places and been in 
business in all of them. Wherever he has lived he has won the respect 
and good will of the community, and when he has gone elsewhere has 
left an excellent reputation behind him. He is energetic, capable and 
ambitious in business, and uses all his powers to make his advance 
i-apid and continued. At the same time, he has a warm and intelligent 
interest in the community around him, and omits no effort to promote 
its welfare and the comfoi't and convenience of its people. Moreover, 
he is a high-minded and upright gentleman and has lofty ideals of 
citizenship toward which he steadily strives to work his way. In all 
the relations of life he has i^roven himself worthy of esteem by the 
faithful performance of every duty, and has thereby given to those 
who know him an example which they might well imitate. In Quincy, 
as in other places, he has risen to the rank of a leading and representa- 
tive citizen and an ornament to any social circle that may have the 
favor of association with him. It is of men like him that the most 
serviceable classes of the American people are composed. 

MAEK LA FEANCE UNDEEWOOD, M. D. 

Physician, druggist and agricultural i)romoter, Dr. Mark L. 
Underwood, of Callao, has shown himself to be skillful in several 
lines of action and has been successful in all. No physician stands 
higher in the profession in Macon county, no druggist is held in higher 
regard or has a better trade for the range of territory that is tributary 
to activity, and no one in this part of the country has accomplished 
more in any particular line of agricultural development than he has 
in his. 

Dr. Underwood is a native of Missouri, born at Perry, Eolla 
county, on February 10, 1876. He is a son of John and ^fartha A. 
(Biggers) Underwood, both, like himself, born and reared in this 
state. The father was born in Eolls county in 1834 and they were 
married in that county. They became the parents of ten children, five 
of whom are living, John AV., a resident of Fort Smith, Arkansas ; Anna, 
the wife of Dr. H. L. Morphew, of Arkansas; Benjamin J., who is living 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 5G9 

at Stuttgart, Arkansas; Dr. Mark L., of Callao; and Eay, who also 
lives at Stuttgart, Arkansas, where the father of the family now has 
his homo, but has retired from all active pursuits. 

Dr. Underwood was reared at Stuttgart, Arkansas, and began his 
academic training in the schools of that town. He afterward attended 
the Kentucky University, and when he left that institution entered the 
Marion Simms College of Medicine at St. Louis, Mo., from which he 
was graduated in 1898. Some years later, and after he had been prac- 
ticing for a time, he pursued a post-graduate course at the New York 
Polyclinic School, being graduated from that in 1906. After receiving 
his degree in 1898 he began the practice of his jirofession in Arkansas, 
where he remained about one year. He then located at Callao and 
practiced there three years. At the end of that period he moved to 
Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he jnirchased a drug store. This he 
conducted for four years, laracticing medicine in that city at the same 
time. In 1906 he sold the drug store in Fort Smith and returned to 
Callao, and here he has been living and practicing ever since. 

In Callao he is interested in a drug store which he helps to carry 
on in connection with his large and active practice, being the senior 
partner in the firm of Underwood & Tainter. He also has holdings in 
the Cook's Lake rice plantation, a productive and profitable enterjarise 
which he has had a potential influence in developing, and which is 
located in the state of Arkansas. His princiijal occuiaation, however, 
is attending to his large and varied general practice of medicine and 
surgery, and to this he devotes himself with ardor and unflagging 
industry. He has attained eminence in the profession in Macon county 
and is accounted one of its most skillful and intelligent physicians. 
He also takes a zealous and effective interest in all matters pertaining 
to the welfare of the people, bringing to the councils of those who have 
the interests of the community in charge breadth of view, clearness of 
perception and untiring energy. 

In the fraternal life of the city and county he has long been promi- 
nent and influential. He is a member of the Masonic order and has 
ascended the mystic ladder of its sublime symbolism and morality 
through all its gradations to the very top. In political faith he is a 
firm and faithful Democrat, but he has never sought or been willing 
to accept a political office, finding plenty to occupy his mind and 
engage his faculties in the demands of his professional, mercantile and 
social duties. Young yet in years, with all his faculties in full vigor, 
and wise and energetic beyond his age, the Doctor is one of the most 
useful citizens of the county. 



570 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

WILLIAM T. JONES. 

Gradually winning his way over obstacles and througli difficulties, 
wholly dependent on his own ability and exertions, and never losing 
an opportunity to advance his interests or augment his fortunes, 
"William T. Jones, of Callao, furnishes in his career a fine illustration 
of wliat industry and thrift can accomplish in this land of boundless 
chances and gives a very encomaging lesson to all aspiring poor young 
men. For his achievements are all the work of his own hands and 
brain and the result of his untiring industry and frugality. 

Mr. Jones was born at Bevier, this county, on February 10, 1866, 
and is a son of AVilliam and Jane (Reece) Jones, natives of Wales, 
but long residents of the LTnited States. The father was born in 1820, 
and a few years after reaching his maturity left his native land in 
search of better opportunities and larger rewards for his labor. Aus- 
tralia opened her arms to him as a land of promise and he accepted 
the invitation. But after prospecting for gold three years in that 
country, he came to America and located at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 
where he worked in the mines for a year. 

The life in the coal mines of the great Keystone state was not to 
his liking, and in 1858 he moved to this county and located at Eureka, 
between Macon and Bevier. There he wrought diligently in the mines 
two years until the Bevier mines were opened, when he moved to 
Bevier, where he remained until his death on December 25, 1885. In 
1876 he left the mines and turned his attention to farming, and this 
occupation he continued throughout the remainder of his life. He 
was married in his native land to Miss Jane Reece. They had nine 
children, seven of whom are living: David W., a resident of New 
Cambria; Elizabeth, wife of D. T. Evans, of the same place; Thomas 
R., Avho lives at Bevier; Jennie, wife of F. D. Jones, editor and pub- 
lisher of the Bevier Appeal; Susan, wife of D. W. Davis, of Edmoud, 
Oklahoma; Evan, of Bevier, and the subject of this brief sketch, 
William T. In politics the father was a Republican with an earnest 
interest in the welfare of his county, state and adopted country. His 
widow died in 1900, having survived him fifteen years. 

William T. Jones grew to manhood in this county and obtained his 
education in tlio iniblic schools of Bevier and Callao in part, and in 
part at the college in Brookfield, Linn county. After leaving school 
he worked in the mines at Bevier four years, then clerked in a store 
at Edmond, Oklahoma, for one year. In 1S!lS he returned to Bevier 
and l)egan a career as a successful fanner. He was married in ISOl 



HISTORY OF MACOiSr COUNTY 571 

to Miss Catberiue Jones, a native of Wales. They have six chiklren, 
their sons Kobert AV., Andrew, Lawrence, Harold and llowland and 
their daughter Elizabeth. 

Politically Mr. Jones is a Democrat. He has rendered good service 
to his party as an active worker, and good service to the peojile without 
regard to party considerations. He served six years on the school 
board in Bevier township, and in 1908 was elected a member of tlie 
school board of Callao for a term of three years. During the ]iast year 
he has been vice-president of the board. Fraternally he has been a 
member of the order of Knights of Pythias for twenty-two years. In 
church connection he is a Baptist. For many years he has been a 
zealous and effective worker in Sunday-school and church affairs, and 
been recognized as one of the most efficient men in the community in 
such work. He is miiversally esteemed. 

V JONES & CRAMER. 

This firm, which is one of the leading business combinations of 
Callao, and has a high rank in the business world throughout this part 
of the country, was organized in September, 1908, for the purpose 
of operating on a large scale in real estate, loans and brokerage. The 
men at the head of it were well known as gentlemen of capacity, char- 
acter and resources, and it started business with every assurance of 
commanding success because it contained in its make-up the elements of 
such success. During its existence, short as that has been, it has fully 
justified the faith on which it was founded and the expectations of the 
public concerning it at its birth. 

The firm buys and sells farms and town property, loans money and 
conducts a general brokerage business in all its features. Its opera- 
tions have been large and are always active; and as they are based 
on excellent judgment and a wide range of information, they are always 
profitable to the firm, as well as of advantage to its patrons and the 
locality in which they are carried on. The members of the firm make it 
their business to learn all there is to be known about any piece of prop- 
erty they buy or have for sale, and also to keep themselves informed as 
to what purchasers need or desire and where to find it. 

They also deal extensivelj' in insurance, representing the Pruden- 
tial Life Insurance Company, the Fidelity and Casualty Health and 
Accident Company, the National Surety Company of New York, the 
Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, the Continental Fire Insurance 
Company, the Iowa State Fire Insurance Conipan>-, tiie Phopnix Fire 
Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, and tlic Home Fire 



5T2 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

Insurance Company of New York. They have been very successful in 
all their operations and they have deserved every triumph they 
have won. 

JAMES M. BRICKEE. 

A man who devotes himself to but one thing in life and has ordi- 
narily good judgment and abilitj- is very likely to achieve a consider- 
able measure of what he sets out to accomplish, and so well established 
is this truth that application and perseverance are looked upon in 
most cases as the most essential elements of success in any under- 
taking. James M. Bricker is not an ordinary man and he has not 
given the whole of his time and energy to one purpose or pursuit. But 
he has devoted himself so industriously and intelligently to his chief 
undertaking that he has made an eminent success of that, and he has 
also won worthy triumiDhs in other lines. 

Mr. Bricker was born in Callao, this county, on September 20, 1882, 
and was reared and educated there. It became manifest to him early 
in life that he would have no other dependence for advancement than 
his own resources, and he went to work with a will to make the most 
of these. Fortune did not smile with any particular favor on his birth, 
and circumstances are seldom kind to the most of men. Mr. Bricker 's 
best endowment was his self-reliant spirit and his power of intense 
and continued application; and he has invested this capital so judi- 
ciously that it has returned him large revenues of success in business 
and high standing in public esteem. 

After obtaining the limited seliooling for which he had opportunity, 
he entered the store of his father as a clerk and salesman, and in that 
capacity he worked for him until 1902. He then became a partner 
in the business, and he has ever since been connected with it in this 
way, gradually assuming the management of it, as that was left to 
him by his associate. Under his direction it has grown to larger and 
larger proportions until it is one of the leaders in its line in this part of 
the state. The firm deals extensively in lumber and furniture and car- 
ries on a considerable l)usiness in undertaking. Its operations are con- 
ducted on a large scale, but every detail of the business is known to him 
and eveiy transaction passes under his direct personal supervision. He 
has proven himself to be a business man of tir.st-rate capacity, a man 
of uprightness and character in every relation of life and a stimulating 
and directing force in the matter of developing and improving the city 
and county in wliich he lives. He is accordingly held in high esteem 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 573 

as a citizen and liis advice is given great weight in matters of business 
and in connection witli local public affairs. 

His political faith is fixed in the principles and policies of the Demo- 
cratic party, but he is in no sense an oIlQce-seeker, although he gives 
his time and energy freely in aid of the aspirations of his party friends 
and the desires of the organization to which they and he belong. His 
work is, however, that of a layman and he has no desire to give it any 
other character. Fraternally he is connected with the Kniglits of Pyth- 
ias and the Modern "Woodmen of America. In the proceedings and 
undertakings of these orders he takes an earnest interest and to their 
purposes he gives the benefit of his counsel and his active assistance. 

In May, 1906, he was married to Miss Bernice Henderson, a native 
of Callao, in this county. They have one child, their daughter, Juanita, 
now (1909) two years of age. The parents have a pleasant home in 
Callao at which their numerous friends gather for social enjoyment 
and at which they always find a full measure of generous and consider- 
ate hospitality. Mr. and Mrs. Bricker are themselves prime favorites 
in the best social circles and always to be found zealous in support of all 
good work for the elevation of the communitj^ or the comfort and 
convenience of its people. 

JOHN L. WILLIAMS. 

If the man who makes two lilades of grass grow where one grew 
before is to be accounted a public benefactor, who shall denj^ the same 
title to the man who introduces a new material product and makes it of 
substantial and lasting service to mankind? John L. Williams, of 
Bevier, this county, and his father are entitled to the rank and distinc- 
tion named if any of the citizens of this county are. For they were 
the first to introduce and make serviceable in that community and 
the whole of northern ]\Iis80uri the material known as granitoid, which 
is now recognized as one of our most valuable building substances, as 
it is one of the most obedient to the skilful hand of art in use. 

Mr. Williams was born at Kewanee, Illinois, on July 14, 1868, but 
was reared and educated in Pennsylvania. His oppoi-funities for scho- 
lastic training embraced nothing beyond the curriculum of the public 
schools, but he made good use of them and acquired a considerable 
fund of elementary scholarship, which his subsequent experience has 
expanded into an intellectual capital of extensive general information. 
After leaving school he came to Bevier and engaged in mining for a 
period of eight years. During the next thirteen years he was employed 
in railroading on the Burlington system. But his eyes were always 



.-,T4 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

open aud his mind was ever hospitable, so that when a new opportunity 
came to him in the way of usefulness to the world and advantage to 
himself he was ready to seize and utilize it. Perhaps he did not see 
in it all that was involved, so often does fate play hide and seek with us. 
But, at any rate, he took advantage of it, and the result is to be found 
in all his subsequent achievements. 

In 1892 he became a partner of his father in the use of granitoid 
as a choice substance for works of construction, and two years later 
began oj^erations in the same line on his own account. Since then he has 
been the builder of 90 per cent of the cement houses, sidewalks and 
otiier structures in Bevier township, and of many in other places. The 
most notable of the buildings erected by him of this material are the 
chapel of the Latter Day Saints, the Thomas Nisbeth block, the Jones 
building, the State Bank building and the Sulphur Creek bridge, and 
they all stand to his credit as lasting monuments to the value of the 
material he employed in constructing them and his skill and ability 
in the use of it. 

He is still carrying on extensively in this line of activity, and, in 
addition, he conducts a book and music store which meets a want in the 
community that is widespread aud insistent. The store is managed 
with the same enterprise and good judgment that characterizes him 
in all his other operations and is strictly up to date in every particular. 
For Mr. "Williams is a man who compels everything he puts his hand to 
to yield up the utmost of what it contains for the furtherance of the 
purposes he has in mind. 

In politics he is independent, but always energetic and serviceable 
to the great good of the community. He served as a member of the 
board of education for three years, and while doing so was instrumental 
in securing the erection of the new schoolhouse. In 1907 he was elected 
police judge of Bevier, and so acceptable Avere his services in this 
capacity that he was re-elected in 1909. He was also tlie first city asses- 
sor of Bevier. In the fraternal life of his section he lias taken an active 
aud serviceable part as a member of the Masonic order, the Odd Fellows 
and the Modern AVoodmen of America. 

WILLIAM S. THOMAS. 

Although still in the advancing stage of his manhood, not yet hav- 
ing reached the age of forty years, William S. Thomas, of Bevier, has 
already won a decided triumiih and an enviable place for himself in 
the business world, as he is now recognized as one of the leading and 



I 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 575 

most enterprising nieroliauts of tlie town in which liis successful 
operations are contlucted. 

j\Ir. Thomas was born in Bevier in 1872, and was roared and edu- 
cated tliere. At the age of sixteen he took up tlie burden of life for 
himself by entering the mining industry and submitting cheerfully 
to its hardships and exactions. He continued mining for a period 
of six years, then farmed two years. At the age of twenty-four he 
entered his father's mercantile establishment as an employe and witli 
the view of learning the business. He devoted liimself to its duties and 
the study of its requirements with assiduous industry and soon l)ecame 
master of the business in all its phases and details. 

After an apprenticeship of eight years, in 1908 he bought his 
father out and started on a business career of his own. in connection 
with his l)rother, T. D. Thomas, Jr. Tliey have since been very suc- 
cessful, giving all their time and energies to the management of the 
interests they have in charge, and stiidying their trade with close and 
intelligent observation of all its needs and possil)ilities. Their store 
is now the largest of its kind in Bevier and does a very extensive busi- 
ness. But it lias not yet reached ils full development, for the gentle- 
men in charge of it are far-seeing and progressive, and are ever on the 
lookout for new opportunities and larger midertakings. They leave 
no stone unturned, no effort untried, to meet the wants of the commu- 
nity and keep their establishment up to date in every particular. And 
their enterprise is rewarded by a steadily increasing patronage for 
their business and a steady rise in rank for themselves as merchants. 

Mr. Thomas is a Republican in politics, Init he is not an active par- 
tisan and never follows his party where he deems it to be wrong. The 
welfare of the connnunity and the good of the people are the first con- 
siderations with him in political affairs and the demands of party come 
afterward. He always prefers to vote for good men for public office 
rather than to aid in upholding the banner of any organization, political 
or otherwise. Office for himself he has never sought or cared for, deem- 
ing it best and enough that he serve the state from the honorable post 
of private station. Yet his fitness to direct the affairs of the community 
was so manifest and his independence and integrity were so well known 
that in 1905 the people of his ward ignored his aversion to public office 
and elected him alderman, and the manner in which he ]ierformed 
the duties of the office gave them abundant justification for their faith 
in him and the action to which it led tiiem in electing him. His religious 
alliance is with the First Baptist church and his fraternal connection 
with the Knights of Pythias. 



576 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Mr. Thomas "«"as united in marriage in 1896 with Miss Emma 
Taylor, of Callao, in this county. Tliey have one child, their son, Will- 
iam Kay, who is now ten years old. A leading and representative citi- 
zen, a successful and progressive merchant, a potential factor in the 
moral, intellectual and social life of the city and county, the father 
is justly held in the highest esteem, and with his age and vigor in his 
favor and all his faculties awake to every opportunity and alert to seize 
every chance for advancement, his future should be filled with great 
achievement and his life finally crowned with the guerdon of full and 
unblemished success. 

WILLIAM H. SEARS. 

That the law is a jealous mistress is an aphorism that lias both the 
sanction of age and the testimony of human experience in evidence 
of its truth. The profession is one of the most extensive in its range 
and the variety of subjects with which it deals that is known among men. 
i\jid it requires of its students and practitioners who seek to reach 
its upper courts and dwell in its elevated places an assiduity of devo- 
tion and constancy of effort that scarcely admits a rival of any char- 
acter whatever. But the divinity which presides over it is also a gen- 
erous one. She rewards her worshipers with a liberality proportioned 
to their ability, zeal and devotion. 

A striking illustration of this is to be found in the life story of the 
late William H. Sears, of Macon, whose death on April 5, 1908. at the 
age of sixty and in the full vigor of his intellectual powers, was uni- 
versally regretted in the community which had for so long a period 
enjoyed the benefit of his professional services and his high example 
as a citizen. He worshiped at the shrine of Themis with the zeal of a 
devotee, and she poured out upon him with unstinted hand exalted rank 
in his profession, eminence in public life and general esteem as an 
upright, able and most worthy man. 

Mr. Sears was a native of this county, where he was born on 
August 8, 1848, near the village of Callao. He began his academic 
training at the old Bloomington school and completed it at the Kirks- 
ville Noi-mal. After leaving the latter institution he clerked during 
a number of years for the firm of Goldsberger & Belcher, general mer- 
chants, and while clerking in this estalilishnient studied law in his 
spare hours. He was not able to secure for himself the benefit of sys- 
tematic training for his profession at a law school, but was dependent 
on his own reading and reflection for his preliminary preparation, and 
possibly it was all the more thorougli on that account. At any rate, he 



HISTOKY OP MACON COUNTY 577 

was well prepared, and when the time came for his admission to the 
bar he went through the necessary ordeal in a manner that was alike 
creditable to him and full of promise for his future career. This 
occurred in 1869, and in 1872 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the 
county. He performed the duties of tlie office with great aliility during 
his whole tenure of it, and all the while was rising rapidly toward the 
summit of the profession in this part of the state. His progress was 
steady to the end of his career, and when he died he was generally 
acknowledged as the equal of any lawyer in the state and the superior 
of most of them. 

From the very nature of his mind and manhood it was inevitable 
that he should take a deep and abiding interest in public affairs. He 
was earnestly loyal to the genius of American institutions and a gov- 
ernment of the people by the people, and he felt it his duty to do 
all in his power to defend what he believed in, from all assaults, 
and promote its welfare and augment its force by every capability 
at his command. He was an ardent Democrat in politics, and as a 
firm believer in the principles of his party he gave it his most earnest 
and effective support at all times. In doing this, as well as in his 
legal practice, he demonstrated a decided fitness for public life and 
a commanding ability for and knowledge of public affairs. The people 
of an American community are not slow, at most times, to recognize 
ability to serve them in a representative capacity or seek to avail 
themselves of it, in spite of all that has been said of the way in which 
election to office in this country goes by favor and the dispensation 
of political masters. 

It was so in the case of J\Ir. Sears. In 1886, not through the favor 
of political bosses or any kind of forced methods, but solely on account 
of his eminent ability, his ardent patriotism and his great knowledge 
of i^ublic affairs, he was elected to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Will- 
iam Van Cleve as state senator, and at the expiration of this was 
re-elected for a full term of his own. In the upper house of the state 
legislature he proved himself altogether worthy of the confidence and 
popularity which had chosen him to the office he held. He was one of 
the leading members of the senate and took a prominent part in all 
its important proceedings, ranking as one of the most judicious advisers, 
one of the readiest and most resourceful debaters, and one of the firm- 
est and best informed patriots in the body. After the close of his 
senatorial service he was again elected prosecuting attorney. For 
many years he was also attorney for the Wabash railroad company 



578 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

and looked after its interests with a zeal and ability that won him 
high commendation from the officers of the company. 

On October 12, 1876, he united in marriage with Miss Jennie 
Thatcher, a native of Schuyler county, in this state, the nui)tials being 
solemnized in Atchison, Kansas. They had two children, their sons, 
Charles T. and William C, sketches of whom appear elsewhere in this 
work. The father was a member of the Masonic order and tilled the 
chair of AVorshipful Master of his lodge several terms. He took a cor- 
dial interest in the welfare of the fraternity, and even in the times 
of his most exacting duties, public or professional, never hesitated 
to mingle in its assemblies and give them the l)enefit of his counsel 
and the stimulus of his example. In all the relations of life he exem- 
plified the attributes of the best American citizenship. 

^ JESSE E. HYATT, D. 0. 

The school of medicine, or medical treatment, known as osteopathy, 
like everything else in science or discovery that has unsettled long- 
established beliefs or given old traditions a jolt, has had to fight its way 
into popular confidence and favor over great and bitter opposition. 
But it has won its fight and is now firmly fixed in the esteem of the 
people as one of the beneficent agencies for the good of mankind, and 
legislators no longer sneer when it asks at their hands a legal existence 
and the right to exercise its helpful functions. 

The contest it has had to wage was continuous and relentless for 
a number of years, but the unyielding faith and spirit of its advocates 
and the skill and ability of its practitioners have given it triimiph over 
all obstacles and lasting hold on the credence and resjject of mankind. 
Among those advocates and practitioners Dr. Jesse Hyatt, of Macon, 
has been a shining light and a tower of strength. It is he, more than 
any other, who has given the school standing in Macon and it is his 
skill and success that have aided most materially in justifying all that 
is claimed for the theory. 

Dr. Hyatt was born in Decem1)er, 1862, in Adams county. Illinois. 
His father, Elisha Hyatt, is a native of Somerset county, Pennsyl- 
vania, where his life began in 1828. He and his good wife, who has 
shared nearly sixty years of wedded life with him, are now residing in 
peace and quiet, after their long struggle, in the state of Illinois, where 
both are among the venerated citizens of the community in which they 
live. The wife's maiden name was Miss Melinda Jennings, and she 
was born and reared in Missouri, where the father lived before the Civil 
war, the wedding occurring in 1850. Not long after their marriage 



IIISTOIJY OF JIAC'OX COFXTY 579 

tliey moved to Illinois, where they coiitiniied to reside until 1878, when 
they returned to ^Missouri to remain many years. They were farmers 
by occupation and successful in the industry, attending to every duty 
with care and fidelity, and rearing their family of eight children with 
the best light they had on the subject. Six of the childi-en are living: 
Mary, wife of John Byler, of Illinois; Dr. Jesse E., of Macon; Fannie, 
wife of Elmer James, of Oklahoma; Annie, wife of Jesse Perkins, of 
Missouri; John, who is attending a medical college, and Arthur, a resi- 
dent of Illinois. 

Dr. Jesse E. Hyatt was reared and began his education at Hunts- 
ville, Missouri. He attended school also at Liberty, and after leaving 
that town matriculated at Kirksville Osteopathic Institute, from which 
he was graduated in 1901. i^e at once entered upon the practice of his 
profession at Macon, and here he has ever since lived and labored, 
building up a good practice and establishing himself firmly in the 
regard and good will of the community as an upright, progressive and 
public-spirited citizen. 

It should be stated as an element in his development and training 
for the successful professional career in which he is now engaged that, 
j^revious to studying medicine, he taught school in Macon seventeen 
years. This gave him a knowledge of himself and others not easily 
acquired in any other waj', which has been a potent factor for good in 
his subsequent life and activity. It should also be said that he has 
made his way in the world wholly by his own unaided efforts, having 
been of very moderate means in early life, with no one but himself to 
depend on for his advancement. 

In politics the Doctor is a Democrat, primarily, but he is not a 
hide-bound partisan. He always seeks to help the best man to a posi- 
tion in the service of the people, particularly in local affairs. He has 
never sought or desired official station for himself, being wedded to his 
profession and finding in it enough to engage all his interest and emploj' 
all his faculties and time. He was married in 1889 to Miss Mattie L. 
Van Sickle, a native of Macon county. Thej' have four children, Maud, 
Emory, ^'irgie and Gracie. The father's religious affiliation is with 
the Universalist church, and in fraternal relations he is connected with 
the Modern Woodmen of America. He has shown an intelligent interest 
in the enduring welfare of the community and at all times given his 
earnest and effective aid to every worthy undertaking designed to pro- 
mote it. On every hand he- is esteemed as an excellent citizen and a wise 
and capable professional man. 



580 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

WILLIAM CARLSON SEARS. 

AmoDg tlie youuger business men of ^laeon none has a higher rank 
or is more entitled to respect and good will than William C. Sears, 
proprietor of the finn of W. C. Sears. Even in the short period of his 
activity in business circles in the city he has demonstrated that he is 
made of sterling stut¥ and imbued •with the proiier sj^irit of enterprise 
for a bustling and progressive community like that which his citizenship 
aids and adorns. 

Mr. Sears is a native of Macon, where he was born on September 
20, 1886, a son of the late AVilliam H. and Jennie (Thatcher) Sears, and 
a brother of Charles T. Sears, more extended mention of whom is made 
elsewhere in this volume. He obtained his education in the schools 
of his native city and immediately after leaving school began a prom- 
ising business career as a member of the mercantile firm of Sears 
& Sears, entering into partnershi^D with his brother, with whom he is 
associated also in the management of theatrical work in connection 
with Blees' Theatre in Macon. He is sedulous in his attention to busi- 
ness and, while aiding in the mercantile and Thesijian activities of the 
community, is, at the same time, building up a good reputation for 
himself. 

In politics he adheres to the principles and policies of the Demo- 
cratic party, but he is not an active partisan, although zealous for the 
best interests of the country and its people. He does his part as a citizen 
with fidelity to his convictions, leaving to others the duty of steering the 
ship of state and caring for its cargo. On June 10, 1908, he was mar- 
ried to Miss Lillian English, who is, like himself, a native of the city 
of Macon and well known and highly esteemed by its residents. 

y WILLIAM J. BIGGS. 

This eminent banker and influential financial potency of La Plata 
has been a resident of Missouri forty-three years, and during the whole 
of that period has been active in lines of endeavor which minister 
directly to the welfare of the people and hel]) to build up the state in its 
industrial, mercantile and commercial power, some of them also bearing 
immediately and favorably on the mental and moral agencies at work 
in every community. He became an orphan by the death of his i)arents 
while he was yet a youth, the father's life ending when the son was fif- 
teen years old and the mother's when he was seventeen. His career 
is, therefore, almost wholly the work of his own faculties and ])ersistent 
industry in the use of inherited traits of character. For he combined 




W. J. BIGGS 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 581 

in liis ancestry the sturdinoss of England and the enterprise and 
resourcefulness of this country; and, in the American portion of it, 
the shrewdness, thrift and self-reliance of New England, with the 
courtliness and chivalric manhood of tlie South. 

]\Ir. Biggs was born on January 24, 184G, at Alexandria, Ohio. His 
grandfather on the father's side came to this country from England 
and located in Maryland, where John Biggs, the father of William 
J., was born and reared. In his young manhood he followed his father's 
example and sought to broaden his prospects, increase his opportunities 
and enhance his fortunes by starting a career for himself in a new coun- 
tiy, and he moved to Ohio, then, in large measure, still a wild domain of 
undeveloped possibilities. He located in LicMng county, where he 
passed the remainder of his days industriously occupied with the devel- 
opment and improvement of his farm and the rearing of his children. 
In Ohio he met and married Miss Louise Atwood, a native of New 
Hampshire, and, like himself, a wanderer from her native heath, and 
in search of better opportunities for advancement in life. They became 
the parents of six children, all of whom grew to maturity and five of 
them are still living: Eli W., Maria L., Mary P., "William J. and Delia. 
The father died in Ohio in 1861 and the mother in 1863, and their 
remains were laid to rest amid the scenes their labors had rendered 
more attractive in a rapidly progressing section, to whose improve- 
ment they had essentially contributed, and to which they had become 
warmly attached. 

AVilliam J. Biggs reached man's estate in his native place and 
obtained his education in part in its district schools and in part at the 
Ohio . Wesleyan University. In 1866, when he was twenty years of 
age, he came to Missouri and found a new home in Macon county. He 
was a teacher in the public schools for a few years, then passed five as a 
clerk and salesman in a general store and as agent for an express com- 
pany. In 1876 he was made assistant cashier in the La Plata Savings 
Bank, and four years later, having become a stockholder and director 
of that institution, he was elected its cashier, a position he has held 
with credit to himself and benefit to the bank and its patrons ever 
since. In the management of the bank his policy has been enterprising 
and progressive, but also prudent and conservative of the interests 
of its stockholders, officers and depositors. Nothing in the way of 
approved modern banking features and methods has escaped his atten- 
tion or waited long for his adoption. But no element of speculation, 
however promising, has entered his plans at any time, and all wildcat 
schemes and glittering "get-rich-quick" allurements have been turned 



582 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

down with relentless and immediate dismissal. His prudence and sedu- 
lous care in financial operations are proverbial, while his breadth of 
view and enterprise are just what the conditions and circumstances 
require for the best results in expanding the business of the bank and 
retaining the high place it has in public conlidence and esteem. 

In the affairs of the town, townsliip and county Mr. Biggs takes an 
active and helpful interest, applying to them the same qualities of fore- 
sight, energy and breadth of view that have made him so successful in 
his private business. He is a cordial friend and a valuable aid to 
every worthy undertaking for advancing the interests or promoting 
the welfare of the people, and never shirks his portion of the burden 
involved. He served as a member of the school board for fifteen con- 
secutive years, winning high praise for his intelligence, enterprise and 
discrimination in the discharge of his official dutes from the jaatrons and 
pupils of the schools and the public in general. In politics he is a 
Eepublican, but, while always active in the service of his party, he never 
allows partisan considerations to overbear his sense of duty arid genu- 
ine concern for the welfare of the community in local campaigns. Fra- 
ternally he is connected with the Masonic order, in which he is a Knight 
Temjilar and Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and the Knights of Pythias. 
His religious affiliation is with the Protestant Episcopal church. In 
February, 1878, Mr. Biggs was married to Miss Rosa Miller, who was 
born and i-eared in this county. They have two children, their daugh- 
ters, Anna L., who is the wife of Leo W. McDavitt, and Bonnie B., who 
is now Mrs. Dr. Buckley of La Plata. Mr. Biggs has been eminently 
successful in all his undertakings and is regarded as one of the most 
substantial men in the township. He has also been faithful to every 
duty, public and j^rivate, and holds the rank throughout the county of 
a very prominent, influential and estimable citizen. All the members 
of the family enjoy universal esteem wherever they are known. 

FRANK COLFAX THORNBURGH, M. D. 
Like many other successful and progressive men in American 
liistory, who have dignified and adorned the professional walks of 
life, or reached eminence in public affairs. Dr. Frank Colfax Thorn- 
burgh, of the city of Macon, was prepared in part for his career by 
taking what may be called a post-graduate course in the great "univer- 
sity of the people" in this country. That is, after having himself 
enjoyed the benefits of a public school training, he brought them home 
to others by teaching school for a period of seven years, and thereby 
acquired a knowledge of hiunan nature which has been of great sdrv- 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 583 

ice to him, and which he could scarcely have acquired in any other way. 

Dr. Thorntiiirgh is a native of the state of Iowa and was horn 
on Decemher 4, 1868. His parents, Amos C. and Libby (Meeker) 
Thornlmrgh are natives, respectively, of Indiana and Vermont. They 
are still living and have their home at Unionville in this state. The 
father's life began at Salem, Indiana, in 1841. From that state he 
moved to Iowa and was occupied in farming until the beginning of the 
Civil war, when he joined the Union army and offered his life on the 
altar of his country for three years during that terrible conflict. He 
participated in seven great battles, facing death on every field, for his 
command was in the thick of the fight in each, but escaped unharmed. 

After the war he returned to Iowa and again engaged in farming. 
In 1871 he became a resident of this state, locating in Putnam county 
and there continuing to till the soil for his livelihood, while his love 
of his fellows found expression in valuable service to them as a min- 
ister of the gospel. He is now living retired from all active pursuits 
and passing the evening of his days in the retrospect of a well spent 
life, during which he performed with fidelity and cheerfulness every 
duty whose call he heard and recognized. On December 26, 1867, he 
was married to Miss Libby ]\[eeker, of Iowa, where he was then resid- 
ing. They became the parents of six children, five of whom are li^^ng : 
Dr. Frank C. ; "William B., a resident of Sedalia, Missouri; Hattie I., 
wife of James G. Grimes, of Kansas City; Effie Luella and Harley V. 
The father was very successful in all his undertakings and won his 
success and the general esteem in which he has been held wherever 
he has lived by his own merits and capacity. 

Dr. Frank C. Thornburgh grew to manhood at Unionville, Missouri. 
He began his education in the ijublic schools of that town and com- 
pleted it in a three-years' course at the Kirksville Normal School. After 
leaving the institution at Kirksville he taught school seven years. In 
1899 he matriculated at the HouKropathic College of Missouri, which 
is located in St. Louis, and from which he was graduated in 1904. 
Armed with his professional degree and his own self-reliance and readi- 
ness for any emergency, he at once began the practice of medicine at 
Unionville. But he deemed it advisable to seek a larger field of opera- 
tion, and accordingly, in July of the same year, moved to Macon. In 
this city he has ever since been steadily engaged in general i)ractice 
and by assiduous industry, close attention to business and skill in Ihe 
application of his large and varied fund of professional knowledge, has 
built up a very extensive practice and won for himself a high place 
in the esteem and good will of the conimunitv. 



584 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

In politics the Doctor is a Eepublican. He takes an active and 
serviceable interest in the atifairs of his partj", bears in every campaign 
his full share of the burden of work and responsibility, and aids in 
everj- way he can, both by wisdom in counsel and active efforts in the 
field, the cause in which he believes and to which he is devoted. In 
fraternal life he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, the Wood- 
men of the World and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. In 
the organizations devoted to the advancement of the science of medi- 
cine he also takes an active interest, being a member of the State Med- 
ical Society and the American Institute of Homoeopathy. He was 
married in 1904 to Miss Losie Clark, who was born and reared in 
Missouri. Their home is a center of refined and gracious hospitality 
and all the bland amenities of life. Like his father, the Doctor is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he takes a great inter- 
est in all the work of the organization and gives every i^ortion of it his 
active and intelligent support. He is also an active worker in the tem- 
perance cause and follows the teaching of the Bible in his practice and 
in all the walks of life. 

^ JOHN WILLIAM THOMPSON. 

Without the aid of fortime's favors or adventitious circumstances 
of any kind, but by steadj' ap]>lication and the sensible and judicious 
use of his faculties in hard and unremitting toil, John William Thomp- 
son, one of the leading business men of Macon, has won his way in the 
world to his present position of consequence and public esteem. He is 
essentially the architect of his own fortime, and the work he has made of 
it is highly to his credit. In every field of activity to which he has been 
called he has met the claims of duty faithfully, though arduous labor, 
personal peril and even death itself might be in the stake, and has never 
shirked or turned his back upon the obstacle that confronted him, 
whatever it might happen to be. 

Mr. Thompson was born on November 26, 1841, in IVfonroe county, 
this state, and is the son of Harvey and Sarah A. (Ballard) Thoniiison, 
the former a native of Rockingham county, Virginia, and the latter of 
Lexington, Kentucky. The father was born on April 11, 1810. and 
became a resident of Missouri in 1832. Ho locntod at Marion City and 
later moved to Macon county, where he farmed and carried on a profit- 
able mercantile business. He and his wife were the parents of seven 
sons and three daughters. Of these the following are living: John 
AVilliam; Eicliai'd A., of Ames, Oklahoma; Thomas J., of Gunnison, 
Colorado; Mattie E., of Kirksville, Missouri; Fannie E., wife of Dr. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 585 

William Watson, of ^louiid City, Missouri, and Robert Emmet, of 
jMeeker, Colorado. Harvey P. died August 11, l!t09. 

The father was a contractor and builder, and pursued his chosen 
line of enterprise from his early manhood until his death. He was an 
early settler in this part of the state and ])uilt the first houses in the 
present city of Macon. He was also prominent in the public affairs 
of the community and rendered excellent service to the people for a 
number of years as a justice of the peace. He was a Democrat in 
politics and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 
religious affiliation. 

John William Thompson was reared and educated in Randolph 
and Macon counties, Missouri, and reached the dawn of his manhood 
just when the long gathering storm of civil war burst upon the coun- 
try with all its violence. In his young and enthusiastic vision the 
path of duty led to the field of conflict in defense of what he had been 
taught to believe the correct theory of government, and he joined the 
Confederate army in 1861. He served four years in the awful struggle, 
facing death on many a gory field, and finally saw the tattered banner 
under which he had fought go down in everlasting defeat. Among the 
leading engagements in which he took part were the battles of Lexing- 
ton, Pea Ridge and Baker's Creek and the sieges of Corinth and Vicks- 
burg. He was once made prisoner and then suffered the privations and 
hardships of close confinement for a period of seventeen months. 

After the close of the war he returned to IMacon and soon afterward 
went to Montana, where he remained nine years engaged in mining. 
In December, 1873, he came again to Macon, and for several years there- 
after was employed by the firm of T. E. Sharpe & Co. in shipi^ing leaf 
tobacco. In 1879 he began a four years' service as manager of a grain 
elevator in which he was also a stockholder. In 1888 he moved to 
Marceline, in this state, and engaged in the lumber business. The 
next year, however, he transferred the seat of his operations in this 
line to Macon. He continued dealing in lumber in that city until 1891, 
when he changed to the grocery trade, which he conducted until Janu- 
ary, 1901. He then became general manager of the North Missouri 
Tjumber Company, of JMacon, and he is still acting in that capacity. 

Mr. Thompson was married on June 27, 1876, to Miss Lida E. Horn • 
back, of Macon. They have three children, their daughters, Eugenia 
E., who is the wife of P. A. Thomas, of Palmyra, Missouri; Nanny E. 
and Bernice H. The head of the house is an ardent Democrat in ]iolitics 
and always takes an active part in the campaigns of his party. He has 
served it well and wisely in counsel, most effectively in action and with 



586 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

decided credit to himself and benefit to tlie people in official station, 
having been a member of the city council for four consecutive years and 
also a member of the board of public works. He is connected with 
the business of the communitj' in a variety of ways, one of them being 
as a stockholder in the building and loan association. In relignous faith 
he follows the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 
But, while he is loyal to his church, he is not ostentatious in pi-oclaim- 
ing the fact, or in any way intolerant toward the views of those who 
differ with him in religious opinions. 

Mr. Thompson has been very successful in his undertakings and he 
owes his success to his own capacities and energies. He is regarded 
as one of the ])est and wisest ])usiness men of Macon county, and he 
has won this reputation by demonstrating in his career that he deserves 
it. He is highly esteemed as a citizen, also, and in this relation stands 
second to none, and for the same reason. He has met all the obliga- 
tions of citizenshij") in a straightforward and manly manner, proving 
on all occasions that his interest in the community is earnest and is 
based on a high sense of duty and local patriotism. 

CHAELES WILLIAM REAGAN, M. D. 

The life of a countrj' physician, always full of sacrifices and priva- 
tion, is especially a destiny of hardship and trial on the frontier or in 
any new or undeveloped country. Climatic and other conditions 
increase and intensify his duties, and the very circumstances of the 
case render them much more difficult of performance than in older 
and more populous communities. Yet his life is one of the inost 
useful to his kind, its value being augmented in proportion to the exac- 
tions laid upon it. He ministers directly to the relief of suffering 
humanity, and often when it has no other means of relief or assistance. 

The early professional career of Dr. Charles W. Reagan, of Macon, 
is an apt and forcible illustration of this fact. He began his pro- 
fessional work in this part of the world at a time when the country 
was comparatively new and practically imsettled, and he was obliged 
to undergo all the hardships and privations of such a condition, and 
submit to all its e.xactions. But lie bore his lot bravely and cheerfully, 
and in time secured the guerdon of his fidelity in the regard and good 
will of all the ])eople, to saj' nothing of more material returns and the 
a]»)u-oval of his own conscience for the faithful and unremitting per- 
formance of his duty. 

Dr. Reagan was born on June 30, 1856, in Audrain county, this 
state, and is tJic son of William A. and Agnes E. (Keid) Reagan, the 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 587 

former a native of Georgia and the latter of Virginia. The father was 
born on .June 13, I80O, and in 1853 moved to Missouri, wliere he gave 
his attention to farming. He was married on March 17, 1853, to ^liss 
Agnes E. Eeid, not long before he set his face toward the setting snn 
and journeyed to a new home amid its still almost primeval natural con- 
ditions. He and his wife became the parents of seven children, four 
of whom are living: Charles W., Nathaniel R., Mrs. Mamie E. How (a 
widow), and Dr. Sterling M., now a resident of Oregon. 

Dr. Charles W. Reagan was reared in his native county and began 
his education in its public schools. Later he attended New AVindsor 
college in the town of that name in Carroll county, Maryland. In 1882 
he entered the State University at Columbia, Missouri, from the med- 
ical dei^artment of whicli he was graduated in 1884 with the degree of 
J\l. D. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in Macon 
countj', where he continued it three years, then moved to Audrain 
county, in which he was an active practice nine years. At the end of 
that period he took up his residence and pursued his i)rofessional duties 
in the city of St. Louis for four years. In October, 1899, he settled 
in this county, making his home in the city of Macon, and here he has 
evei- since resided and been in active practice. 

In this connnunity he has given close and careful attention to his 
calling, and at the same time has taken a zealous and helpful interest 
in the public affairs of the county, being among the foremost in every 
worthy undertaking for the advancement of the county and the welfare 
of its people. In 1907 he was appointed health officer of Macon county, 
a position in which he is still rendering excellent service and winning- 
good opinions from all classes of the citizens for the efficiency and fidel- 
ity of his work. He is also physician to the county jail, and as health 
officer has charge of all cases of infectious and contagious diseases in 
the county. 

Dr. Reagan's technical instruction and training at the State Uni- 
versity did not complete his professional education. During the whole 
of his practice he has been a thoughtful student and reflective observer 
in the wide domain of medical science, and has also kept in touch with 
the most advanced thought and practical e.\i)erience in connection with 
it by a diligent perusal of its literature, lie has, in addition, mingled 
freely with his professional brethren and had intimate intercourse 
with them in the associations formed among them for the jiurijose. He 
is a member of the county, state and national medical associations, and 
counselor for the Tenth District for the Missouri State Medical Asso- 
ciation for past four years, and takes an active part in the jiroceedings 



588 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

of each, contributing to their discourses and drawing what information 
and inspiration he can from their deliberations. 

In fraternal life the Doctor is a member of the Masonic order, the 
Woodmen of the AVorld and the Knights of Pythias. He was married 
in 1886 to Miss Maud Landree, who was born in Bloomington, Missouri. 
They have three children, their sons, Charles W., Jr., and Cody S., 
and their daughter, Agnes Lucille. Dr. Reagan has been eminently suc- 
cessful in his practice and has reached the first rank in his profession 
in this part of the country. He is looked upon as one of the leading and 
most representative men in the community and is held in the highest 
esteem in all parts of the county. Moreover, he has richly earned the 
laurels he so modestly wears, for he has, in all respects, been an 
exemplary citizen — an upright, serviceable, manly man. 

^ OSCAR SANDUSKY. 

Earnest and energetic from his youth in the stirring activities of 
life, whether as employe or employer, mechanic, merchant or general 
business man, faithful and true to every requirement in pi'ivate life 
and ofScial station, Oscar Sandusky, of Macon, has honestly won the 
esteem in which he is universally held and the place he occupies as one 
of the leading and. most representative citizens of the community in 
which he lives. 

He was born on January 31, 1871, in Sullivan, Indiana, and is a 
son of the late Samuel and Sarah A. (Knotts) Sandusky, a sketch of 
whom appears elsewhere in this volume. At the age of six he came 
with his parents to Missouri, finding a home in Marion county, and 
there receiving his education and remaining until he reached the age of 
fifteen. After leaving school he assisted his father on the farm for a 
time, then took up his residence in Kansas City, this state, where he was 
employed in various capacities for a time. 

In 1886 he became a resident of Macon county, and for eleven 
years thereafter operated a barber shop on his own account. There 
were, however, asjtirations and activities within him which cried aloud 
for larger alfairs and more fruitful opportunities, and in due time ho 
yielded to them. In 1905 he formed a partnership with T. E. Wisdom 
to engage in the real estate, loan and insurance business, which con- 
tinued until 1909. He also conducted a grocery establishment under 
the firm name of Sandusky & Co. The success which followed his 
entrance into the mercantile field has fully justified his faith in making 
the change and demonstrated that the voice of nature, in selecting the 
occupations of men, if properly interpreted, should always be heeded. 



^ 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 589 

Mr. Sandusky has risen to the hrst rank among the business men of the 
county, and has won the place by his own capacity, energy and acumen, 
without any favors of fortune or adventitious circumstances. His suc- 
cess, which has been pre-eminent, is all his own and all the more 
creditable to him on that account. 

But his achievements in mercantile pursuits are not the only fac- 
tors in his general popularity and the high respect in which he is held. 
He has at all times taken a very active interest in the affairs of the 
county, and been foremost in the promotion of every commendable 
enterjjrise for its advancement and the good of its people. No work 
of jDublic improvement and no effort for the enlargement of the moral^ 
mental or educational forces of the community has ever gone without 
his active aid or been left without the beneht of his influence and wise 
counsel. 

His political affiliation is with the Democratic party, and in the 
service of that organization he has for many years been diligent and 
zealous to the full extent of his powers. In 1900 he was elected treas- 
urer of Macon county, filling the office with great acceptability and 
fidelity until 1904. Since 1905 he has been covmty committeeman of 
his poUtical party and as such has been one of the most forceful 
Ijotencies in conducting the affairs of the party. Fraternally he belongs 
to the Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Eagles, the Modern 
AVoodmen and the Court of Honor. 

In June, 189-4, he was married to Miss Mary M. Weakley, a resi- 
dent of Macon. They have two children, Mionette, who is thirteen years 
old, and Eobert Oscar, who has reached the age of five. Their home 
is a center of genial and refined hospitality and an exemplification 
of every domestic and social virtue. 

^ SAMUEL SANDUSKY. 

The life story of this estimable man, who dignified and adorned the 
citizenship of his country by usefulness and manly industry in three 
of its great commonwealths, is full of interest at every period from 
the dawn of his manhood to the close of his suggestive and instructive 
career. True, it is, in the main, an oft-told tale, especially in the mid- 
dle and western sections of the land, but it has individual and personal 
features which give it special distinctiveness and im]iortance. 

Mr. Sandusky was born in Missouri when the whole of what now 
forms one of the great and progressive states of the American union 
was almost an unbroken wilderness, not yet aroused from its sleep of 
ages by the voice of American progress, and wlien its people were 



590 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

obliged to undergo all the perils and hardships of pioneer life. But 
he was a worthy representative of the hardy and enduring race to which 
he belonged and the heroic time in which his life began. 

At an early age he removed with his parents to Sullivan county, 
Indiana, where he was reared and educated. That state was also, dur- 
ing his boyhood and youth, a frontier locality and still very largely 
undeveloped. So that he entered at once upon the trying duties to which 
he had been born, and continued in the discharge of thepi almost until 
his earthly career ended. 

In 1849, when the golden music of California enraptured all lands 
and peoples with its seductive channs, he joined the argonauts who 
crossed the plains to the promising Eldorado of the period, and became 
one of the heroic band of courageous adventurers whom history has 
embalmed in the significant and poetic name of "The Forty-Niuers." 
He remained in California until 185-t, when he was united in marriage 
with Miss Sarah A. Kuotts, a native of Indiana, who is still living and 
has her home in the state in which her life began. They became the 
parents of eleven children, ten of whom are living. 

In 1877 the family moved to ^Missouri, locating in Marion county, 
where it remained until 1885. In that year the jjarents, with the chil- 
dren who were still at home, took up their residence in this county, 
whore they continued farming, the industry in which they had engaged 
in Clarion county. By thrift and industry they made their way in the 
world, and l)y the uprightness, consistency and usefulness of their 
daily walk among the people they won the confidence and high regard 
of all who became acquainted with them. They performed with fidelity 
every duty to which they were called, and exhibited at all times the 
freedom of intercourse with an open-handed hospitality toward all 
comers for which the West has ever been noted. 

The father passed away, esteemed by the whole connnunity in 
which he lived and deeply mourned by hosts of friends who admired 
and revered him. The children who are living are: John F., a resident 
of S]iokane. Washington; Samantha, wife of T. B. S))ringer of Sullivan 
county, Indiana ; Ella, wife of T. E. "Wyne of Sullivan, in the same 
county; Alice, wife of John Claggett, also a resident of Indiana; 
Charles "\V., who lives in Quincy, Illinois; ^lurray E., treasurer of 
Macon county, Missouri ; Oscar, who lives in this county and is engaged 
in the real estate, loan and insurance business, a sketch of whom will 
be found on another page of this work; Katherine, wife of Finley Pugh 
of Sullivan, Indiana; .Louise, wife of George A. Davis of Kansas Cily, 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 591 

Missouri; and Xauuie P., wife of Edward Tliompson, also of Kansas 
City, [Missouri. • 

In politics the father was a firm and faithful Democrat. Tn fra- 
ternal life he was a member of the Masonic Order; and in religious 
afiiliation he was allied with the Southern Methodist ehuroli. Exem- 
lilifying throughout his career the best traits of sturdy and ui)riglit 
American citizenship, meeting with self-reliance and independence 
every }n'oper claim on his time and faculties and dealing with all men in 
strict accordance with the Golden Rule, his life is an examjjle to all who 
know of it, and his memory is warmly cherished liy all who knew him. 
He lived in the stirring times and bravely he met their responsibilities. 
He dwelt amid the scenes and activities of ]ieaceful industries, and dili- 
gently he took his part and performed his duty in connection with them. 
In every situation he was a sti'ong, resourceful and manly man, without 
ostentation in his daily life, but without fear in any cri.sis. 

^ THOMAS D. THOMAS, JR. 

Mr. Thomas is recognized as one of tlie alert and progressive 
business men of the younger generation in his native city and county 
and is essentially and deeply loyal as a citizen of the county and state 
in which it has been his to attain a large measure of success in con- 
nection with practical commercial and industrial activities and in which 
his circle of friends is limited only by that of his acciuaintances. 

Thomas D. Thomas, Jr., was born in Bevier, this county, on the 
24th of November, 1869, and is a son of Thomas D. Thomas, Sr. of whom 
specific mention is made on other pages of this volume, so that a repe- 
tition of the data is not demanded in the sketch at hand. Mr. Thomas 
is indebted to the public schools of Bevier for his early educational 
training, and after leaving school he was associated with his father 
in the work and management of the farm, located in Callao township, 
about four miles west of Bevier and comi)rising 115 acres. He con- 
tinued to be actively indentified with agricultural pursuits and stock- 
growing for a period of about fifteen years, at the expiration of which 
he located in the city of Bevier, where he became one of the interested 
principals in the firm of A. D. Thonuis & Company, which conducts one 
of the largest and most successful general merchandise establishments 
in the county, and with this concern he has since been actively identified, 
maintaining a status as one of the liberal and enteri)rising merchants of 
his native place. Though he has had no predilection for the honors 
or emoluments of i)ublic office, ^[r. Thomas is found enlisted as a 
staunch supporter of the principles and policies of the Reimblican 



592 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

party, and both he and his wife are zealous members of the First Con- 
gregational church of Bevier. In a fraternal way he is identified with 
the local organization of the Knights of Pythias. 

On the 21st of March, 1894, Mr. Thomas was united in marriage to 
Miss Elva M. Fillers, of Callao, this county, in which she was born and 
reared, and of their four children three are living: Ealph, Verbena and 
Wendell. 

OTHO F. MATTHEWS. 

This gentleman, who was recently elected mayor of the city of 
Macon by a majority of 250 votes over his Kepublican opponent, 
although the city is normally Republican by a majority of 80 to 100, 
is a native of the city •and has passed the whole of his life to this time, 
except during his absence while attending school, among its people. 
The electorate of the city, therefore, sustained his candidacy with full 
knowledge of his character and record, and on these they impressively 
placed the stamp of their apjDroval. 

Mr. Matthews was born in ]\Iacon on May 21, 1875, and is just 
thirty-live years old. He is a son of Judge R. S. Matthews, a sketch of 
whose life will be found in this work, and reference to it is made for the 
earlier history of the family. He was educated in the schools of Macon, 
being graduated from the high school in 1890. He then attended the 
University of Missouri two years, and afterward the Cumberland Uni- 
versity at Lebanon, Tennessee, from which he was graduated with the 
degree of A. B., with the class of 1896. Having selected the law as his 
profession, he bagan the study of it in his father's office, and in Septem- 
ber, 1897, was admitted to the bar through an examination conducted 
by Judge Aiidrew Ellison. 

After his admission to the bar he at once formed a partnership 
with his father under the firm name of E. S. Matthews & Son, and as 
a member of this firm he has been actively and continuously engaged 
in the practice of law ever since. In 1904 he was a candidate for the 
office of prosecuting attorney, but was defeated at the primary election. 
But his defeat in his first attempt to secure an office in the service of the 
people had no effect on his devotion to his party or his ardor in its 
service except to increase them. He has been a life-long Democrat, 
and even before the dawn of his manhood was an earnest and effective 
worker for the success of his political organization. His attitude in 
this respect has never wavered, and his party work has been highly 
appreciated by both the leaders of his party and its rank and file, his 
effectiveness as a campaigner being universally admitted. 




*^v *--<#^' 




OTHO F MATTHEWS 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 593 

Mr. Matthews also takes an active interest and a leading part in 
the fraternal and social life of the conmuuiity. He is a iiromiuent mem- 
ber of the Order of Elks and belongs to other organizations of worth 
which are promotive of intellectual, moral and social interests among 
the peoi3le. His religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church 
of the United States of America, and is one of the trustees and the 
treasurer of the Presbyterian board of the McGee Presbytery. 

In the local affairs of the city of Macon Mr. Matthews has taken 
a warm and serviceable interest from his youth, and since he became a 
man and voter he has been at the front in every movement for the 
advancement of the citj' that commended itself to his judgment. This 
activity in behalf of the city's welfare, and the knowledge of its needs 
which he has displayed therein for years gave him a great hold on the 
confidence and regard of its people as one of its best and most judicious 
friends, and this fact counted strongly in his favor in the late municipal 
election, in which, as has been noted, he reversed long standing party 
majorities and led all candidates of his party, past and present, in the 
vote he received as a candidate for the mayoralty of the city. He was 
swept into the office, in fact, on a tidal wave of public confidence and 
enthusiasm, which is a strong testimonal to his public spirit and his 
private worth. And his past record in every relation in life fully justifies 
the confidence of the people which elected him and the high expectations 
they have of his uprightness, breadth of view and strict adherence to the 
best interests of the community in the discharge of his official duties. 

Mr. Matthews was married on December 25, 1901, to Miss Mary 
Alby Anderson, a granddaughter of Thomas L. Anderson, who for years 
represented the First Missouri district in the congress of the United 
States and was widely known as a distinguished lawyer and orator. 
She is the daughter of "William R. Anderson, one of the leading 
lawj'ers of Palmyra and a niece of the late Eufus Anderson of Hannibal 
in this state. Mrs. Matthews is a lady of talent and high culture in 
literary maters. Many products of her facile and graceful pen have 
won reputation for her and brought her high approval in public opinion 
and the press. One in particular is her novel entitled "Love vs. Law," 
which was very extensively sold throughout the country and received 
hosts of very favoralile notices in the newspapers and literary mag- 
azines. She is in addition a member of the l)ar, and before her marriage 
served with ability as city attorney of Palmyra. She is also a member 
of the organization known as the Daughters of the American Revolution, 
and a lady of the highest social rank in Macon, and wherever else the 
jjeople have knowledge of her she is held in the highest esteem. 



594 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

/ AUSTIN A. CLYMANS. 

Until the death of his honored brother, the late "William A. 
Clymans, to whom a memorial tribute is dedicated on other pages of this 
work, the subject of this sketch was associated with him in the grocery 
business which he has since conducted in an individual way, being 
numbered among the representative merchants and intiueutial citizens 
of the flourishing little city of Bevier, where he has maintained his 
home since 1891. 

Austin A. Clymans was born in Fulton county, Pennsylvania, on 
the 30th of Aug-ust, 1849, and was reared and educated in the old 
Keystone state, where his parents, Eobert and Susanna (Woods) Cly- 
mans, passed their entire lives. As a young man the subject of this 
review became identilied with railroad interests in his native state, 
where he also taught in the common schools for a time. He learned the 
blacksmith trade under the able direction of his father, and followed 
the same as a vocation for a number of years. He continued his resi- 
dence in Pennsylvania until the year of 1891, when he came to Missouri 
and joined bis elder brother, the late William A. Clymans, in the 
grocery business in Bevier. Since the death of his brother, in 1905, 
he has successfully continued the enterprise, and his establishment is 
one of the best of its kind in the city, catering to a large and rejire- 
seutative patronage. Mr. CIjToans has made judicious and extensive 
investments in local real estate, and in this connection is the owner of 
a number of valuable business buildings in Bevier. He is a stockholder 
of the State Bank of Bevier, and as a citizen he is essentially i)ro- 
gressive and public-spirited, taking a lively interest in all that touches 
and advances the general welfare of his home city and county. In 
politics he is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Kepul)- 
lican party and in 1890, while residing at Fulton county, Pennsylvania, 
he served as United States census enumerator. He has been identified 
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for the past quarter of a 
century, and in the same his affiliation is now with Fort Littleton 
Lodge, No. 484, of Fort Littleton, Pennsylvania. Both he and his wife 
are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and they are held in 
high esteem in the community with whose best social interests and 
activities they have closely identified themselves. 

In the year 1879 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Clymans 
to Miss Virginia Wagner, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania, 
where their marriage occurred. Concerning the children of this union 
the following brief record is consistently entered : Susan is a successful 



HISTORY OF iFACOX COITXTY 595 

and popular teacher in the public schools of the state of Kansas, and is 
at present (1909) located in Whiting, that state; Clarence is employed 
by the Smith, McCord & Townsend Dry Goods Company, of Jvansas 
City, this state; Almina is a popular teacher in the public schools of 
Bevier; and Harriet is attending the home schools, being thirteen 
years of age at the time of this writing. Capitola a teacher of this 
county is now at home. 

V WILLIAM A. CLYMANS. 

In the civic and industrial affairs of Macon county the late William 
A. CljTnans played an important part during the many years of his 
residence here, and he was honored as one of the substantial business 
men and sterling citizens of the county. He passed the closing years 
of his life in the city of Bevier, where he died on the 10th of August, 
1905, and where he is held in gracious memory by all who were familiar 
with his generous and worthy life and well directed service as one of 
the world's workers. 

Mr. CljTnans was a scion of one of the old and honored families 
of the Old Keystone state of the Union, and was one of its native sons. 
He Tvas born in Bedford, now Fulton county, Pennsylvania, in the year 
1839 and was a sou of Robert and Susanna (Woods) Clymans, both of 
whom were likewise natives of Pennsylvania, where they passed their 
entire lives and where the father long followed the sturdy trade of 
blacksmith. Of the ten children in the family only two are now living, 
Almira, who is the wife of Thomas L. Marshall of Wliiting, Kansas; 
and Austin A., of Bevier, Missouri. Robert Clymans died in 1889 and 
his cherished and devoted wife passed to the life eternal in Ai)ril, 1891. 

William A. Clymans, the subject of this memoir, secured his educa- 
tional discipline in the schools of his native state, and that he made 
good use of his scholastic opportunities is evident when recognition is 
taken of the fact that for several years he was a successful and jiojiular 
teacher in the common schools of his native commonwealth. He tendered 
his services in defense of the cause of the Union at the time of the Civil 
war, having enlisted in 1864, as a member of Company H,Two Hundred 
and Fifth Pennsylvania \'olunteer Infantry, and having been appointed 
as clerk at department headquarters, in which capacity he continued to 
serve until the close of the war, when he received his honorable dis- 
charge. As a youth he had learned the blacksmith trade under the 
direction of his father, and after the termination of his army service 
he removed to the state of Michigan, where he was employed at liis 
trade for a time. In 1868 Mr. CljTnans came to Missouri and located 



596 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

in the village of Clarence, Shelby county, whence the later removed to 
Bevier, with whose business and civic interests he was thereafter iden- 
tified until his death. Upon taking up his residence in Bevier Mr. 
Clynians engaged in the grocery business, in which he continued about 
one year, at the expiration of which he established himself in the gen- 
eral-merchandise business, in which he contimied for a number of years, 
being one of the leading merchants of the town and controlling a repre- 
sentative trade, based upon adequate service and upon pojjular apjire- 
ciation of his sterling integrity and honor. He was a stockholder and 
director of the State Bank of Bevier. 

In politics Mr. Clymans gave a stalwart allegiance to the cause of 
the Democratic party, in the promotion of which he took a lively 
interest. He served as justice of the peace for more than twenty years, 
and this indicates most emphatically the confidence reposed in him 
by the people of the community. He was also a school director for 
many terms. Deeply appreciative of the time-honored Masonic fra- 
ternity, he was affiliated with Bloomington Lodge, Free and Accepted 
Masons, in Bevier, and both he and his wife held membership in the 
Methodist Episcopal church of this city. The maiden name of his wife 
was Harriet Struuk, she was a widow when he married her, and she 
too was a native of Pennsylvania, where their marriage was solemnized 
in 1862. They became the parents of two children, both of whom are 
deceased, and Mrs. Clymans was summoned to eternal rest in 1889. Mr. 
Clymans' brother, Austin A., was associated with him in business at 
Bevier and is the subject of an individual sketch elsewhere in this 
volume. > 

^ JOHN F. RICHARDS. 

A representative of one of the honored families of Macon county, 
which has been his home from the time of his nativity, John Fvanklih 
Richards is well upholding the prestige of the name he bears and is one 
of the essentially representative farmers and stock-growers of the 
county, besides which he is vice-president of the State Bank of Bevier 
and is known as one of the substantial business men of this favored 
section of the state. For detailed mention concerning the life of his 
honored father, the late John Richards, reference may be made to the 
special memoir to the latter appearing on other pages of this work. 

John Franklin Richards was born in Bevier, Macon county, Mis- 
souri, on the 2.3rd of September, 1866, and was here reared to maturity, 
having early begun to assist in the work of his father's farm and 
having been alTorded the advantage of the well conducted public schools 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 597 

of the village of Bevier, which is now incorporated as a city. He has 
continued to he actively identified with the great hasic industry of 
agriculture during his entire business career, and in this inii)ortant 
field of enterprise he has been exponent of the most advanced scientific 
methods and the most progressive policy, so that his success has been 
on a parity with the splendid forces and energies he has brought to 
bear. He maintains his home in Bevier and his fine homestead farm, 
comprising 390 acres, is located about one-half mile south of this city, 
in Bevier township, being a portion of the fine landed estate accumu- 
lated by his father. Mr. Richards is one of the principal stockholders 
of the State Bank of Bevier and is a valued member of its directorate 
as well as its vice-president, of which latter position he has been 
incumbent since 1901. 

In politics, though never a seeker of official preferment of any 
description, Mr. Richards is aligned as a staunch supporter of the 
principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor; 
lie is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, and his wife holds membership in the Welsh Congre- 
gational church of Bevier, being actively identified with its work. 

On the 23rd of Se]itember, 1896, was solemnized the marriage of 
Mr. Richards to Miss Jennie A. Davis, who was born in Wales and 
who was a child at the time of her parents' immigration to America. 
She is the daughter of Edward A. and Ann (Jones) Davis. Mr. and 
Mrs. Richards have one child, John Franklin, .Jr., who was born on the 
16th of December, 1897. 

"" JOHN RICHARDS. 

The late John Richards long maintained his home is Macon county 
and he left upon its history the record of a well ordered and beneficent 
life. He did his share in the development and civic progress of the 
county, was one of its extensive and essentially representative farmers, 
and was a man who ever merited and received the unciualified con- 
fidence and esteem of his fellow men. He achieved success and inde- 
pendence through his own etforts and his loyalty to the land and state 
of liis adoption was ever of the most insistent type. He died on his 
fine homestead farm, in Bevier township, this county, on the 28th of 
June, 1898, and in his passing away the county lost one of its most 
valued and honored citizens, — a man whose character repi'csented those 
high ideals that are the best and most enduring in the scheme of human 
thought and action. 

John Richards was a scion of a long line of sturdy Welsh ancestors 



598 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

and was liimself a native of tlie southern jiart of Wales, having been 
born on the Ehyw farm, near Bnillt, Eadnorshire, on the l-itli of 
October, 1818, so that at the time of his demise he lacked only a few 
months of being eighty years of age. His parents passed their entire 
lives in "Wales. In the schools of his native land John Eichards secured 
his early educational training and when he was eighteen years of age he 
located at Dowlais, South Wales, where was solemnized his marriage 
to Miss Elizabeth AVatkins. He became one of the substantial citizens 
and influential business men of that section, having been for nineteen 
years contractor in the working of the Cwmbargaed coal mine. 

In 1862 Mr. Eichards came with his family to America and he first 
located in Pennsylvania, purchasing a farm near Ogdensburg, that 
state, where he remained two years, at the expiration of which he sold 
his farm and came to Missouri. He made Macon County his destina- 
tion and here he purchased a farm, in Bevier township, eventually add- 
ing to its area imtil he had a fine landed estate of 390 acres. His energy, 
I^rogressiveness and excellent business judgment enable him to attain 
a high degree of success in connection with his farming and stock- 
growing operations, and he finally gained i^recedence as one of the lead- 
ing representatives of the agricultural industry in Macon county. He 
made substantial improvements on his homestead, including the erection 
of excellent buildings, and he was a man of too broad intellectuality and 
too generous and noble spirit to hedge himself in with mere personal 
advancement, having ever shown a deep interest in all that tended 
to conserve the material and civic advancement of the county and the 
moral and educational progress of its people. His first wife died in 
1878, at Eome, New York, where they had maintained their home for a 
brief interval, and of the thirteen children of this union, five attained 
to years of maturity. The second wife of Mr. Eichards died in 1885, 
leaving no children, and in 1887 was solemnized his marriage to Mrs. 
Elizabeth Thom, who died in November, 1906. No children were born 
of the third union. 

John Eichards was a thorough, practical and progressive business 
man, and his clear judgment, his iirom])tness, uprightness and decisive 
action in connection with his business affairs gained to him a large 
measure of success in temporal affairs, so that he became one of the 
wealthiest and most successful farmers of the county, while he so 
ordered his course in all its relations as to retain the inviolable respect 
and esteem of his fellow men. INlr. Eichards was a man of sjiecially 
deep and sincere religious convictions, and few men in secular life havo 
had a broader and more intimate knowledge of the Bible. For many 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 599 

years he was a most zealous worker in the Sunday school and in other 
departments of religious enterprise, and lie was a most earnest and 
devout member of the Welsh Congregational church. Of the live chil- 
dren who attained to maturity two are now deceased — Anna, who 
became the wife of John J. Jones and who died in 1871 ; and Hon. David 
D. Richards, who was a distingihshed citizen of Macon coimty, which 
he represented in the legislature in 1885-87 and who died in 1889. The 
surviving children are : Thomas, who is a successful business man of the 
city of Butte, Montana ; Elizabeth, who is the wife of Benjamin Howell, 
of Eock Springs, Wyoming ; and John F., of whom individual mention 
is made on other pages of this volume. Mr. Richards was a Republican 
in his political proclivities, and while he ever took an intelligent interest 
in the questions and issues of the day he was never a seeker of public 
ofiSce. He was, nevertheless, a man of influence in his community, and 
every worthy measure and enterprise projected for the general well- 
being of his township and county found in him a liberal and ready sui> 
jjorter. He made his life count for good in all its relations and his name 
merits an enduring place on the roll of those who have been numbered 
among the sterling and valued citizens of Macon county. 

LUTHER W. RYALS. 

This representative business man and honored citizen of Bevier 
has passed the major portion of his life in Macon county and is a son 
of the late WilHam Ryals. 

Luther W. Ryals was born in Randolph county, Missouri, and in 
1856 his parents removed to Macon county, where he was reared to 
maturity and where he gained his earlier educational discipline in the 
public schools, after which he continued his studies in the Missouri 
State Normal School at Kirksville, for two years. After leaving this 
institution he put his scholastic acquirements to practical test and utili- 
zation by turning his attention to the ])edagogic profession, in which 
connection he was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools 
of his native state for a period of four years. In 1882 he located in 
the village of Callao, Macon county, where he was associated with 
F. Theodore Mayhew in the general merchandise business for three 
years, at the expiration of which period, in 1885, he became traveling 
representative for the Brogher, Force & Goodhuyer Hat Company, of 
St. Louis, with which inqtortant concern he continued for the long inter- 
val of fourteen years, within which he gained a high rejiutation as a suc- 
cessful and popular salesman and formed a wide and re])resentative 
acquaintance throughout the extended trade territory which he covered. 



600 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

He became a stockholder of the company and retained his interest in 
the same until 1899, when he disposed of his stock and located in the 
little city of Bucklin, ]SIissouri, where he entered into partnership with 
Joseph Claybrook in the general mercantile business. This alliance 
continued for four years, at the expiration of which ^Nlr. Ryals pur- 
chased the interest of Mr. Claybrook who died that year, and in 1904 
he associated liimself with Thomas D. Thomas in the same line of enter- 
prise in the thriving little city of Bevier, where he has since continued 
to be identified with the general merchandise business, under the firm 
name of Rj'als & Thomas. The well equipped and admirably stocked 
establishment of the firm is one that controls a large and substantial 
trade and the interested principals are known as progressive and liberal 
business men and public-spirited citizens, — well worthy of the 
unqualified esteem in which they are held in this community. 

In politics Mr. liyals has been a loyal and zealous su])porter of the 
cause of the Democratic party and has been active in its work in a local 
way. He has been the candidate of his party for the offices of county 
clerk and county recorder, but met defeat in each instance, with the 
remainder of the party ticket in the county. In the spring of 1909 he 
was elected a member of the city council of Bevier, and he has proved 
a most valuable and popular member of this municipal body, in which 
he has made every possible effort to conserve good governmental poli- 
cies and to further the general interests of his home city. He is affil- 
iated with the local organizations of the Knights of Pythias and the 
Knights & Ladies of Security. 

In the year 1888 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ryals to Miss 
Clela Claybrook, who was born and reared in Macon county and who is 
a daughter of the late Joseph Claybi'ook, an honored citizen of this 
section of the state. Of the two children of this union one is living, 
Eay, who was born on the 22nd of September, 1890, and who is now 
associated with his father in business. 

JAMES F. WILLIAMS. 

James Franklin Williams, one of the representative business men 
and popular citizens of Bevier, where he is engaged in the jewelry 
business, is a native of West Virginia and was ushered into the world 
at a time when that commonwoalth was enduring the ravages of the 
Civil war. He was born in Harrison county. West \'irginia, in the 
year 1862 and is a son of Isaac and Martha (Shahan) Williams, both of 
whom were born in West Virginia, which was then an integral jiortion 
of the Old Dominion state. Thev came to Missouri in 1870 and took 



HISTOEY OF MACOIir COUNTY 601 

up their residence in ^lacou county, where the father was for a nnml)er 
of years engaged in farming, after which he conducted a meat market 
in Bevier, where he continued to maintain liis iiome until liis death, 
which occurred in 1884. Of his four children two are living, the subject 
of this sketch being the younger and Isaac Richard being a resident of 
Bevier, where he is engaged in mining. The mother is still living and 
is now the wife of John Bimdiou, of Callao. Isaac Williams was a 
staunch Democrat in his political proclivities and took an active part 
in the promotion of the party cause, though he never sought or held 
public office. He was a man of sterling integrity of character, was a 
member of the Presbyterian church, and he ever commanded the 
contidence and esteem of his fellow men. 

James Franklin Williams was a lad of eight years at the time of 
the family removal to Missouri and he was reared to manhood in Macon 
county. His educational training was secured in the public schools 
of the old town of Bloomington, and after leaving school he became 
associated with his father in the meat-market business in Bevier. He 
continued the business individually after the death of his father, but in 
1887 disposed of the same and established himself in the jewelry busi- 
ness, in connection with which he opened and conducted a barber shop. 
The latter department of the enterprise he sold in 1907, since which time 
he has continued the jewelry business, in which he has a large and 
substantial trade, based upon fair and honorable dealings and also upon 
his unreserved personal popularity. His well equipped store is one 
of the well ecjuipped and attractive retail establishments of the thriving 
little city of Bevier and he is one of its popular and progressive busi- 
ness men and essentially pul)lic-spirited citizens. His success repre- 
sents the results of his own efforts and is well merited. Mr. Williams 
has marked inventive ability and has given no little time and attention 
to the devising of various practical devices. He is the inventor arid 
patentee of a device which provides for the facile and instantaneous 
detaching of a horse from vehicle and is developing several other 
valuable inventions of his own. 

In politics My. Williams is aligned as a stalwart advocate of the 
principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands si)onsor, 
but the honors and emoluments of political office have not ajipealed to 
him in the least. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and the Knights of Pythias, and both ho and his wife are mem- 
bers of the Christian church. He is found arrayed as an enthusiastic 
devotee of sports afield and afloat, and his chief recreation is found 



603 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

througli tlie medium of fishing and Inintiug, in lioth of which lines he has 
shown not a little prowess. 

In the year 1883 was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Williams to 
!Miss Sallie E. Grimes, who was born and reared in Macon county and 
who is a daughter of the late Paul C. Grimes, a prosperous farmer 
of this section of the state. Mr. and Mrs. "Williams became the parents 
of three children, none of whom attained to years of maturity. 

DELOSS H. BABBITT. 

The life story briefly recorded in the following paragraphs con- 
tain a strong leson for the young men of the country and presents an 
example that is well worthy of their close imitation. It should be a 
stimulus to the hesitating, a comfort to the struggling and an incitement 
to the daring. For it shows what thrift, enterjjrise and breadth of view, 
closely applied to agricultural pursuits in this state aud county, on which 
Natui'e has lavished a bountiful share of her best gifts with free-handed 
generosity, bestowing fertility of soil, a favorable and delightful climate, 
and immense volume and variety of productiveness, can accomplish even 
in one generation of human life, and under circumstances largely 
adverse and troublesome. 

Deloss H. Babbitt, who is now one of the leading farmers and most 
public spirited and enterprising citizens of Lingo township, came to 
]\Iissouri in 1866 with almost nothing but his health, energj' and uncon- 
querable determination to win out in the struggle for advancement. 
He had these faculities, and he used them. He had also good judgment, 
and he applied it. He had, moreover, confidence in himself, and this 
has been his sheet anchor in eveiy storm that has assailed him. He 
came to this county a young man aged twenty-three, but his fiber had 
been tested and his temper proven in the stern arbitrament of the 
battlefield, on which, in the front rank of unrolling columns, he faced 
death every moment, and disjilayed the qualities of head and heart 
that have been the groundwork and foundation of his success in the 
pursuits of peaceful industry. 

'Sir. Babbitt was born on January 23, 1843, in Wyoming county. 
New York, and is a son of Harry and Eebecca (Gray) Babbitt, the 
former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Rhode Island. The 
father passed his boyhood and youth in his native state, then moved 
to the state of New York, where he passed the remainder of his days, 
energetically engaged in farming until his death in 18-t3. Three chil- 
dren were born in the family of whom the interesting subject of this 
memoir is the onlv one now living. He obtained all the scholastic 




MR. AND MRS. DELOSS H. BABBITT 



HISTORY OF MACOX COrXTY G03 

traiuing for wliich lie had opportunity in the district schools near his 
home in AVyoniing county, New York, and ahly and devotedly assisted 
his widowed mother on the farm until 1862. In October of that year 
he was moved by his love for the Union to go into the army in its 
defense, and enlisted in Company K, Ninth New York cavalry, under 
the command of Colonel Nichols. ]\[r. Babbitt served to the end of the 
war and was mustered out near AVinchester, Virginia, in June, 1865. 
His regiment was a jjart of one of the great fighting corps of the federal 
army and was most of the time during the terrible conflict in the very 
heart of the contest. He took part in the battles of Berryville and 
Goose Run, Virginia, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, "Wiliamsport, Boons-, 
boro and Funkstown, Maryland, Yellow Water and Culpepper, Vir- 
ginia, and numerous minor engagements. 

After the war Mr. Babbitt returned to his New York home and 
remained there until the spring of 1866. He then came to Missouri and 
settled in Lingo township, this county, where he has ever since resided 
and been energetically and very successfully engaged in farming and 
raising stock. Soon after his arrival in this locality he bargained for 
120 acres of railroad land, on which he obligated himself to make small 
paj-ments every year. His industry and thrift" enabled him to meet his 
obligations promptly and also forge ahead with accelerating progress. 
He now owns 1475 acres of fine land, with all liut sixty acres imder 
cultivation, and feeds 150 to 200 head of various kinds of cattle every 
year. He cares for his stock with pvery consideration of their comfort 
and condition, looking always to the best results, and he sends them to 
the markets in such a prime state that his out-put stands at the head of 
the list with the dealers and brings the highest prices, every precaution 
being taken to keep its reputation up to the high mark it has reached 
and held for long years. 

With a mind as active, a public spirit as broad and an energy as 
intense as he possesses, it was inevitable that Mr. Babbitt should 
become a potential influence in everything connected with the advance 
and improvement of the locality of his home, wherever that might be 
He has taken a leading part in the affairs of his township and county 
for many years, rendering long and valued service to the people as 
road overseer and school director, and giving his active, and effective 
]iractical aid to every imdertaking he has deemed helpful to the people 
and contributory to the general weal. Although a pronounced Repub- 
lican in national politics, he is not a partisan in reference to local inter- 
ests, but works for their promotion without regard to party 
considerations. 



604 HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

On March 17, 1875, he was united in marriage witli ^fiss Mary 
V. Beale, who was horn in this county in 1853 and is a daughter of "Wil- 
liam and Elizabeth (Thompson) Beale long prominent residents of 
the county. Five of the six children born of this union are living: 
Anna, the wife of Wiliam Burrows of Grand Junction, Colorado ; Bessie, 
the wife of N. D. Stephenson of Marceline, ^Missouri; and Edna, Jennie 
and Delia, all of whom are living at home with their parents. The 
family is prominent in the social life of the county, and all its members 
are held in the highest esteem wherever they are known. They meet 
all the obligations of duty with lidelity and by the examples they give 
. stimulate others to do the same. 

IVY G. MAYHEW. 

This representative business man of the thriving little city of 
Bevier is a son of the late F. Theodore Mayhew, to whom a memoir is 
dedicated on other pages of this volume, so that a further review of 
the family history is not demanded in the present sketch. Ivy G. 
Mayhew is continuing with success the general merchandise business 
in which he was associated with his honored father until the death of 
the latter, and he is recognized as one of the alert and progressive 
business men and public-spirited citizens of his native county. 

Mr. Mayhew was born on the homestead farm of his father, in this 
county, on the 28th of March, 1870. His educational advantages were 
those atTorded by the public schools. After leaving school he became a 
clerk in a general merchandise store in the village of Callao, Macon 
county, where he was thus engaged for a period of six years, at the 
expiration of which he took up his residence in Bevier, where he became 
associated with his father in the mercantile business, in which he has 
since continued, being sole proprietor of the business since the demise 
of his father. He is enterprising and progressive, has a well aii])ointed 
and well stocked establishment, and controls a large and sul)stantial 
trade, which is drawn from the excellent territory normally tributary 
to Bevier. His careful and honorable business methods and genial 
personality have gained to him the unqualified esteem of tbe people of 
his native county, where he enjoys mialloyed popularity. Though never 
active in the field of practical politics he is aligned as a staunch sup- 
porter of the cause of the Re))ul)li('an party, and both he and his wife 
hold meml)ershi)) in the Christian church. He is affiliated with Callao 
Lodge, No. 326, Knights of Pythias. 

On the 26th of April, 1899, Mr. Mayhew was united in marriage 
to Miss Susie A. Taylor, who like himself is a native of Macon county, 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 605 

being a daugliter of Daniel Taylor, a successful fanner of Callao 
township. Mr. and Mrs. Mayhew have one child, Theodore D., who 
was born on the 22nd of November, 1906. 

GEORGE N. DAVIS. 

The legal profession in Macon comity has as one of its al)le and 
popular representatives George Newton Davis, who is engaged in active 
general practice as an attorney and counselor in the thriving little 
city of Macon, where his marked success stands as the most effective 
voucher for his ability and his devotion to his profession. 

Mr. Davis is a native son of jNIissouri, having been born at Mar- 
shall, the judicial center and metropolis of Saline county, on the 26th 
of November, 1876. His father. Judge Samuel Davis, was likewise born 
in ^larshall and is a scion of one of the old and honored families of this 
commonwealth. He was reared to maturity in his native town, in whose 
schools he secured his early training, which was supplemented by a 
course of study in Kemper Family School, now known as Kemper Mili- 
tary Academy, at Boonville, Missouri. After leaving school Judge 
Davis took up the study of law under the direction of Judge John P. 
Strother, of Marshall, and in due course of time he proved himself elig- 
ible for and was admitted to the bar. He initiated his professional work 
in his native place and he has long held prestige as one of the able 
legists and jurists of the state, and also as a citizen of prominence and 
influence. He has ever accorded a stalwart allegiance to the cause 
of the Democratic ])arty, and has rendered yeoman service in its behalf. 
In 1877 he was elected to represent Saline county in the state legislature, 
and at the expiration of his term was chosen as his own successoi", 
having jiroved one of the resourceful and loyal legislators of the state 
and having done all in his power to further and foster the interests 
of its people as a whole. In 1879 he was elected prosecuting attorney 
of Saline county, and of this office he continued incumbent for two 
terms. In 1899 he was elected to the bench of the circuit court and 
he has since presided in this tribunal, in which connection he has shown 
great discrimination and judicial acumen in the handling of the causes 
presented before him, and few of his decisions have met with reversal 
by the superior courts. He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Pro- 
tective Order of Elks and he and his wife hold membershiji in tho 
Presbyterian church of Marshall, where they still maintain their home. 

As a young man Judge Davis was united in marriage to Miss Julia 
S. Newton, who was born in the city of Louisville, Kentucky, from 
which state she came with her parents to Missouri when she was a child. 



C06 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Of the four children of this union, George N., subject of this sketcli, 
is the only one living. 

After attending the public schools of his native place George N. 
Davis was matriculated, in 1889, in the academy of j\Iissouri Valley 
College, at ^Marshall, Missouri, and in the college proper in 1893, in 
which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1896, 
with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. 

Upon leaving college Mr. Davis began reading law under the able 
Ijreceptorship of his honored father, and in 1898 he was duly admitted 
to the bar of his native county. At the advice of his father, and in 
harmonj' with his own wishes, he decided to fortify himself more fully 
for the work of his chosen profession, and with this end in view he was 
matriculated, in October, 1898, in the law department of the celebrated 
University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in which he completed the pre- 
scribed course and was graduated in 1900, with the degree of Bachelor 
of Laws. He then returned to his home city of Marshall, where he 
became associated with Joshua F. Babee, under the firm name of Davis 
& Babee, and where he continued in the practice of his profession until 
1902, when he transferred his residence and professional headquarters 
to the citj" of Macon, where he has since practiced his profession and 
where he has gained distinctive success and precedence as one of the 
able and aggressive younger members of the bar of Macon county. 
Soon after locating in Macon he was appointed official court stenog- 
rapher for the second judicial circuit, and he still retains this position. 
In 1904 he was associated in practice with William Van Cleve, under 
the firm name of Davis & Van Cleve. 

In political matters Mr. Davis clings to the faith in which he was 
reared, and he is found arrayed as an uncom])romising advocate of the 
generic principles for which the Democratic party stands sponsor. He 
has been active in the work of his party and is vice-president for the 
tirst congressional district of the Young Men's Democralic Club, whidi 
has close afifiliation with the Missouri Democratic state central commit- 
tee. In a fraternal way Mr. Davis is identified with the Benevolent 
and Protective Order of Elks, being one of the i50]5ular members of the 
lodge in Macon, and he also holds membership in the Sigma Nil College 
fraternity. 

On the '24th of ;^^arch, 1909, ^fr. Davis was united in marriage to 
Miss Helen D. Mason, who was born in Kentucky, but who was reared 
and educated in ]\rarshall, Missouri, where her father, George L. Mason, 
was engaged in farming, being one of the influential citizens of Saline 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 607 

county. Mr. and Mrs. Davis are popular in the best social life of their 
home city and they find the relations here altogether pleasing. 

JOHN U. WATKINS, D. D. S. 

Modern dentistry represents both a science and a mechanic art and 
among those who have attained to distinctive success in its practice and 
who are exponents of the most advanced methods and manipulations in 
both the laboratory and operative departments is Dr. AVatkins. who 
is engaged in successful practice in his native city of Bevier and who 
is a member of one of the well known and highly esteemed families of 
Macon county. 

Dr. John Delbert Watkins was born at Bevier, on the 13th of Decem- 
ber, 1879, and is a sou of Thomas D. and Sarah (Thomas) AVatkins, 
both of whom were born in AVales, whence they came to America with 
their respective parents as children. Thomas D. AVatkins was eleven 
years of age at the time of the family immigration to the United States, 
and soon after their arrival in America his parents settled in Macon 
county, Alissouri, where he was reared to manhood and where for twen- 
ty-two years he was identified with the coal-mining industry. He now 
devotes his attention to agricultural pursuits and is one of the substan- 
tial citizens and representative farmers of Macon county, where he 
has gained a large measure of success through his own well-directed 
endeavors. His marriage to Miss Sarah Thomas, whose father was a 
miner at Sci'anton, Pennsylvania, was solenmized in 1870, and of their 
two children the subject of this sketch is the elder; the daughter, IMary 
Elizabeth, is now the wife of Thomas Hill, of Huntsville, Missouri. 
Thomas 1). AVatkins is the owner of a fine farm of 110 acres. He and 
his wife live on their attractive homestead farm, midway between the 
cities of Macon and Bevier, and they are held in high regard by all 
wdio know them. They are members of the Congregational church, and 
in i)olitics the father is a staunch Eepublican. 

Dr. AVatkins secured his early education in the ])iiblic schools of his 
native county, completing a course in the Bevier high school, after 
which he continued his studies in the literary department of AVashing- 
ton University, in the city of St. Louis. He was matriculated in the 
dental department of the same institution, where he com])leted the i)re- 
scribed technical course and was graduated as a member of the class 
of 1902, receiving his well-earned degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. 
In the same year he opened a well equipped office in Bevier, and here 
he has amply demonstrated his professional skill and has built uji an 
excellent practice of representative character. 



608 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Dr. "Watkins is one of the progressive and public-spirited citizens 
of Bevier, where he enjoys unstinted personal and professional popu- 
larity. He is a Eepublican in his i^roelivities, is affiliated with the 
local organization of the Modern Woodmen of America, and he and. 
his wife hold membership in the Congregational church. He is the 
owner of a considerable amount of improved real estate in Bevier, and 
takes an active interest in all that tends to promote the civic and mate- 
rial advancement of the city and county of his birth. 

On the 1st of November, 1905, Dr. AVatkins was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Minnie J. Evans, of New Cambria, Missouri, a daughter 
of Thomas R. Evans, a well knowm citizen of that place. 

V LEWIS NOWLAN. 

The popular general agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
railroad in Bevier, Macon county, has been identified with railroad 
interests from his youth to the present time and has won advancement 
through the various grades of promotion by reason of his able and faith- 
ful service. Mr. Nowlan is one of the well known and highly esteemed 
citizens of Macon county, had the distinction of being the first mayor 
of his fine little home city of Bevier, and is the owner of a well improved 
landed estate in the county, devoting the same to diversified farming 
and stock-growing. 

Lewis Nowlan reverts to the picturesque old Green Mountain state 
as the place of his nativity, having been ])orn in Montpelier, the capital 
of Vermont, on the 31st of March, 1852. His father, James Nowlan, 
was born in Ireland and was a child at the time of the family immi- 
gration to the United States. He was reared to maturity in the state 
of Vermont, where he received his limited educational discipline in the 
common and parochial schools, and where was solemnized his marriage 
to Miss Catherine Donagliue, who likewise was born in the Emerald 
Isle but who came with her parents to America when she was a child. 
James and Catherine Nowlan became the parents of six children, of 
whom five are living, namely : Lewis, who is the immediate subject of this 
sketch ; Daniel, who is a resident of Frankfort, Indiana ; Margaret, who 
is the wife of Richard O'Connor, of Mt. Sterling; Mary, who is the wife 
of John Holland, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Patrick, who is a resi- 
dent of Portland, Oregon. The father was actively identified wrth 
railroad interests during practically his entire mature life. He removed 
from New England to the state of Illinois, where the family resided for 
a number of years and where lie served one term as tax collector of 
Brown county. In 1878 he removed with his family to Missouri and 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 609 

established his home iu Brookliekl, Liun county. lie became road- 
master for the Hamiibal & St. Joseph Railroad and was incumbent of 
this position until his death, which was the result of injuries received in 
the well remembered railroad wreck at Brush Creek this state, 1881. 
His wife survived him and resides at Mt. Sterling, Illinois. Both were 
devout conmaunicants of the Catholic church, and in politics he was 
originally a Whig and later a Democrat. 

Lewis Nowlan, whose name initiates this review, was a child at the 
time of the family removal to Illinois, and at Mount Sterling, that state, 
he was afforded the advantages of the parochial and jjublic schools. 
That he made good use of the opportmiities thus afforded him is evident 
when we revert to the fact that he proved himself eligible for pedagogic 
honors, having been employed as a teacher in the public schools of 
Illinois for some time. Thereafter he turned his attention to the rail- 
road business, beginning in a modest capacity and finally winning his 
way upward in positions of increasing trust and responsibility until 
he was appointed to his present office, — that of general agent for the 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad at Bevier. He established 
his home in this city in 1878 and here his interests have since been 
centered. He has accumulated a competency through his own well 
directed endeavors, and his fine farm property, located in Bevier town- 
ship, comprises 160 acres. He gives a general supervision to the prop- 
erty and the same yields good returns, being, as already stated, devoted 
to general agriculture and the raising of high grade live stock. 

In politics Mr. Nowlan is found arrayed as a staunch supporter of 
the generic principles of the Democratic party, to which he gives his 
support where national and state issues are involved, but in local affairs 
he is independent of strict partisan dictates, giving his influence and 
utilizing his franchise in support of the mean and measures meeting 
with the approval of his judgment. He has long maintained inviolable 
hold on popular confidence and esteem in his home community and in 
1889, upon the incorporation of Bevier as a city, he was chosen its first 
mayor. That his administration of municipal aft'airs met with unstinted 
popular approval is shown in the fact tiiat he was retained in tiie office 
of mayor for eight consecutive years. For two years he served as 
clerk of the board of education, and his co-operation and influence have 
ever been extended right loyally in the support of measures and enter- 
prises tending to advance the material and social welfare of the com- 
munity. In 1903 he served in the office of school director, and in the 
cause of education finds in him a staunch advocate. He and his wife are 



610 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

communicants of the Catholic church and he is affiliated with the Knights 
of Columbus and the Modern Woodmen of ^^merica. 

On the 28th of April, 190^2, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. 
Nowlan to Miss Catherine McGoon, who was bom at Mount Sterling, 
Illinois, and they have one child, Lewis, Jr. 

CHARLES F. HALE. 

Among the representative members of the bar of Macon county is 
numbered Charles F. Hale, who is engaged in the successful practice 
of his profession in Bevier, where he served for more than a decade 
in the office of city attorney and where he is also engaged in the real 
estate, loan and insurance business, in which he controls a prosperous 
business. He is one of the progressive and loyal citizens of his native 
county, and here his popularity is of the most unqualified order. 

Mr. Hale was bom on a fann in Liberty township, Macon county, 
Missouri, on the 23d of February, 1872, and is a son of Charles H. and 
Mary A. (Ballinger) Hale, the fonner of whom was born in Kentucky 
and the latter in Macon county, Missouri. When Charles H. Hale was 
a child his parents came from Kentucky to Missouri, and here he was 
reared and educated, having long been one of the representative farmers 
and stock-growers of Macon count}' and being a citizen to whom has 
been at all times accorded the highest measure of popular confidence 
and esteem. In connection with his farming enterprise he was a suc- 
cessful and extensive breeder of poultry for a number of years, making 
somewhat of a specialty of this line of enterprise. He and his wife 
now reside in the city of Bevier, where he is living virtually retired 
from active business. Of their two children the subject of this sketch 
is the younger, the other having died in childhood. The parents are 
members of the Baptist church, and the father is a staunch Democrat 
in his political proclivities. 

Charles F. Hale passed his boyhood days on the home farm, and 
his earlier educational discipline was secured in the public schools 
of the village of Callao, after which he completed a course in the North- 
western Business College, at Stanberry, Missouri. In the spring of 
1891 he was matriculated in the Northern Indiana Law School, in the 
city of Valparaiso, in which institution he was graduated as a member 
of the class of 1891 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor 
of Laws. In the fall of the same year he was admitted to the bar of 
his native state and forthwith opened an office in Bevier, where he has 
built up a substantial and representative practice and gained prece- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 611 

deuce as one of the able and successful members of tiie bar of bis 
native county. 

In politics Mr. Hale has rendered loyal and effective service as a 
stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Demo- 
cratic party stands sponsor, and in 1891, soon after his admission to the 
bar, he was elected city attorney of Bevier, of which office he continued 
in tenure for thirteen consecutive yeai-s. He has been a notary public 
for eighteen years, and in the handling of his real estate, loan and 
insurance business he has gained a substantial business. He is a stock- 
holder and director of the People's Bank of Bevier, in a fraternal way 
is identified with the Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias, the Wood- 
men of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America, and he is one 
of the zealous members of the First Congregational church, being 
also a valued member of its board of trustees. He was married March 
23, 1898, to Maggie G. Eichardson, a daughter of John J. Richardson, 
of Bevier. 

JOHN W. NISBETH. 

Through well-directed endeavors this native son of Macon county 
has risen to a position of prominence and influence as a business man 
and as a loyal and progressive citizen. He has a fine landed estate in 
the county and has various business and capitalistic interests of impor- 
tance in his home city of Bevier, and he is held in unqualified esteem 
as a man of sterling integrity of character and as one well deserving of 
the success which he has achieved through his own efforts. He is 
engaged in the real estate business in Bevier, and his operations in this 
important field of enterprise have been large and important, and he is 
also president of the Bevier Hollow Cement Block Building Company. 

John William Xisbeth was born in Bevier, Macon county, ]\Iissouri, 
on the 8th of July, 1871, and is a son of Charles and Matilda (Skinner) 
Nisbeth, whose marriage was solemnized in 1870. The father was born 
in England, where he was reared to the age of sixteen years, when he 
came to America. He took up his residence in Macon county, Missouri, 
while still a youth and here followed the trade of brick-moulder for 
some time, after which he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, 
in connection with which he gained a large measure of success, having 
eventually become the owner of large tracts of land. He was a man 
of sterling character and was held in high regard as a citizen. His 
political support was given to the Beimblican party. He continued to 
maintain his home in Macon county until his death. They became the 
parents of three children, of whom one died at the age of twenty years. 



6i-> Hl.STOKY OF MACUX LUUXTY 

The subject of this review is the elder of the two surviving, and his 
sister, Nettie, is now the wife of Edward E. liogers, of Hutchison, 
Kansas. 

John W. Nisbeth gained his early education in the public schools 
of Bevier, and after leaving school he secured emijlojinent in the gen- 
eral store here conducted by the Looniis Coal Company. He was thus 
engaged for two years, after which he was identified with farm work 
for one year, and for the ensuing two years he was engaged in rail- 
road work in the state of Kansas. From that state he went to South 
Dakota, where he secured employment as night watchman on a railroad, 
and in 1893, when twenty years of age and after having had varied 
experiences, all marked by close ap])lication to work, he returned to 
Bevier and established himself in the hardware and farm implement 
business, in which he continued for the ensuing thirteen years. Fair 
and honorable dealing and careful attention to the requirements of his 
patrons gained to him a large and substantial trade, and through his 
able management of the details of the business he secured siibstan- 
tial financial returns, thus placing himself in a position of independence. 
Since 1906 he has been engaged in the real estate business at Bevier, 
handling both city and farm property and controlling a representative 
support in this important field of enterprise. He is also the owner of 
a well established hardware business at Brunswick, Missouri, is the 
owner of one of the best store buildings in the business center of Bevier, 
has two well improved farms, comprising a total of 565 acres, and 
also owns other valuable realty in Macon county. 

Mr. Nisbeth attril)utes his success to perseverance and hard work, 
and in all his operations and efforts he has been guided and governed 
by the highest jirinciples and has proved himself a man of strength 
and fertility of resource and of unimpeachable character, so that he 
well merits the unqualified confidence and esteem so uniformly accorded 
him by his fellow-men. He is not a technical Prohiltitionist, Init believes 
thoroughly that the country would be better in all respects if the liquor 
business were eliminated. He himself has never used liquor or tobacco, 
and his moral code, though nevei- paraded, is one of the highest order. 
He and his wife hold membership in the First Baptist church, and 
he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and its 
auxiliary, the Daughters of Rebekah, as well as with the Modern AVood- 
men of America and the Woodmen of the ^Vorld. 

In politics Mr. Nisbeth gives an unequivocal support to the prin- 
ciples and policies of the Eepublican party, and in 1899 he was elected 
a member of the board of aldermen of Bevier, serving two years and 




RUDOLPH MILLER 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 613 

doing- much to promote wise administratiou of the municipal govern- 
ment. In 1904 he was again elected alderman, and he served four 
consecutive years, within which he advocated a progressive policy and 
gave his influence in the furtherance of all measures tending to promote 
the best interests of his home city. 

On the 4th of October, 1897, Mr. Nisbeth was united in marriage to 
Miss Ora Powell, who was born and reared in Macon county and who 
is a daughter of Henry M. Powell, a successful farmer of the county. 
Mr. and Mrs. Nisbeth have two children, Otho and ^lerwyn. 

> EUDOLPH MILLER. 

The creamery industry in the city of Macon, which began about 
twenty years ago, had until recently a rather calamitous history. It 
never succeeded in getting a permanent foothold here until the right man 
to conduct it came to the city, but since the advent of Rudolph IMiller, 
who had special training for it in a number of places and on two conti- 
nents, it has flourished and grown strong. The first effort to estab- 
lish a creameiy in this community was made by John J. Davis and 
others about twenty years ago, as has been stated. The plant they had 
was a small one, and for a period of two years they conducted it with 
success and profit under the old system of gathering cream. At the 
end of the period mentioned a disastrous fire entirely destroyed the 
plant, and as the owners carried no insurance at the time, they lost every- 
thing they had invested in the business and were unable to rebuild, and 
their experience discouraged others from making any attempt in this 
direction for a long time. 

Nearly ten years after the fire another creamery was started, but 
this resulted in a complete failure, and nothing further was done in 
the industry in Macon until October, 1906, when the Macon Creamery 
comi)any was formed and began business. It has been a success from 
the very start and is now one of the soundest and most progressive 
manufacturing enterprises in the city. It has paid its stockholders 
an eight per cent dividend every year since it started, and has enjoyed 
a steady expansion of its business, and, at the same time, has elevated 
and enlarged the reputation of its output. 

The success of this com]>any has been largely if not wholly due to 
the skill, knowledge and business capacity of its secretary, treasurer 
and general manager, Rudolph Miller, who had extensive and varied 
experience in the business l)efore lie came to Macon. He also had the 
benefit of valuable experience in other lines of activity, having been 
a cooper, a soldier, a dairyman and a fanner, and having followed some 



614 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

of these useful pursuits in Ms native land and in four other states 
of the American union. 

Mr. Miller was born in Denmark on April 3, 1858. His parents, 
Christian and Johanna (Hendrickson) Miller, were also natives of that 
country, and there their forefathers lived for many generations before 
them. The father was chief of police in the Danish city of Nakskov 
for more than a quarter of a century, and was a man of consequence 
and influence in that thriving and progressive municipality. For his 
ability and fidelity in the public service the King of Denmark decorated 
him with a badge of honor known as "The Dannebrogs Cross." He 
was born in Nakskov in 1820 and died there in 1897. He and his wife 
were the parents of ten children, of whom those now living are Eudolph, 
George, Harriet (the wife of Christian Mortenson), and Laura, the 
two daughters being still residents of their native land and living in 
that portion of it in which they were born. 

Rudolph ]\Iiller was reared and educated in Nakskov. He left 
school at the age of fourteen and was apprenticed to a cooper, with 
whom he passed four years. At the end of that period he enlisted in 
the Danish army, which he left after a service of sixteen months. In 
1877 he learned the dairy business under the direction and in the employ 
of the Danish Land association, and in 1882 came to the United States, 
taking up his residence in a Swiss cheese manufacturing colony near 
New Philadelphia, Ohio. During his residence of eight months in that 
settlement he acquired a good practical knowledge of the German 
language, and thus added another weapon to his armour for the battle 
of life. 

He moved to Chicago and there found employment in various occu- 
pations, and finally engaged as a milker on a farm near New Hampshire 
in Illinois, milking twenty-five cows night and morning. Following this 
he entered the service of the renowned Elgin Butter company at Elgin 
in the same state. One year later he paid a short visit to his native 
land, and on his return to Illinois he again worked for the Elgin But- 
ter company, and is at this date (1910) a member of the Elgin Butter 
board of trade, in 1885 he secured employment in the dairy business 
with E. Buchanan of Johnsburg, Illinois. He passed the years 1886, 
1887 and 1888 in the service of Fitzsimmons & Evans at Barryville, 
Illinois. 

In 1889 Mr. Miller found himself with sufficient capital to go into 
business for himself, and became a member of the firm of Evanson & 
Buchanan, the firm name being changed to Evanson, Buchanan & 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 615 

Miller to suit the new arrangement. The business was located at 
Crystal Lake, Illinois. In 1890 he sold his interest in it to his partners 
and bought a creamery in Iowa, which he operated uutil the plant was 
destroyed by fire. In 189-i, in company with his former employer, J. 
Fitzsimmons, he built a new creamery at Dunbarton, Wisconsin, where 
he remained three years. The next three years he passed in a creamery 
at Beloit, AVisconsin, and on March 28, 1900, came to Macon, Missouri. 
Here he followed the same line of industry for three years more, then 
leased his business to the Blue Valley Creamery company of St. Joseph, 
Missouri, and became the traveling representative of the eomiiany. 

In 1906, at the solicitation of citizens of Macon, he founded the 
Macon Creamery company, which was organized as a stock company 
with a capital of $10,000, and incorporated under the laws of Missouri. 
He was elected secretary, treasurer and general manager of the com- 
pany, and is still acting in that capacity. Under his vigorous and 
skillful management the company has doubled its output, and in 1908 
it paid out upwards of $50,000. Its goods are not only shipped to all 
parts of Missouri, but find a ready and profitable market in the large 
cities on the Atlantic coast and in many parts of the South, having a 
high reputation for excellence everywhere. 

In politics Mr. Miller is a zealous working Republican, always 
taking an active part in the campaign of his party but never seeking or 
accepting a public office of anj' kind. His fraternal relations are with 
the Western Travelers' association and the Knights of Pythias, and his 
religious connection is with the Baptist church. In March, 1887, he 
was united in marriage with Miss AVilhelmina Carolina Augusta Daugs, 
a native of Berlin, Germany. They have seven children, Hulda, Ethel, 
Edwin, Rudoljih, Jr., Clarence, Vera and Paul. The father is a true 
and progressive American citizen, as ardently devoted to the welfare 
and institutions of the land of his adoption as he ever was to those 
of the laud of his nativity, and works as earnestly for the promotion of 
the former as he ever could have done for that of the latter. 

DAVID M. WILLIAMS. 

There is ever a large measure of satisfaction in entering incidental 
record concerning the man who has achieved success through his own 
well-directed efforts and by wortliy means, and such a man is the rap- 
resentative business man and infiuentiai citizen of Macon county whose 
name initiates this article. He is the owner of considerable land in 
Macon county and his cai:)italistic interests, aside from this, are of 



616 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

important order, indicating the judicious use of the resources wliicli 
lie has acquired through his own cnorgj' and ability, the while so order- 
ing his life as to hold the implicit confidence and unreserved esteem 
of his fellow-men. There is both lesson and incentive in his career, 
and it is most consonant that in tliis history be incorporated a brief 
review of the same. 

David Morgan Williams claims the fine old Keystone state of the 
Union as the place of his nativity, since he was born in Pottsville, 
Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, on the 80th of April, 1867. He is a son 
of John T. and Elizabeth (Morgan) Williams, both of whom were 
bom in Wales and whose marriage was solemnized at Harrisburg, Penn- 
sylvania, on the 4th of July, 1866. Their choice of marital date, the 
anniversary of our national independence, may be said to have well 
indicated their loyalty to the country of their adoption. John Thomas 
Williams was born in the southern part of Wales, on the 10th of August, 
1841, and was reared to maturitj^ in his native land, .where he received 
a fair common school education. At the age of eighteen years he accom- 
panied his parents on their immigration to America and the familj^ 
settled at Danville, Pennsylvania, where he secured emploxauent as an 
iron-worker, in which trade he became a skilled artisan. Later he was 
identified with the coal-mining industry in various parts of Pennsyl- 
vania and Illinois, where he continued to reside until 1875, when he 
removed with his family to Illinois, and then to Missouri and took up his 
abode in jMacon county. In this section he continued to be identified 
with coal-mining during the greater portion of his subsequent active 
career, though for a number of years he did a profitable business as 
a manufacturer of cement walks. He located in Bevier in 1878, and 
liere ]Kissed the remainder of his life, which was marked by honest 
industiy and attended by a due measure of temporal success. He was 
a man of imjiregnable integrity and his life was guided and governed 
by sterling principles. He was a member of the Church of Latter 
Day Saints, with which his wife also is identified, and his 2)olitical alle- 
giance was given to the Republican party. He had distinctive musical 
talent and was enthusiastic in all that related to the "divine art," 
besides which he was the comi^oser of a number of miisical scores of 
much attractiveness. In a fraternal way he was long identified with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His death occurred on the 3d 
of May, 1908, and his widow died October 24, 1909. Of their seven chil- 
dren, five are living, the subject of this sketch l)eing the eldest of the 
number; John L. is engaged in business at Bevier; Thomas H. resides 



HISTORY OF MACOISi COUNTY 617 

in Bevier and is a blacksmith by vocation ; Ann is the wife of Dr. Lee O. 
Mason, of Bevier; and Hattie P. remains witli her sister. 

David M. "Williams, the immediate subject of this review, gained 
his early educational training in the public schools of Pennsylvania, 
and was about eleven years of age at the time of the family removal 
to jMissouri, where he continued to attend school as opjiortunity 
afforded. When nineteen years of age he returned to Pennsylvania, 
where he learned the trade of blacksmith in the shops of the Bethlehem 
Steel Company. In 1889 he returned to Missouri and found emploj-ment 
as a journeyman blacksmith, and in 1891 he established himself inde- 
pendently in the blacksmithing business in Bevier, where he has since 
continued operations in this line. He has made every effort count 
materially in the furtherance of his ambition to gain success and inde- 
pendence, and well has he realized liis ambition. In evidence of this fact 
we need but state that lie is now the owner of .360 acres in Macon county, 
is a stockholder and director of the State Bank of Bevier, and a stock- 
holder and director of the New Cambria Laud Company. His advance- 
ment also indicates good business judgment, energy and executive abil- 
ity. He is a member of the board of supervisors of drainage, district 
No. 1, Macon county, within which district his farming property lies. 
It may be stated, incidentallj-, that he is the first person who has suc- 
cessfully exploited the propagation of alfalfa on Chariton river valley 
lands in Macon county. Mr. Williams is always to be counted upon to . 
lend his aid and co-operation in the promotions of enterprises and 
measures tending to enhance the civic and material prosperity of his 
home city and state, and liis political allegiance is given to the Repub- 
lican party, in wliose cause he takes a deep interest. He is affiliated 
with Bloomington Lodge, No. 102, Free aud Accepted Masons, of which 
he is secretary, and witli Eskridge Lodge, No. 253, Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, of whose l)oard of trustees he has been a member 
for fully sixteen years, also Bevier Cam]), No. 324, W. O. W. ; clerk of 
same. He is now treasurer of the Bevier volunteer fire department, 
and had the distinction of being the first chief of the same, holding 
that office for one year. It may further be said that he has been most 
active in the work of the Independent Oi'der of Odd Fellows, in the 
Missouri grand lodge of which he represented his district for ten 
j'ears. 

On the 29tli of October, 1894, Mr. AVilliams was united in marriage 
to Miss Eliza Hamer, who was born and reared in IMacon county, being 
a daughter of John and Sarah Ilamer. He and his wife are members 
of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. 



618 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

JAMES G. EDWAEDS. 

One of the prominent business men and representative citizens of 
Bevier is James G. Edwards, who has been a resident of Macon county 
since his childhood days, being a member of a family whose name has 
been identified with the annals of the county for nearly half a century, 
and here he has won for himself a secure place in popular confidence 
and esteem, while he has so directed his efforts in connection with 
business affairs as to gain marked success. He has served as mayor 
of the city of Bevier and is now presiding judge of the county court at 
Macon. 

Judge Edwards claims the fine old Buckeye state as the place of his 
nativity, as he was born in the village of Pomeroy, Meigs county, Ohio, 
on the 29th of June, 1859, being a son of Robert and Catherine (Michael) 
Edwards, both of whom were born in Wales and whose marriage was 
solemnized in Ohio, in 1849. They became the parents of nine children, 
of whom five are living, namely: Thomas, who is associated with the 
subject of this sketch in the mercantile business and who is individually 
mentioned on other pages of this publication; James G., whose name 
initiates this article; Elizabeth, wlio is the wife of James Evans, of 
Kansas City, Missouri; Margaret, who is the wife of George Keeley, 
of the same city, and Amelia, who resides in Bevier, as does also the 
widowed mother, who makes her home with her sons and is by them 
accorded the deepest filial solicitude. 

Eobert Edwards was reared and educated in his native land in 
1837, when a young man, he immigrated to America and took up his 
residence in Ohio. For a time he was located in Jackson county, that 
state, and he thence removed to Pomeroy, Meigs county, where he was 
identified with the toal-mining industry until 1865, when he removed 
with his family to Macon county, Missouri. He purchased a farm in 
Bevier township and turned his attention to its development and culti- 
vation. In 1871 he engaged in the general merchandise business in 
Bevier, continuing operations in this line until 1878, when he resumed 
his active association with the great basic industry of agriculture, with 
which he was successfully identified during the residue of his active 
career. He was a man of impregnable integrity and of strong men- 
tality, and his course was so guided and governed that he won and 
retained the high regard of all with whom he came in contact in the 
various relations of life. He was a Re))ublican in his political i^rocliv- 
ities and his religious faith was that of the Congregational church, of 
which his widow also has long been a devoted member. He died on the 



HISTORY OF :\rAC'OX COUXTY 61» 

17th of December, 1892, at the age of seventy-three years, leaving the 
priceless heritage of a good name. 

James G. Edwards was about six years of age at the time of the 
family removal from Ohio to Missouri, and he was reared on the home 
farm and in the village of Bevier, in the meanwhile being afforded 
the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period. After 
leaving school he continued to be identified with farming and also 
found employment in the coal mines of this section, and lie is still the 
owner of valuable property in Macon county. 

In 1882 Judge Edwards became associated with his elder brother, 
Thomas, in the general merchandise business, in which they have since 
continued, under the firm name of Edwards Bros. Their establish- 
ment is recognized as one of the best in Bevier, a large and select stock 
being carried in each of the several departments and the facilities being 
of high standard. Through fair and honorable dealings the firm has 
built up a large, substantial and representative trade, and its memliers 
are recognized as being progressive and straightforward business men 
of distinctive ability. 

In politics Judge Edwards was originally aligned as a supporter 
of the principles of the Eepublican party, but he transferred his alle- 
giance to the Populist party, with which he continued to be identified 
luitil its dissolution, since which time he has given his supjsort to the 
cause of the Democratic party, whose principles and policies best rep- 
resent his convictions as to matters of public import. He has been 
a zealous worker in the party ranks, has served as delegate to its state 
conventions, as well as to its congressional and county conventions in 
his district, and he has twice been a delegate to the national conventions 
of the party. He was the second man to be elected mayor of Bevier 
after its incorporation as a city, and he served two years in this office, 
giving an excellent administration and doing much to perfect the new 
system of municipal government. He has several times been elected 
a member of the board of aldermen, and has also served as a valued 
member of the board of education, in which position he advocated a 
broad and progressive policy in the advancing of the interests of the 
IDublic schools of his home city. Jn liH)7 he was elected presiding judge 
of the county court, of which office he has since remained incumbent, 
proving himself well qualified for the adjudication of causes brought 
before his court and showing an essentially judicial attitude. In a fra- 
ternal way he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, and his wife 
holds meml)ership in the Congregational clnucli. 

In the yeai- 188.3 was solemnized the marriage of Judge Edwards 



620 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

to iliss Hannali Davis, who, likewise, was bom in Ohio, wbeuce slie 
came with her parents to ^lissouri when a child. She is a daughter of 
Eobert J. Davis, who was long identified with mining in Macon county 
and who is now dead. Judge and Mrs. Edwards have one child, Pro, 
who was born in 1884. 

^ THO:\IAS EDWARDS. 

The honored president of the People's State Bank of Bevier is 
recognized as one of the progressive business men and loyal citizens 
of this thriving little city, where his interests are varied and important 
and where he is held in high regard by all who know him. In the sketch 
of the life of his brother. Judge .Tames G. Edwards, with whom he is 
associated in the general merchandise business in Bevier, is given 
a brief review of the family history, and it is not necessary to repeat 
the data in this article, as ready reference may be made to the one 
mentioned, the same appearing on other pages of this volume. 

Thomas Edwards was born in the village of Pomeroy, ]\Ieigs county, 
Ohio, on the 11th of September, 1850, and is a son of Robert and Cathe- 
rine (Michael) Edwards. He secured his early education in the common 
schools of Ohio and was a lad of lifteen years at the time of the family 
removal to Macon county, Missouri, where he assisted his father in 
the work of the home fann and where he was later employed in the 
coal mines about three years. In 1871 he became associated with his 
father in the conducting of a general store in Bevier, and in 1875 he 
removed to Osage county, Kansas, where he became foreman of a coal 
mine. He continued to reside in the Sunflower state until 1881. when 
he returned to Bevier and entered into partnersliip with his brother, 
James (t., under the firm name of Edward Bros. They have since con- 
tinued to be associated in the general merchandise business in Bevier 
and control a large and substantial trade throughout the ])rosperous 
section of country tributary to this thriving little city. In addition to 
being president of the People's Bank of Bevier, Mr. Edwards is also 
]iresident and one of the chief stockholders of the Bevier Telejilione 
Com]>any, wliicli has a well equipjied plant and gives the best tyi>e of 
service to its patrons. Mr. Edwards is essentially progressive and 
public-spirited in his attitude and is valued as one of the stauncli 
and successful business men and enteriirisiiig citizens of the county 
which has long represented his home and in which he has gained success 
and independence through his own well-directed efforts. 

In politics jSfr. Edwards is found aligned as a stalwart supporter 
of the cause of flic Re]nil)lican ]>arty, and in 1891 ho was oloctod a mem- 



HISTORY OF MACOX COTJNTY 621 

ber of the board of aldermeu of Bevier, serving one term and doing 
much to promote wise and progressive policies in the municipal gov- 
ernment. In 1894 he was elected county judge, and of this office he 
continued incumbent for two years, maldng an admirable record on the 
bench. 

In the year 1873 Mr. Edwards was united in marriage to ]\Iiss 
Nellie Jones, who was born in the state of Vermont, a daughter of 
Eev. Griffith and Elizabeth (Clos) Jones, both of whom were of Welsh 
lineage, as is he himself. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards became the parents 
of three children, of whom two died in early childhood. Waldo, the 
surviving child, is one of the popular and representative business men 
of the younger generation in Macon county and is now cashier of the 
People's Bank of Bevier. Waldo is also a practicing attorney and a 
g]-aduate of Columbia Law School of Missouri. 

i, THOMAS FRANCIS. 

Honored as a citizen of sterling worth and as one who has mani- 
fested the utmost loyalty to the land of his adoption, Mr. Francis has 
maintained his home in Bevier, Macon county, except for a short inter- 
val, during the long period of forty years. He has been prominently 
identified with the coal-mining industry in this state and also in Kan- 
sas, and his life has been one of honest and earnest endeavor as one 
of the world's gallant army of productive workers. He 's one of the 
best known and most highly esteemed citizens of Bevier, where he has 
held the office of postmaster for more than ten consecutive years. 

Mr. Francis was born in the county of Glenmorganshire, in the 
southern part of Wales, on the 18th of February, 1844, and was reared 
and educated in that section, where his early expei'iences in connection 
with the practical duties of life were in connection with the coal-mining 
industry. His father, David Francis, also was born and rciired in 
Whales, as was, likewise, his mother, whose maiden name was Lislian. 
Their marriage was solemnized at Taibach, Wales, where they main- 
tained their home for many years and where the father's death occurred 
in 1864, the mother surviving until 1866. David Francis was identified 
with practical mining interests during the greater part of his active 
career, and was a man of intelligence and sterling integrity of char- 
acter. He and his devoted wife reared their children to lives of honor 
and usefulness, and gave to them the best advantages they were able 
to afford. Concerning the ten children the following brief data are 
properly perpetuated in this sketch: John died in Taibach, Wales, 
in 1905; Catherine is the wife of David Michael, of Abervon, Whales; 



622 HISTOKY OF MACON COUXTY 

Margaret is tlie wife of Griffith Lewis and tliey also reside in their 
native land ; David maintains his home in Taibach ; Eleanor is the wife 
of Hopkin Thomas, likewise a resident of Wales ; Thomas is the imme- 
diate subject of this sketch ; William is deceased ; Maiy is the wife 
of Edward Thomas, of Taibaoh, and there also reside the two youngest 
of the children, Samuel and Ann, so that the only representative of the 
immediate family in the United States is he whose name initiates this 
article and who has had no cause to regret that as a young man he 
severed tbe home ties and started forth to seek his fortunes in America. 

Thomas Francis was reared to maturity in the town of Taibach, 
Wales, and there his early educational privileges were those afforded 
by the common schools of the day. He early found emplo^^neut in 
the mines, and he continued to be identified with work in such connec- 
tion until 1865, when, at the age of twenty-one years, he immigrated to 
the United States. Soon after his arrival in the jjort of New York 
he started for the west, and he made his way to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, 
which thriving and attractive little city was then gfcarcely more than 
a lumbering camp, and there he remained about six months, at the 
expiration of which he went to Pennsylvania, where he remained until 
1S67, in the sj^ring of which year he betook himself to Alton, Illinois, 
where he identified himself with coal mining. In the following year he 
came to Missouri and located in Bevier, where he continued in the 
same occupation, in the employ of the Central Coal Mining Company. 
His ability in this held of industry did not escape the attention of the 
officials of the company, and within a short time he was sent into the 
state of Kansas to prospect for coal, the company assigning as his asso- 
ciates in this work Messrs. William S. Watson, William Pierce and 
AVilliam Wareen. These three sturdy jirospeetors had the distinction 
of discovering the first coal in Kansas, and in that state Mr. Francis 
remained as a representative of the company mentioned until 1870. 
when he returned to Bevier and was given charge of a mine. In 1879 
he was promoted to the imi^ortant office of superintendent of the local 
mines of the Central Coal Mining Company, and of this position he 
continued the able and popular incumbent for the long period of nearly 
twoscore years, having retired from the same in 1898, when he resigned 
to assume the duties of the office of postmaster of Bevier, in which 
position he has since continued to serve, his first appointment liaving 
been given under the administration of the late and lamented President 
McKinley. 

Mr. Francis has ever maintained a lively and intelligent interest in 
the questions and issues of the hour, and is well fortified in his convic- 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 623 

tions as to matters of public policy. He has been aligned as a staunch 
supporter of the cause of the Rei)uhlicaii party from the time of gaining 
naturalization as a citizen of the United States, and he has been one 
of the leaders in the party ranks in his section of the state, having 
served as chairman of the Republican congressional committee of the 
first district of Missouri and having taken an active ]3art in the 
raanoeuveriug of forces in the various campaigiis. He was among the 
first aldermen elected in Bevier after its incorporation as a city, and he 
has ever done all in his power to further the material and civic advance- 
ment of this city, which has so long represented his home and the center 
of his interests. He has won success through worthy means, has con- 
served his financial resources with much care, and through judicious 
investments has gained a competency. He has been treasurer of Esk- 
ridge Lodge, No. 253, Independent Order of Odd Fellows for the past 
thirty-five years, and takes much interest in the affairs of the organiza- 
tion. He and his wife are members of the Congregational church, and 
both are held in unqualified esteem in the community with whose social 
affairs they have so long been identified. 

Tn the year 1865, just prior to his immigration to the United States, 
Mr. Francis was united in marriage to Miss Ann Howell, who was l)orn 
and reared at Aberavon, Wales, and his young bi'ide accompanied him 
to America. She has been a devoted companion and helpmate, and 
the home life has been one in which the deepest sentiments of love 
and loyalty have found place during the long years since the young 
couple united their destinies in a land far from that of their nativ- 
ity. Mr. and Mrs. Francis became the parents of three children — Mary 
Elizabeth, who is now the wife of William 0. Jones, of Bevier; Mar- 
garet Linna, wife of Judge A. D. Nortoni, who died September 30, 
1894, and Thomas Elmer, who is a successful member of the bar of the 
city of St. Louis, where he is identified with the representative law firm 
of Boyle, Priest & Co. 

^ WALDO EDWARDS. 

Not only is Mr. Edwards nimibered among the leading young 
business men of his native city of Bevier, where he is cashier of the 
People's Bank, but he is also one of the representative younger mem- 
bers of the bar of Macon county and is the able incumbent of the 
office of city attorney of Bevier at the time of this writing. , 

Mr. Edwards was born in Bevier, on the 24th of June, 1883, and is 
a son of Thomas Edwards, of whom specific mention is made in an 
individual sketch appearing on other pages of this volume, so that in 



G24 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

the present cormection further review of the familj' history is not 
demanded. AValdo Edwards duly availed himself of the advantages 
of the excellent public schools of his native city, and thereafter he 
was matriculated in the law department of the University of Missouri, 
in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1906 and from 
which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was forthwith 
admitted to the bar of his native state and initiated the active practice 
of his profession in Bevier. His labors in his profession proved him 
well equipped for its j)ractice and he has shown himself an effective 
trial lawj-er as well as a counselor well fortified in the minutiae of the 
science of jurisprudence. In 1900, prior to entering the law school, 
Mr. Edwards assumed a clerical position in the State Bank of Bevier, 
in which he was later promoted to the office of assistant cashier. He 
continued to be identified with this institution for two and one-half 
years and then resigned to take up his work in the University of Mis- 
souri. In 1907, upon the organization and incorporation of the People's 
Bank of Bevier Mr. Edwards was chosen cashier of the same, and in 
this executive office he has shown much ability and discrimination, — 
fortuitous forces which have conserved the upbuilding of the substantial 
business now controlled by the bank. In addition to thus having con- 
trol of the practical operations of this institution Mr. Edwards is 
rendering efficient service as city attorney of Bevier, to which position 
he was elected in Spring, 1-909. He is a stockholder in the bank of 
which he is cashier and is also a stockholder, as well as manager, of 
the Bevier Telephone Company, whose equipment and service are of the 
most approved order. He enjoys marked popularity in his native 
county and his enterprising and progressive si)irit is exerted in behalf 
of all measures which tend to advance the civic and material welfare 
of the community. 

Mr. Edwards has taken an active interest in the promotion of the 
cause of the Republican party since he was seventeen years of age, and 
in 1906 he was a member of the Republican central committee of Macon 
county. He is affiliated with tlie ]\Iasonic fraternity and its adjunct 
organization, the Order of the Eastern Star, and also with the Benevo- 
lent & Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias, besides 
being an appreciative member of the Bevier Fishing & Boat Association. 

GEORGE F. BREWINGTON, M. D. 

Recognized as one of the representative physicians and surgeons 
of Macon county, Dr. Brewington is established in the successful prac- 
tice of his profession in the thriving city of Bevier, where he is held 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY G25 

in liigli regard both as a physician and as a loyal and puhlio-siiirited 
citizen. 

Dr. Brewington was born near the village of Clarence, Shelby 
county, Missouri, on the 25th of November, 1863, and is a son of 
Sampson M. and Sarah Elizabeth (Webb) Brewington, the former 
of whom was born at Clarence, this state, in 1837, a member of one of 
the sterling pioneer families of that section of Missouri, and the latter 
of whom was reared in the same locality, whither her parents removed 
from her native state of Maryland when she was a child. Sampson M. 
Brewington was reared to manhood in his native county, where he 
received a common-school education and where he has been identified 
with agricultural pursuits from his youth to the present time. He is 
known as one of the prosperous farmers and influential citizens of 
Shelby county and his name has ever stood synonymous of impregnable 
integrity and honor. His devoted and cherished wife still remains by 
his side, having been his companion and helpmeet for more than half 
a century, as their marriage was solemnized in 1856. Both families 
are of English extraction and were early founded in the state of Mary- 
laud. Sampson Brewington resides on the tine old homestead which 
was the place of his birth and is one of the venerable pioneer citizens 
of that section. He is an uncompromising advocate of the principles 
of the Democratic party and at the time of the Civil war his sympa- 
thies were naturally enlisted in the cause of the Confederacy, which 
he served as a valiant soldier in a Missouri regiment for about three 
years of the great conflict between the states. He and his wife are 
zealous members of the ]\rethodist Episcopal church, South. Of their 
six children two died in infancy. ]Mary L. is the wife of Monas Gray, 
of Clarence; George F., is the immediate subject of this review; Sarah 
A., who became the wife of C. Emmett Hill, of Clarence, this state, 
died in 1903 ; and Wililam B., a successful teacher in the public schools, 
is now located at Boulder, Wyoming. 

Dr. George F. Brewington was reared to maturity on the old 
ancestral homestead which was the place of his nativity and his early 
educational advantages were those offered by the public schools of the 
village of Clarence. That he nuide good use of the opportunities thus 
afforded is evident when we revert to the fact that when twenty years 
of age he engaged in teaching in the country schools of his native county, 
and that thereafter he devoted himself to successful work in the 
pedagogic profession until he had attained to the age of twenty-five 
years. In the meanwhile he had formulated definite plans for his future 
career and he thus began the work of preparing himself for tlie work 



G26 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

of the exacting profession in which it has been his to gain much of 
success and prestige. In 1888 he began the study of medicine under 
effective preceptorship and he was finally matriculated in Ensworth 
Medical College, in St. Joseph, ]\Iissouri, in which well ordered insti- 
tution he completed the prescribed technical curriculum and was 
graduated as a member of the class of 1892, with the well earned degree 
of Doctor of Medicine. Shortly after his graduation he located at 
Woodville, Macon county, where he was engaged in the practice of his 
profession for five years. He then, in June, 1897, came to Bevier, 
where he has continued in the successful work of his profession and 
where he finds a wider and more acceptable field for his endeavors. 
His practice is distinctively of representative character, and in addition 
to this he owns and conducts a drug store, in which he has built up a 
most satisfactory trade. He is a mem1)er of the ^lissoiiri State Medical 
Association and also of the Macon County Medical & Surgical Asso- 
ciation. Dr. Brewington has kept in close touch with the advances 
made in both branches of his profession, having recourse to the best 
standard and ]>eriodical literature pertaining to the same, and in 1903, 
as well as in 1909, he took effective post-graduate courses in the cele- 
brated Post-Graduate School of Medicine in the city of Chicago. He 
is local medical examiner for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 
of New York city and the Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Company, 
of St. Paul, as well as for the endowment rank of the Knights of 
Pythias and for the Modern Woodmen of America. 

In politics Dr. Brewington is aligned as a loyal supporter of the 
principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor, 
Imt he has never had aught of amliition for the honors or emoluments 
of political office. He and his wife hold membership in the Chi-istian 
church, and he is affiliated with the IMasonic fraternity, the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern AVoodmeu 
of America and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He has been deeply 
appreciative of the time-honored Masonic Order, in which he has 
attained to the chivalric degrees. He is now district deputy grand 
master of the gi-and lodge of Free & Accepted Masons for the four- 
teenth district of Missouri, is past master of Bloomington Lodge, No. 
102, Free & Accepted Masons; past high ]iriest of ]\Iacon Chajiter. 
Royal Arch Masons; and past eminent commander of Emmanuel 
Commandery, No. 7, Knights Templars, of Macon, Missouri. 

On the 27th of September, 1888, was solemnized the marriage of 
Dr. Brewington to Miss Rose L. Farrell, who was born in Monroe 
county, Missouri, a daughter of J. R. and Anna (McGee) Farrell. who 




JOHN T. BARKER 



HISTORY OF MACOA" COUNTY 627 

still reside in that county. Dr. and Mrs. Brewington have three chil- 
dren, — Anna E., born July 22, 1889; Franklin K., born November 23, 
1891 ; and Ida L., born May 10, 1893. 

JOHN T. BARKER. 

The family to which this eminent citizen, prominent lawyer and 
faithful tribune of the people belongs has dwelt in heroic times for 
at least three generations and in two of the states of the American 
union which have had to build themselves to consequence through great 
trial, arduous effort and marvelous endurance. These states were 
born amid conflict and peril. Their infancy was shrouded in danger 
and privation. All their progress has been through difficulties and 
strugglings. They have had to literally hew their way forward and 
upward, making their advances over natural obstructions, through 
assaults from without and dissentions within, marking each step with 
the tomb of some stubborn foe. The men and women who fought the 
battles and won the triumps were of heroic mold and dealt with their 
opponents, natural, political and economical, as heroes always do. 

Among them were the grandparents of John T. Barker of La Plata 
in this county, who shared the hardships and dangers of Daniel Boone 
and lived with that great man in the fort at what is now Boouesville, 
Kentucky. They were pioneers in the state and bore their full share 
of the burden of frontier life. And when they had helped to conquer 
the wilderness there, they carried their weajions of aggression and 
defense into this county as a part of the advance guard of civilization 
here. And here their descendants have repeated, under somewhat 
similar circumstances, but with variations due to different conditions 
and surroundings, the history they made there. 

John T. Barker was born in CarroUton, Carroll county, Missouri, 
on August 2, 1877, and is a son of Lucian and Mary E. (Withers) 
Barker, the former a native of Kentucky, born in 1838, and the latter 
of Carroll county in this state. The father was a farmer and merchant. 
He came to this state at the age of twenty-one and located in Carroll 
county, where he followed the occupation of his forefathers for two 
years. At the beginning of the Civil war he enlisted for the Con- 
federacy under General Sterling P. Price, and with the valor of his 
race, remained in the service through all the vicissitudes of the war, 
until the Southern flag went down at Appomattox in everlasting defeat. 
He took part in many engagements, some of momentous import and 
others of minor consequence, and after the close of the struggle returned 
to his Missouri home and resumed his farming operations. In 1865 



038 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

he was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. "Withers and they became 
the parents of four children, all of whom are living. The father died 
at Carrollton in 1906 at the age of sixty-eight years. The mother is 
still living. 

Their son John T. was reared in his native county and obtained 
the greater part of his education in the public schools, those rustic 
temples that stud the surface of our republican empire, where liberty 
receives her purest worship, and where, though in humble and lowly 
guise, she secretly breathes her strength into the heart and sinews of 
the nation. Mr. Barker completed his scholastic training at the high 
school from which he was graduated with honors. He had already chosen 
his profession and at once entered upon his preparation for it, reading 
law undeV the direction of one of the leading attorneys and being 
admitted to the bar of his native county in July, 1898. Armed with his 
certificate of qualification and license to practice, he located in this 
county and began his professional career at La Plata, where he is still 
practicing with an increasing clientage and auginenting reputation as 
a lawyer and man of affairs. He was married at La Plata in 1899 to 
Miss Mayme Fisher of that town. They have one child, their daughter 
Mildred, now (1909) three years old! 

In the public affairs of the county Mr. Barker has taken a very 
active and serviceable part. He is a Democrat in political faith and 
devoted to the welfare of his party. He has been very earnest and 
effective in his work for its success and advancement, and by that means, 
as well as in many other ways, has shown himself well qualified to lead 
the people to the defense and development of their best interests. In 
1902 he was elected city attorney of La Plata, and he served with fidelity 
and energy in that office four years, during which he saw that the laws 
were strictly enforced. In 1906 he was elected to the lower house of 
the legislature and was re-elected in 1908 by an increased and very 
large majority of the votes. In the house since his term began he has 
served on several important committees, giving every proper claim on 
his time and energies, careful attention and steadfastly standing by the 
interests committed to his keeping. It has been his aim to support the 
moral side of evety (luestion without regard to ])ersonal or party con- 
siderations, and the universal testimony of the people is to the effect 
that he has done this. At the last session of the legislature he was 
the caucus nominee of his party for the speakership of the house, and 
this gave him the minority leadersliij) on the floor. 

In the line of constructive legislation Mr. Barker has been very 
active and successful. He is the author of the law providing for a 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 629 

third term of court at La Plata, of the one providing- state aid for 
tHe pul)lic schools, the one providing that no person under the age of 
eighteen years shall be confined in the state penitentiary, and of other 
laws bearing on the reformation of youths. He is also the author of the 
statute providing state aid for county fairs and of several in the inter- 
est of miners. His knowledge of public affairs, his readiness and 
resourcefulness in debate and his unwavering fidelity to the interests 
of the people have been so amply demonstrated in his legislative serv- 
ice that they have given him a very wide and high reputation through- 
out the state and so impressed the people of this and the neighboring 
counties that he has been conspicuously mentioned as a suitable and well 
rpialified man to represent his district in the Congress of the United 
States. In that exalted forum he would doiibtless make a record of 
which the district would be proud and be of signal service to the people 
of the whole country. 

In the matter of material acquisitions Mr. Barker has been as suc- 
cessful as he is distinguished in his professional work and his public 
services. His residence is one of the most imposing and attractive in 
the county and it is as renowned for its refined and generous hospitality 
as it is for its architectural beauty, artistic landscape surroundings and 
interior equipment and adornment. In the fraternal life of the com- 
munity around him he has long been active, prominent and influential. 
He is a Freemason of the thirty-second degree and a Noble of the 
Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Order of Elks, the Knights of 
Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. As a member of the 
Presbyterian church he has been for years a very active worker in the 
moral and religious field, delivering many lectures on the Bible as 
view from a legal standpoint. All his triumphs are the results of 
his own capabilities and efforts, and the people give him full credit for 
his"achievements, holding him in high esteem as one whom Fortune has 
never favored, but who has hewed out of his own opportunities and 
shaped even adverse circumstances to his ])urposes and made everything 
minister to the general weal as well as to his own advantage. 

EDWARD ELTAS. 

One of the representative business men and honored citizens of 
Bevier is he whose name initiates this ])ai-agra))h and who has been a 
resident of Missouri for more than fortj^ years. 

Mr. Elias was born in Llanidloes, Wales, in the year 1S5fl, and is 
a son of Edward Elias, Sr., who immigrated to America when the sub- 
ject of this sketch was a child, locating in Pomeroy, Ohio, and passing 



630 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUXTY 

the residue of his life in the old Buckeye state, as did also his wife. He 
rendered loyal service to his adopted countiy as a valiant soldier of the 
Union in the Civil war, in which conflict he served as a member of a 
battery in the Seventh Ohio Light Artillery. Edward Elias, Jr., was 
reared to maturity at Pomeroy, Ohio, in whose public schools he secured 
his early educational training, and in 1868, when eighteen years of age, 
he came to Missouri, where he was identified with mining operations, 
principally in Macon county, for a period of twenty years. For the 
ensuing sixteen years he was employed as clerk in the drug store of 
Eowland Brothers, of Bevier, and in 1904 he here established himself 
in the retail shoe business, in which he has since continued and in con- 
nection with which he has built up a trade of substantial and repre- 
sentative order, giving him prestige as one of the leading business men 
of the thriving little city in which he has so long maintained his home. 
In politics he is aligned as a supporter of the Republican party, and in 
a fraternal way he is identified with the local organization of the 
Woodmen of the World. 

In 1875 Mr. Elias was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Hughes, 
who was bora in Wisconsin and who died in 1882, being survived by 
three children, — Alfred, Zella and Roscoe. In 1884 Mr. Elias wedded 
Mrs. Lenora S. (Davis) Hughes, widow of Jose^Dh R. Hughes, of 
Bevier, concerning whom more definite mention is made in the sketcli 
of the career of his son, John G. Hughes, on other pages of this work. 
Three children were born of this second marriage, — and the first child, 
Edgar, died at the age of five years. The two living are Raymond and 
Lenora, both of whom remain at the parental home. Mr. and Mrs. 
Elias are members of the First Congregational church. Mr. Elias 's 
mother is still living and makes her home in Bevier, aged seventy-nine 
years. 

^ ROWLAND BROTHERS. 

One of the representative mercantile firms of the thriving village 
of Bevier is that whose title initiates this paragrai>h and whoso inter- 
ested principals, in order of seniority, are Dr. Daniel D., Dr. William 
P. and Thomas J. Rowland. The three brothers are numbered among 
the most influential and honored citizens of ^lacon county and are well 
upholding the prestige of the name which tlioy bear. Their father was 
a man who did much for the civic and material upl)uilding of Bevier, 
where his memory is revered as that of a man of impregnable integrity 
and as one whose life, in all its relations, was ordered upon tlio loftiest 



I 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 631 

plane of honor and usefulness. His patent of nobility came from the 
highest of ai;thority, being based upon sterling oliaractei*. 

Daniel Rowland, father of the three brothers noted as member of 
the lirm of Rowland Brothers, was a native of Wales, where he was 
reared to manhood and received limited educational advantages. There 
also was born his loved and gi'acious wife, whose maiden name was 
Mary Price. Their marriage was solemnized at Pittsburg, Penn- 
sylvania. Both parents came to the United States at about the age 
of nineteen and eighteen years. None was ever more appreciative of 
the institutions and advantages offered in our great American republic 
than these worthy folk, who came as strangers in a strange land, and 
their loyalty was of the most insistent type, so that they never had 
aught of desire to return to their native land. They first located in 
the southeastern part of Ohio, on the banks of the Ohio river, and 
about two years after there taking up their abode the father joined the 
valiant baud of argonauts making its way across the })lains to the gold 
fields of California, — then considered a new Eldorado. Daniel Rowland 
left his young wife and their first born child, Daniel D., in Ohio and 
after remaining four years in California he returned to his loved ones. 
Through arduous toil he finally was successful in his quest for gold. 
He and his three partners tunneled deeply into a mountain and finally 
developed the Christie mine, which at one time was considered the 
richest in California ; located at Portwine, north of San Francisco. 

In 1865 Daniel Rowland removed with his family from Ohio to 
Bevier, Missouri, which was then a mere coal-mining camp, with not 
more than one Imndred and fifty population. Here he opened a small 
general-merchandise store and later, at the solicitation of the coal 
conii)any, he purchased the company's store, which he conducted about 
three years, at the expiration of which he sold the same to the com- 
pany, whose request that this transfer be made was tantamount to 
a command, as the company practically controlled all jiroperty in the 
little village. Mr. Rowland's health had become much impared and 
he was not again actively engaged in business until 1882, wiicn he 
established a lumber business, in which he continued until his death, 
in 1893, at which time he was sixty-three years of age. His devoted 
wife was summoned to the life eteriuil in 1886, at the age of fifty-four 
years. Both were zealous members of the Congregational church and 
in iwlitics he gave a staunch allegiance to the cause of the Rei)ublican 
liarty. 

Daniel Rowland was a man of line intellectual powers and through 
well directed reading and study he effectually made good the handicap 



C32 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

of bis somewhat meager educational training- in his youth. He com- 
bined excellent judgment and foresight with marked business acumen, 
and bis success was won by legitmate means and in normal lines of 
enterprise. He was essentially jjrogressive and public-spirited as a 
citizen, kindly, generous and philanthropic, and no man has ever held 
a more secure place in popular confidence and esteem in the village 
of Bevier. At the time of the incorporation of the village he became 
president of its first board of Trustees and he held this office for a 
nimiber of terms, within which he maintained a progressive policy and 
did much to further the best interests of the community. He con- 
tributed liberally to the support of religious and benevolent causes and 
his i)rivate charities, now known to be nunieroiis, were in his life 
extended so unostentatiously as to be known to the recipients only. 
Provisions for the continuance of many of his charities was made by 
him before his death and only a short time ago did the last of these 
cease. 

Daniel D. Rowland is a graduate of St. Louis Medical College, 
graduating with the class of 1884. He was married June 1, 1886, to 
Miss Elizabeth A. Evans of Bevier. They have two children : Wm. A. 
and Eva A. 

Daniel D. Rowland has inherited much of his father's marked busi- 
ness ability and has been most successful in the administration of the 
■ large and important enterprise controlled by the firm of which he is 
the eldest member. Te firm conducts the leading drug and haixlware 
store of Bevier and the same is metropolitan in its equipment and 
facilities. Daniel D. Rowland has been president of the State Bank 
of Bevier from the time of its organization, and the Bevier Building <& 
Loan Association had a most presperous and lieneficient existence under 
his executive guidance. The fine Odd Fellows' Temple in Bevier was 
brought into existence mainly through his suggestion and financial 
support, and represents the tangible results of his able handling of the 
fiscal affairs of the fraternity in this village. His capacity as a 
financier is thoroughly recognized and his advice is much sought by 
other business men, who thus indicate their confidence in his judgment. 
He was born in Pomeroy, Ohio, on the ITtli of December, 1854, and 
received his education mainly in the jiublic schools of Bevier, which 
has represented his home from his boyhood days. He was married 
June 1, 189.3, to ]\riss Alice H. Kealey of Hannibal, Missouri. They 
have one child living, Helen Price. 

Dr. William P. Rowland, the second of the three brothers con- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 633 

stitiiting the firm of Eowland Brothers, was Ijoni at Pomeroy, Ohio, 
on the 2-l:th of May, 1861, and his time and attention are given j)rimarily 
to the work of his profession, in wliicli he has gained prestige as one 
of the representative physicians and surgeons of Maeon county. He 
was graduated in St. Louis Medical College, in the city of St. Louis, 
as a meml)er of the class of 1888, and is a man of high literary and 
professional attainments. Tliough essentially loyal and jmblic-spirited 
as a citizen he has not consented to become a candidate for office save 
on one occasion, when he was elected mayor of Bevier, in which position 
he gave a most liberal and effective administration of the municipal 
govermnent. He lield the office for one term (two years) and within 
his regime the city hall was erected. He pushed forward the promotion 
of this important enterprise in the face of strong oj^position, but the 
wisdom of his course is now thoroughly recognized by all of those who 
were mo^it strenuous in their efforts to thwart the project. He has 
served as president of North Missouri Medical Association in 1906. 
He is a member of the County Medical Society and North Missouri 
Medical Association, Missouri State Medical Association, American 
Medical Association and of the St. Louis City Hospital Alumni. 

Thomas J. Rowland, the youngest of the three brothers, has given 
his attention moi"e especially to the lumber business founded by his 
father, and under his direction the enterprise has been made most suc- 
cessful. He has given much consideration to public, religious and 
philanthropic causes, which he has sujiported with much of discrim- 
ination and generosity. The largest church edifice in the city, that of 
the First Congregational church, was erected largely through his energy 
and liberality, and his contributions to other worthy causes have been 
equally beneficent. He is a member of the board of education of Bevier 
and has shown much zeal in bringing the public schools of the city up 
to the highest standard of efficiency, placing them on the approved 
list of the state university and other leading academic institutions. 
He is a native of Bevier, Missouri, where he was born on the 10th of 
March, 1873. 

He was married December 26, 1900, to Jemima Thomas, and to that 
union three children were born, as follows: Horald D., Ruth Louise 
and ^lary Frances. 

The Rowland brothers are all aligned as loyal supporters of the 
cause of the Republican party and as liberal and ]n-()gressive citizens 
they well merit the ])oi)ular confidence and esteem so uniformly accorded 
them. Thomas J. Rowland died in the Spring of 1910. 



634 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

THOMAS E. AYISDOM. 

As a business man and public official of Macon county ]Mv. "Wisdom 
has long held a jjositiou of prominence and influence, and he commands 
the unequivocal confidence and esteem of the people of his native county. 
He now maintains his home in the citj' of Macon, of whose municipal 
council he is a valued member, besides which he is now serving (1909) 
as secretary of the county committee. 

Thomas Eugene Wisdom was born in Macon county, Missouri, on 
the Hth of .June, 1867, and is a son of "William L. and Martha F. 
(Scutchfield) AVisdom, who are now dead. AVilliam L. "Wisdom was 
born at Huntswell, Missouri, on the 3d of January, 1842, and was there 
reared and educated. As a young man he located in the city of St. 
Louis, where he was engaged in the tobacco business for two years, at 
the expiration of which he removed to Macon county, where he became 
a successful farmer. His old homestead, which comprises 120 acres, 
is located about two miles north of the city of Macon. He was one of 
the well known and highly honored citizens of the county and was a 
man whose life was characterized by the most signal integrity of pur- 
pose. He never had aught of ambition for public office but was a 
loyal advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic party. 
He was affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees and he and his wife 
held membershii3 in the Presbyterian church. Their marriage was 
solemnized in 1864 and Mrs. Wisdom is a native of Macon county, — a 
member of an honored pioneer family of this section of the state. Of 
the two children the subject of this review is the younger, and Minnie 
L., who is the widow of Elmer L. English. The father died November 
6, 1906 and the mother on June 12, 1907. 

Thomas E. Wisdom was reared to maturity in Macon county, to 
whose public schools he is indebted for his early educational training. 
When seventeen years of age he went to Kansas, where he passed one 
year, engaged in farm work, and in 1885 he returned to Macon county 
and took U}) his residence in the city of Macon, where he was employed 
for the ensuing year by the Massey Wagon Company. In 1886 he 
entered the employ of the firm of Riley & Reed, proprietors of the 
Macon marble works, and about one year later he purchased Mr. Riley's 
interest in the enter])rise, which was thereafter conducted under the 
fii'iii name of Wisdom & Reed until 1890, when Mr. Wisdom purchased 
his partner's interest and assumed full control of the business, which 
he thereafter conducted successfully until 1898, when he sold the plant. 

In 1903 ^Ir. Wisdom engaged in the real-estate business, and since 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 635 

1905 he has liad as his able coadjutor in this enterprise Mr. Oscar San- 
dusky. The firm, wliose title is Wisdom & Sandusky, has operated suc- 
cessfully and upon an extensive scale, as is evident when recognition 
is had of the well authenticated fact that the firm has handled more 
land and closed more important deals than any other of its kind in the 
county. On its books are at all times to be found represented most 
desii-able investments in both city property and farming lands and the 
business is conducted according to the highest principles of fairness 
and integrity. Mr. "Wisdom is a recognized authority in the matter 
of real estate values in Macon county, owing to his previous service 
iu the ofiice of recorder of deeds. 

Mr. Wisdom has been a zealous worker in behalf of the cause of 
the Democratic party and is one of its leaders in Macon county. In 
1897 Governor Stephens conferred upon him the appointment of state 
oil inspector for this county, and in 1898 he was elected county recorder 
of deeds, of which office he continued incumbent four years. In 1906 he 
was elected a member of the county committee and after his re-election, 
in 1908, he was made secretary of the body, of which position he is now 
in tenure. His term of office will expire in 1910. In 1907 Mr. Wisdom 
was elected a member of the city council and he still holds this office, 
besides which he is a member of the road conuuission of Hudson town- 
ship. He and his wife hold membershi]i in the Presbyterian church, 
and he is affiliated with the Benevolent t& Protective Order of Elks, the 
Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Knights of the Maccabees, the Modern 
Woodmen of America, and the Court of Honor. 

In February, 1889, Mr. Wisdom was united in marriage to Miss 
Margaret E. Wood, who was born and reared in Macon, a daughter of 
Wm. M. Wood, and they became the parents of five children, of whom 
four are living, — Ralph, Emily, Mildred and Thomas. Lloyd died at 
the age of three years. 

V WILLIAM E. McCULLY. 

In tracing the history of lives conspicuous for achievement the 
most interesting feature of the study is to find tlie key to the success 
thus gained. The more critically exact this study becomes, the more 
convincingly certain it is that the key is in the personality of the man 
himself. LTsually the men who achieve most, do it against the very 
o1)stacles before which other men succumb. They gain it not more 
through natural gifts than from the rallying of the full forces of mind 
and body into the service of their purposes. He whose name initiates 
this sketch has admirably illustrated in liis career the power of con- 



C3G HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

centratiug the resources of the entire man and lifting tliem to the plane 
of great material achievement ; of supplementing excellent natural 
endowments by close ai^plication, impregnable integrity and marked 
tenacity of purpose. Along the manifold lines in which he has directed 
his energies and abilities he has made of success not an accident but 
a logical result. He has conquered adverse forces and has gained 
precedence as one of the representative business men and influential 
citizens of his native state. He maintains his home in the city of ^lacon, 
and his loyalty to the same has been manifested in divers lines of helpful 
enterprise and in the support of worthy measures. 

William Early McCuUy was born on a farm near Bloomington, 
Macon county, Missouri, on the Ifith of June, 185.3, and as on other 
pages of this publication is entered a memorial tribute to his honored 
father, the late Henderson McCully, it is not necessary to further 
review the family history in the present article. Mr. McCully was 
reared to maturity in the city of Bloomington, where his father was a 
representative business man, and there he was afforded the advantages 
of the excellent common schools, including the high school. He initiated 
his association with the practical activities of life when a mere boy, but 
he was eventually enabled to carry forward his high educational work, 
which was completed by a course in Central College, at Fayette, Mis- 
souri, in which institution he was a student in 1868-9. When but 
fourteen years of age he began service as train boy on the line of the 
North Missouri, now Wabash, Railroad, and after leaving college he 
became associated with his father in the control and operation of a lum- 
ber camp at Sioux City, Missouri. Though he went to that place with- 
out ea):)italistic resources other than the equipment provided by his 
father, within six j'ears he had become the owner of the entire village, 
including buildings and business enterprises. In 1881 Mr. McCully 
removed to Atlanta, Missouri, where be engaged in the general mer- 
chandise business. In April of the following year, during the general 
tinancial panic in that locality, he met with financial reverses which 
left him without a dollar but with an unblemished rei)utation and 
unflinching courage. The leading business men of the county ]irac- 
tically all deserted the place, but he remained, and by energy and deter- 
mination partially recouped his losses within the ensuing few months. 
In 188.'ihe assumed the ])osition of traveling saleman for a wholesale 
clothing house in the city of Cincinnati, and one year later lie became 
a stockholder and traveling representative of the Warfield Grocery 
Company, of Quincy, Illinois, with which he continued to be identified 
for the ensuing six vears, within which he made advancement to a 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 637 

position as one of the principal stookliolders in the concern, to the 
upbuilding of whose business he had contributed in large measure. 

In 1890 Mr. McCully sold his interest in the business just men- 
tioned and took up his residence in Macon, the thriving little capital 
city of his native county. Here he purchased the Palace hotel, which 
he conducted for the ensuing thirteen months, at the expiration of which 
he sold the property, upon advantageous terms. In 1891 lie became 
associated with Messrs. Thomas E. Wardell and Harry M. Rubey in 
the ownershiji of the Macon Gas & Electric Light & Power Company 
and witii this important public utility in his home city he has been 
actively concerned during the intervening years. Since 1897 he has 
held the offices of secretary, treasurer and general manager of the 
Macon Gas & Electric Light Company. Of the same triplicate executive 
office he is also incumbent with the Northwestern Electric Heat & Power 
Company, of Kearney, Nebraska, the Palmyra Light & Water Com- 
pany, of Palmyra, Missouri ; the Rhea Lead & Zinc Company, of Jasper 
county, this state; the Ward-Mere Mineral Company, of Jasper county, 
Missouri; the Wardell-McCully Orchard Company; and the Macon 
Publishing Company. 

In 1893, still associated with ^lessrs. Wardell and Rubey, Mr. 
McCully was interested in the installing of electric plants in Mexico 
and Marshall, Missouri; of similar i)lants in Kearney, Nebraska, in 
1901, and in Palmyra, Missouri, in 1902. He has been identified with 
lead and zinc mining enterjjrises in Jasper county, this state, since 
190-1, and he is still concerned in the various other enterprises noted 
in this paragraph. In 1899 Mr. McCully effected the organization of 
the Wardell-iMcCully Orchard Comiiauy and which represents the 
most extensive enterprise of the kind in North Missouri. The company 
owns an orchard of twenty-five thousand trees, located one mile north 
of the city of Macon, — a section admirably adapted for the cultivation 
of the best types of fruit. Mr. McCully was one of the organizers and 
incorporators of the State Exchange Bank, of Macon, of which 
substantial and popular institution he has been a director from the 
time of its inception. 

As an alert man of affairs and as a loyal and i)ublic-spirited citizen, 
Mr. McCully has not hedged in his interests in the demands of his 
extended and varied business connection, but has ever stood readv to 
lend his influence and tangible aid in the i)romotion of eiiterj)rises and 
measures tending to advance the general welfare of his home city and 
native county. In politics he accords an unqualified allegiance to the 
cause of the Democratic party and in the same he has given zealous and 



638 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

effective service. In 1899 he was elected a member of the state board 
of i-ailroad and warehouse commissioners, and, nothwithstanding the 
exactions of his private business interests, he rendered most efficient 
service in this office, of whicli he continued incumbent for six consecutive 
years. He and his wife hold membership in the ^lethodist Episcopal 
ehiirch. South, and since 1894 he has been president of the official board 
of the church of this denomination in Macon. He has attained to the 
chivalric degrees in the time-honored Masonic fraternity and is past 
eminent commander of Emmanuel Commandery, No. 7, Knights 
Templars, of Macon. He is also affiliated with the Macon lodge of the 
Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks. 

On the 5th of March, 1874, was solemnized the marriage of ]\rr. 
McCully to Miss Georgia E. McCully, who was born and reared in 
Shelby county, Missouri, and who is a daughter of the late "William 
McCully, a representative citizen of that section of the state. Mr. and 
Mrs. jMcCully have three children, — Gertrude, who is the wife of Fred- 
erick H. Tedford, editor of the Macon Times-Uemocrat ; Velma Eugenia, 
who is the wife of "Waldo F. Smith, of Macon ; and Harry, who remains 
at the parental home. The family is prominent and popular in con- 
nection with the social and church activities of Macon, and the beautiful 
home is one in which a gracious hospitality is ever in evidence. 

V HENDERSON McCULLY. 

It is most consonant that in this publication be entered a memoir 
to the late Henderson McCully, who was one of the honored pioneers 
and influential citizens of Macon county, with whose civic and indus- 
trial progress he was intimately identified during the course of a long 
and peculiarly active and successful business career. The city of 
Macon represented his home at the time of his death, and when he was 
called from the scene of life's activities the entire community manifested 
a sense of personal loss and bereavement. 

Mr. McCully was born in Powell's Valley, Tennessee, on the 24th 
of January, 1819, and he met his death as the result of an accident in 
one of his lumber camps, at Peach Orchard, Arkansas, in 1887. His 
remains were interred in the cemetery of his home city, where also 
rest those of his cherished and devoted wife, who was summoned to 
eternal rest in 1906. Mr. McCully gained his rudimentary education 
in the common schools of his native state and when he was a lad of 
about ten years, in 1829, his parents removed from Tennessee to ^lis- 
souri and settled in Howard county, where he was reared to maturity 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 639 

and where he duly availed himself of the advantages of the schools of 
the jieriod. 

In IS-i-l: was solemnized the marriage of Mr. ^IcCiilly to Miss Mary 
Jane Harvey, who was born in Howard county, ^lissouri. Fairfax 
county, ^^irginia, was where the family had long been one of prominence 
and whence came her parents to Missouri. In 1847 Mr. McCuUy took 
up his residence in Macon county, settling on a farm on the Sheridan 
river, near Bloomington, which was then the county-seat. In pui-- 
chasing this property he also became the owner of an old over-shot 
water wheel, which was used for the operation of a saw mill and also 
a grist mill and which was long an object of interest, as it was the 
only one of the kind between the Missouri river and the state of Iowa. 
In 1856 Mr. MeCully removed from his farm to the village of Bloom- 
ington, where he became associated with Alfred Tobiu and Albert L. 
and George Shortridge in the general merchandise business and the 
manufacturing of tobacco. With the same representative citizens he 
was also prominently identified with the organization of the Bloom- 
ington Bank, which was the first to be established in the county and of 
which he was one of the largest stockholders, as well as an executive 
officer. j\Ir. McCuUy was a man of great business acimien and his 
activities were diversified and of wide scope and importance. As a 
manufacturer of lumber he operated upon an extensive scale, bujang 
large tracts of timber land in Missouri and Arkansas and operating 
four saw mills. He contracted for the construction of one of the first 
railroad bridges at St. Joseph, Missouri, and later was the leading 
bridge and tie contractor for the Missouri & Mississippi Railroad in 
Macon county. 

Mr. McCuliy was a man of im]iregnable integrity of character and 
his life was guided and governed by the higliest i)rinciples and ideals. 
In the earlier days he was the owner of a large number of slaves, but he 
never sold one and freed them all long prior to the inception of the war 
between the states. During this great internecine conflict his sympa- 
thies were with the south and in the perpetuation of the institutions 
under whose influences he had been reared. During the war he main- 
tained a neutral attitude so far as active service was concerned. lie 
was a stanch adherent of the Democratic party but never sought the 
honors or emoluments of public office, as he was intrinsically and essen- 
tially a business man. Both he and his wife were zealous members of 
the Methodist E])iscopal church, South, to whose suji^iort they 
contributed in liberal measure. 

Henderson and Mary J. (Harvey) MeCully became the parents 



640 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

of seven cbildreu, of whom four are living: "Walter G. is general manager 
of the Columbus Electric Light & Power Company, at Columbus, 
Nebraska; Wiliam E. is individually mentioned on other pages of this 
work; Ada is the wife of AVilliam J. Braslield, of St. Louis, Missouri; 
and Arthur P. is auditor of the Ehea Lead & Zinc Company, at Joplin, 
Missouri. 

V WILLIAM E. JONES. 

The aggressive enterprise and strong initiative that have caused 
so wonderful industrial progress in all sections of the United States 
within the past decade tind exemplification in no uncertain way in the 
person of this able and popular young business man of Macon, where 
his energy and ambition have been so coupled with discrimination and 
business prescience that he has gained a place of prominence as one 
of the essentially representative citizens here identified with industrial 
and commercial activities. Though he is not yet thirty years of age he 
is president of the W. E. Jones Cutlery Company, which is engaged in 
the manufacturing of razors and other articles of cutlery and which 
is rapidly forging to the front as one of the leading concerns of its kind 
in the country. Its operations are based upon adequate cajjital and 
mechanical facilities, and under the effective direction of its president 
its affairs are being administered with most excellent results, so that 
it proves a valuable acquisition to the industrial intei-ests of Macon 
county and the state of Missouri. 

William Edward Jones was born at New Cambria, Macon county, 
Missouri, on the 8th of August, 1881, and is a son of Dr. Evan Jones, 
who was born in Wales, in the year 1845, and who was there reared to 
maturity, receiving a good common-school education. In 1870, at the 
age of twenty-five years, he left his native land to seek his fortune 
in America, to which AVales has contributed a most valuable element of 
citizenship. He was variously engaged for some time after his arrival 
in the United States and finally entered a medical college in the city 
of Keokuk, Iowa, in which institution he was graduated with the degree 
of Doctor of Medicine. Soon afterward he located in New Cambria, 
Missouri, where he engaged in the active work of his profession and 
where he built up a lai'ge and successful practice, becoming known as 
one of the able physicians and surgeons of that section of the state. 
He still maintains his home in New Cambria, but has been virtually 
retired from active professional work since 1905. He is identified with 
the Missouri State Medical Society, is a Eepublican in politics, though 
never a speker of public office of any description, and he and his wife 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY G41 

hold meiubersliip iu the Presbyterian church. He is affiliated with 
the Ancient Order of United AVorkmen, the Knights of the Maccabees 
and other fraternal and social organizations, and is one of the honored 
and influential citizens of the thriving town in which he has so long 
maintained his home and in which he has rendered effective service to 
suffering humanity. In New Cambria, in the year 1880, was solemnized 
his marriage to Miss Elizabeth James, who was born in Australia, 
whence she came with her parents to America when a child. Dr. and 
Mrs. Jones became the parents of nine children, all of whom are living, 
their names, in order of birth, being as follows : AVilliam E., Alice, 
Nell, Thomas C, John K., Ida, Robert L., James I., and A'irgil C. 

AVilliam E. Jones, the immediate subject of this review, is indebted 
to the excellent liublic schools of his native town for his early educa- 
tional training, which included a course in the high school. He later com- 
pleted a course in a business college at Quincy, Illinois, and thereafter 
was employed for one year in the New Cambria State Bank, where 
he held the office of bookkeeper. In 1900 Mr. Jones came to Macon to 
assume the position of quartermaster and instructor in commercial 
branches in Blees Military Academy, with which institution he was thus 
identified until 1904, when he became manager of the Macon Shear 
Company. He resigned this position in Alay 1905, and effected the 
organization of the AY. E. Jones Cutlery Company, which is incor- 
porated under the laws of the state, with a capital stock of five thousand 
dollars, and of which he has been president and general manager from 
the beginning. The company has a well equijied plant, provided with 
the most modern facilities for the handling of the various details of 
manufacturing, and its output has gained a high reputation for sujierioi; 
excellence. The principal products are razors, of both the ordinarj' 
and safety types, and though the enterprise may yet be classed with the 
"infant industries" it is certainly a sturdy yoimgster, strong in sinew 
and fostered under the most auspicious of surroundings, as is evident 
from the fact that its products are now shipped into the most diverse 
sections of the Union. In the establishing and maturing of this impor- 
tant industrial enterprise Mr. Jones has shown the utmost courage, 
confidence and self-reliance, and none can doubt that he has wisely 
ai:)plied his powers and that the s]:»lendid success of the business has 
amply justified his faith in himself and in the concern of which he is 
the executive head. lie is not a man of idle moments but one who 
crystallized dreams into deeds, and, in his quiet, unassuming way, he 
gives the evidences of intrinsic strength and follows a definite course 
with that tenacity of purpose and that comprehensive viewpoint that 



642 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

augur well for the still greater success of the enterprise with which 
he has thus identified himself. Though one of the youngest business 
men in Macon he is one of the most progressive as well as most pop- 
ular, and he is duly appreciative of the advantages and attractions of 
Macon as a place of residence and as an eligible manufacturing and 
distributing center. His loyalty is manifest in public spirit as well 
as in his fostering of a business that has large direct and collateral 
influence on the commercial precedence of the city. He is one of the 
enthusiastic and valued members of the Macon Commercial Club, of 
which he served as secretary in 1906-7 and of whose directorate he 
is a member at the present time. His political allegiance is given to the 
Eepublican party, his religious views are in accord with the faith of the 
Presbyterian church, and he is affiliated with the Macon lodge of the 
Knights of Pythias. It may be stated that this representative young 
citizen of Macon still clings to a life of celibacy. 

WILLIAM D. COOK. 

This prominent and progressive farmer, dairyman and stock- 
raiser of Callao township, who occupies a leading position in the indus- 
tries with which he is connected and is generally esteemed as one of the 
forceful and influential citizens of his locality, was born March 
22, 1862, at Elmer, ]\Iapon county which his grandfather helped 
to fourjd and where his father grew to manhood and jiassed the 
remainder of his days at Callao. The grandparents and the parents 
were all natives of Kentucky, and the paternal grandfather moved his 
family to this county in 1838 and located on a tract of wild land on 
a part of which the town of Elmer now stands. There he redeemed his 
land from the wilderness and made it over into a good farm, helping 
to start the influx of population and the spirit of improvement that 
have resulted in the present high grade of development of the region. 

The parents of William D. Cook were James Wade and Mary 
Ellen (Truitt) Cook, natives, as has been stated, of Kentucky, the 
former born in Barren county and the latter at Bowling Green in Pike 
county, of Missouri. They have seven children four of whom are living. 
They are: Victoria, the wife of Robert L. Wilkin, of San Juan, New 
Mexico: Ida, the wife of James Smith, of Ethel, Missouri; William D. 
and Phineas G., of Callao. The father died in 1902. He was a pros- 
perous farmer and a well esteemed citizen. Tlie mother is still living 
and has her home in Elmer. She is advanced in years but enjoys good 
health and is hale and vigorous. Her experience has been highly inter- 
esting, although it has been repeated many, many times in American 




WILLIAM D. COOK 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 643 

history. She came, to this couuty when it was very sparsely populated 
and the greater part of it was still under the dominion of its savage 
denizens of forest and plain, man and beast, and yet bore on its sur- 
face the wild appearance it has worn for ages. The soil was virgin to 
the plow, the forests were unbroken, the whole region, except in spots, 
was an uni)eopled waste, untouched by civilizing influences and with all 
its powers and possibilities still slumbering as they had been from the 
time when the land emei"ged above the surface of the great deep. She 
has lived to see it a veritable garden in productiveness, the home of a 
progressive, enterprising and all-conquering people and rich in all the 
achievements of modern times. And she and her kindred have helped 
to accomplish all the improvements. 

Her son, William D. Cook, attended the district schools in the 
neighborhood of his home and completed his scholastic training at St. 
James Academy in Macon. After leaving that institution he taught 
school for a niunber of years and had the benefit of the self-knowledge 
and knowledge of others which that instructive occupation gives its 
wideawake and observant pupil. He had aspirations, however, for a 
broader if not a higher field of effort, and with the savings he had 
accumulated he bought a farm and started a dairying business on a 
small scale. He has continued both his farming and his dairying ever 
since, steadily expanding both and also increasing his enterprise in 
raising stock for the markets, until now all are of magnitude and 
highly important in a commercial way. He owns 209 acres of good 
land improved with good buildings and fully equipped for advanced 
farming, and he cultivates it with spirit and intelligence. His stock 
interests are extensitve and profitable, and his dairy work not only adds 
considerable to his revenues but also aids largely in supplying many 
wants of the com-munity. 

Mr. Cook has given full attention to the development and advance- 
ment of the region and the enduring warfare of its people. He is a 
stockholder and director of the Callao Fair Association and also a 
stockholder in the Macon Creamery. He has served ten years or 
longer as a member of the school board, and in many other ways has 
ministered to the welfare of the township and its inhabitants. Frater- 
nally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America and the 
Knights of Pythias, and takes an active part in the meetings and pro- 
ceedings of his lodge in each. He is a member of the Christian church 
in religious affiliation and earnest in promoting the activity and useful- 
ness of the congregation to which he belongs. In his church member- 
ship he has departed from the example of his father, who was a Prim- 



G-14 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

itive Baptist, and was also zealous in the service of his church. 

On December 31, 1884, Mr. Cook was united in marriage with Miss 
Laura D. Gentle, a native of Callao but of Kentucky parentage. They 
have two children, their son Herbert V. and their daughter Pauline. 

JOSEPH L. BRIDGEFOED, D. D. S. 

Not only by reason of his distinctive technical ability in a pro- 
fession that represents both a science and a mechanic art but also 
through his invention of an appliance that has proved of inestimable 
benefit to his profession the world over and a boon to those who utilize 
artificial teeth in plate form, has Dr. Bridgeford gained a wide repu- 
tation in his chosen calling, and he is today numbered among the widely 
known and distinguished exponents of the dental profession in the 
United States, being estabished in practice in the city of Macon, where 
he is also president of the Pioneer Manufacturing Company, which 
manufactures his special dental appliance or preparation, to which 
further reference shall be made in this context. 

Dr. Joseph Luckie Bridgeford is a scion of one of the honored 
pioneer families of Missouri, of which he is a native son and to which 
his fealty is of the most ajipreciative and insistent type. He was born 
in the village of Paris, Monroe county, Missouri, on the 16th of Sep- 
tember, 1871, and is a son of William Henry and Rachel Julia (Luckie) 
Bridgeford, the former of whom was likewise a native of Paris, this 
state, where he was born in 1840, and the latter of whom was born in 
Kentucky, whence her parents removed to Missouri when she was a 
child. The paternal grandfather of the doctor was William Bridge- 
ford, who was born and reared in Kentucky, where the family was 
early founded and whence he came to Missouri in the pioneer days, 
becoming one of the prominent and influential citizens of Monroe 
county, where he continued to reside until his death. 

AVilliam H. Bridgeford was reai'ed and educated in the town of his 
nativity and as a young man engaged in the general commission busi- 
ness in the city of St. Louis. Later he turned his attention to the 
raising and handling of live stock, at Paris, where he became an exten- 
sive shipper of cattle. In 1885 he engaged in the general merchandise 
business at Mexico, this state, but he retired from active business in 
1889, after which he returned to the city of St. Louis, where his death 
occurred on the 2nd of December, 1892. His widow now maintains 
her home in Mexico, ^lissouri. Of their two children the subject of 
this review is the younger, and his brother. Dr. Emmet McDonald 
Bridgeford, is a representative physician and surgeon of Mexico, this 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 645 

state. The honored father was an active factor in connection with the 
cause of the Democratic party iu his native state, but never sought or 
held public office. He was a man of strong intellectual foi'ce and of 
the highest personal integrity, ever commanding the unreserved esteem 
of all who knew him. He was a consistent member of the Baptist 
church, of which his wife also is a devoted member, having been active 
in church work for many years. 

Dr. Joseph L. Bridgeford was about fourteen years of age at the 
time of his i^arents' removal to Mexico, Missouri, to whose public 
schools he is indebted for his earlier educational discipline, which was 
supplemented by a literary course in Washington University, in the city 
of St. Louis, and also by the completion of the prescribed technical 
curriculum in the dental department of the same institution, in which 
he was graduated as a member of the class of 1892 and from which 
he received the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery, besides winning 
the honors of his class in examination in prosthetic dentistry, in which 
connection he received a valuable prize offered by the St. Louis Dental 
Manufacturing Company. It should be stated that Dr. Bridgeford 
has ever stood exponent of the highest professional ethics and has 
done all in his power to raise the standard of the same and to dis- 
courage the granting of licenses to those not thoroughly fitted for the 
important work devolving upon the practitioner of dental surgery. 
After his graduation Dr. Bridgeford located in Moberly, Missouri, 
where he was associated in practice with Dr. James T. Fry until the 
winter of 1893, when he came to Macon county and established him- 
self in practice at Bevier, where he continued his professional work 
until 1897, since which year he has maintained his home in Macon, 
where he has built up a large and substantial professional business, 
drawn from representative and appreciative sources. He is a valued 
member of the Missouri State Dental Association and the Missouri 
Dental Club, whose headquarters are maintained in the city of St. Louis. 

In 1906 Dr. Bridgeford invented and jJaced on the market a sub- 
stance or preparation known as the Bridgeford plate paste, in the 
exploitation of whose merits he organized the Pioneer Manufacturing 
Company, which turns out the product u|)on a large scale, as the same 
is now iu demand on the part of dental practitioners in all parts of 
the world. 

In politics Dr. Bridgeford clings to the faith in which he was 
reared and is a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, 
though he has never evinced aught of ambition for political office. He 
manifests a deep interest in nil that touches the welfare and progress 



646 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

of his home city and is one of the most zealous members of the Macon 
Commercial Club, which stands representative of high civic ideals and 
which has done much to promote the industrial and commercial advance- 
'ment of the city. He was secretary and treasurer of this organization, 
is identified with the local lodges of the Benevolent «fc Protective Order 
of Elks, Knights of Pythias and Woodmen of the World, and is a mem- 
ber of the alumni association of his alma mater, Washington University. 
On the 11th of December, 1907, Dr. Bridgeford was united in 
mari'iage to Miss Mary Melinda Stone, who was born and reared in 
Macon county and who is a daughter of Benjamin F. Stone, of Macon 
city. 

PAUL W. TUTT. 

One of the alert and progressive young business men and popular 
citizens of Macon is Paul William Tutt, who is a native of Genuany 
and of distinguished and patrician ancestry. He is the only repre- 
sentative of the immediate family in America, and here his success has 
been such as to offer the best indication of his ability and his integrity 
of i^urpose. 

Mr. Tutt was born in the city of Metz, Germany, on the 14th of 
September, 1881, and is a son of Colonel Dogobert F. and Catherine 
(Melchers) Tutt, the former of whom was born at Bensberg, near the 
city of Cologne, Germany, and the latter of whom is a native of Dus- 
seldorf. They now maintain their home in Metz, Germany, and the 
father there holds an important government office. Colonel Tutt was 
educated in the city of Cologne, and after leaving school he entered the 
German army, in which he rendered gallant service and from which 
he was finally retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1864 he 
was an active participant in the war between Prussia and Austria, in 
which he took part in the battles of Munchengratz and Sadowa, and 
later he participated in many of the important conflicts marking the 
progress of the Franco-Prussian Avar. After the close of this war 
he married Miss Catherine Melchers, and they have four children, 
concerning whom the following brief record is apropos in this con- 
nection: Carl holds the office of first lieutenant in the German anny; 
Elizabeth is the wife of Gardy S. Knox, a Prussian army officer stationed 
in Berlin; Paul William is the immediate subject of this review, and 
Henry remains at the parental home. 

Paul William Tutt was afforded the advantages of excellent schools 
in his fatherland, having availed himself of the facilities of the Lyceum 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 647 

in his native city, after which he attended a military school in Bensberg 
and a private school of high scholastic grade in Metz. 

In 1898, when seventeen years of age, Mr. Tutt severed the gracious 
ties ■which bound him to his home and fatherland and set forth to gain 
for himself a place as a loyal American citizen. He landed in New- 
York city, and from the national metroi)olis came directly to Macon, 
]\Iissouri, where he soon afterward assumed a i^osition with the Macon 
Shear Company. In 1899, more thoroughly to familiarize himself with 
tbe English language, he attended the Blees Military Academy, at 
Macon, ^fissouri, and in 1901 he became bookkeeper for the Rlees 
McVicar Carriage Company, of Macon, continuing to be identified with 
the office affairs of the company until January, 1904, when he assumed 
the position of traveling representative of the concern, in which connec- 
tion he covered important territory in the northern states. In the same 
year he was assigned to the office of assistant manager of the company's 
branch establishment in Shreveport, Louisiana, and in April, 1905, he 
was called back to Macon to assume the office of manager of the Macon 
Shear Company. In November of 1906 he was elected seci-etary and 
manager of the Blees Carriage Company, of which position he has since 
continued incumbent, and he has gained precedence as a business man 
of much initiative power and fine administrative ability. His record 
since coming to America has been one of definite and worthy accom- 
plishment, and he has so ordered his course as to gain and retain the 
inviolable confidence and regard of those with whom he has been asso- 
ciated, both in commercial and social circles. In politics he has aligned 
himself as an ardent supporter of the cause for which the Rei)ublican 
party stands sponsor, and he takes much interest in all that pertains to 
tbe welfare and progress of his home city, where he is deservedly popu- 
lar, owing to his gracious personality and his careful consideration for 
others. 

On the 14th of January, 1909, was solenmized the marriage of Mr. 
Tutt to Misfi ]\Iary Morrison Kern, daughter of Judge Robert H. Kern, 
a prominent and honored citizen of St. Louis, this state. Mr. and Mrs. 
Tutt are active in the best social life of Macon and in tlie same their 
popularity is of tlie most unequivocal type. 

CHARLES L. FARRAR. 

The name borne by the subject of tliis lirief review has been identi- 
fied with the annals of Macon county for more tlian half a century, and 
his father was one of the prominent and influential citizens of this sec- 
tion for many years prior to his death. The son has well upheld the 



C48 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

prestige of the name and is to-daj- one of tlie representative citizens of 
his native county, where he has been prominent in public affairs and 
where he is now the able and popular incumbent of the office of post- 
master of the city of Macon. 

Mr. Farrar was born on a farm in Ten Mile townslii]i, Macon 
county, Missouri, on the 29th of May, 1861, and is a son of John and 
Selina (Thornton) Farrar, both natives of England, where the former 
was born in the year 1815 and the latter in 1817. John Farrar was 
reared and educated in his native land and as a young man came with 
his parents to the United States. The family located in the state of 
North Carolina, where he remained until 1857, when he settled in Macon 
county, Missouri, where he secured land and turned his attention to 
agricultui-al pursuits, to which he continued to devote his attention for 
a number of years and in which connection his well directed endeavors 
brought him a due measure of material success. He finally took up his 
residence in Macon, the county seat, and here he was prominent in busi- 
ness and in public atfairs. He espoused the cause of the Republican 
party at the time of its inception and ever afterward gave to the same 
an unwavering allegiance. In 1866 he was elected county clerk, and of 
this office he continued incumbent for four years. He also served as 
city collector for some time, and in 1888 was elected police judge, in 
which capacity he continued to preside on the bench for three years. 
During the Civil war he served four years as postmaster of Ten Mile. 
He was a man of superior intellectual and moral force, and no citizen 
of the county was accorded a fuller degree of popular confidence and 
esteem. In 1871 he became senior member of the firm of Farrar & 
Bourke and engaged in the wholesale and retail lumber business in 
Macon. He continued to be identified with this enteriirise until 1877, 
when he disposed of his interest in the same, after which he lived virtu- 
ally retired from active business until his death, which occurred on the 
2d of November, 1882. He was a member of the Episcopal church, of 
which his wife also has been a devoted member for many years. She 
still maintains her home in Macon and has attained to the venerable age 
of ninety-two years (1909). They became the parents of nine children, 
of whom six are living, namely: William, who is engaged in the insur- 
ance business at St. Louis ; Sarah, who is the wife of "William B. Gilbert, 
of Macon; Alice, who is the wife of William B. Barnes, of this county; 
Eliza, who is unmarried and resides with her mother; Carrie, who is the 
wife of Albert D. Strong, of ^lacon; and Charles L., who is the innnedi- 
ate subject of this sketch. It is interesting to record that six genera- 
tions of the family are now found represented. ]\Irs. Farrar. the 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 6i9 

venerable and revered "mother in Israel," represents the first genera- 
tion; her daughter, !Mrs. Gilbert, has a daughter, Viola, who is the wife 
of Pittniau Liudley, of Livingston, Montana, and their daughter, Pearl, 
is the wife of Mr. Gilman, of Livingston, Montana, in whose daughter, 
Cordie Nell, is found the representative of the sixth generation. 

Charles L. Farrar, whose name initiates this review, gained his 
early educational training in the schools of Macon, and after leaving 
school he became clerk in a local mercantile establishment. In this 
capacity he was thereafter emi)loycd by several other local concerns of 
representative order, and his business career aside from such 
occupation has mainly been that of city clerk (twenty-two years). 

Mr. Farrar has long been a potent factor in connection with polit- 
ical affairs in his native county and has been one of the wheel-horses 
of the Republican party in this section of the state. In 1904 he was 
chosen secretary of the Eepublican committee of Macon county, in 
which office he served four years, within which he did effective work in 
the maneuvering of i^olitical forces in the various local and state cam- 
paigns. In 1902 he was elected chairman of the Republican city com- 
mittee of Macon, and he retained this incumbency imtil 1908. In 1886 
he assumed the office of city clerk, and he held this position for a period 
of twenty-two consecutive years, resigning the same in May, 1908. In 
the following month he received his commission as postmaster of 
Macon, and he has given a most able and effective administration of 
the affairs of the office, having done much to systematize and facilitate 
the service and having gained unqualified popular approval. He is sig- 
nally interested in all that tends to advance the material and civic pros- 
perity of his home city, and is loyal and progressive as a citizen. He 
and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal church, 
holding membership in the local parish of St. James, and he is affiliated 
with the Masonic fraternity, the Benevolent and Protective Order of 
Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America, the Independent Order of Foresters, and 
the Woodmen of the World. He enjoys unqualified popularity in his 
native county, where his circle of friends is limited only by that of his 
acquaintances. 

On the 19th of June, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. 
Farrar to Miss May Bennett, daughter of Edward F. Bennett, of 
Macon, and they have one child, Nelle. 

In a reminiscent way it may be stated that Mr. Farrar 's mother 
was a passenger ob the first railroad train operated between Manches- 
ter and Liverjiool. England. The engineer of tiiis train is still living 



GoO HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

and is now a resident of the state of Iowa. A model of the primitive 
engine used in hauling the train was on exhibition at the Louisiana 
Purchase Exposition, held in the city of St. Louis in 1901. 

NATHANIEL M. LACY. 

One of the representative members of the bar of Macon county, 
where he formerly served as assistant prosecuting attorney, Mr. Lacy 
has been most successful in the practice of his profession and is recog- 
nized as a strong and versatile advocate and well fortified counselor. 
He maintains his home and professional headquarters in the city of 
Macon, and is one of the loj'al and public-spirited citizens of the county. 

Mr. Lacy claims as the place of his nativity the fine old Hoosier 
state, having been born at Nineveh, Johnson county, Indiana, on the 
6th of August, 1874, and being a son of James D. and Tamar (Maris) 
Lacy, whose marriage was solemnized in the year 1873 and who now 
reside in Johnson county, Indiana, where the father is living virtually 
retired, having long been numbered among the representative agricul- 
turists and stock-growers of tliat county and having been influential in 
public affairs of a local order. He now has his home in the village of 
Nineveh. James I). Lacy was born at Coshocton, Ohio, on the 6th of 
March, 1846, and is a member of one of the sterling pioneer families 
of the Buckeye state. He was reared and educated in his native place, 
and for a number of years his vocation was that of contracting and 
building, which line of enterprise he followed after his removal to 
Indiana. Later he engaged in farming and stock-raising, becoming the 
owner of a valuable farm in Johnson county, and he continued to be 
identified with its work and management until about 1907, since which 
time he has lived retired, though still retaining possession of his fine 
farm. His wife is a native of Brown county, Indiana, and they became 
the parents of three children, all of whom are living, namely : Nathaniel 
M., William J. and Mai-y E. William J. is a resident of Salt Lake City, 
Utah, and Mary E. remains at the parental home. The mirents are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and the fatlfjr has long 
been a zealous worker in the ranks of the Republican party, 9ti which he 
has wielded no little influence in a local way. He lias held various local 
oifices of ])ublic trust and is at the present time a member of the board 
of equalization of his county. He is affiliated with the Masonic 
fraternity, in which he is past master of his lodge. 

Nathaniel M. Lacy was reai'ed to the sturdy discipline of tlie farm 
and gained his early educational training in the pliblic schools, after 
which he continued his studies for four years in Franklin College, at 



HISTORY OF ilACON COUNTY 651 

Franklin, Indiana. In preparation for the work of liis clioseu vooation 
lie was matriculated in the Indiana Law School in the city of Indian- 
ai^olis, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the 
class of 1899, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted 
to the bar of his native state shortly after his graduation and was 
engaged in practice at Franklin, Indiana, until 1901, when he came to 
Missouri and took up his residence in ]\Iacon, where he has built u]3 a 
substantial and representative law business, having an excellent 
clientele and having appeared in connection with much important litiga- 
tion in the local and state courts. In 1904 he was chosen assistant 
prosecuting attorney of Macon county, in which office he gave very able 
service and added materially to his professional prestige.. He retained 
this incumbency until 1906, and simultaneously held the office of city 
attoi'ney of Macon. 

In politics Mr. Lacy gives an unqualified allegiance to the Repub- 
lican party and he has been an active worker in its cause. He and his 
wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is 
affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Ellks, the Knights of Pythias, the Woodmen of the World, and 
the Phi Delta Theta college fraternity. 

On the 9th of September, 1903, Mr. Lacy was united in marriage 
to Miss Daisy L. Strickler, who was born and reared in Indiana and 
who is a daughter of H. C. Strickler, of Franklin, that state. 

HUNTER L. GARY. 

On other pages of this publication is entered a review of the inter- 
esting career of Theodore Gary, whose capitalistic and industrial inter- 
ests in Missouri and elsewhere are of wide scope, and as his son, the 
subject of the sketch at hand, is intimately associated with him as 
private secretary and as an executive officer of the many enterprises 
with which he is identified, reference should be made to the review of 
the father's career in connection with that of the son. Under such 
referatory facilities it will not be necessary to repeat the data in this 
article. Hunter L. Gary is recognized as one of the essentially repre- 
sentative business men of the younger generation in Macon, and has 
shown distinctive acimien and initiative, while he has had the benefit 
of the counsel and effective training of his father, whose success has 
been of a most pronounced order, especially in the field of telephone 
development. 

Mr. Gary is a native of the city of IMaeon, where he was born on 
the 27th of May, 1884, and to the public schools of this city he is 



G52 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

indebted for bis early educational training, wbicb was supplemented 
by a course of study in Blees ^lilitary Academy, at Macon, wbere he 
continued a student for a period of three and one-half j^ears. In 1903 
he completed a thorough technical course in telephony in the Inter- 
national Correspondence Schools, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, thereby 
fortifying himself in a practical way for the supervision of the large 
teleiDlione interests with wliich he is associated in an administrative 
capacity. 

After leaving the militaiy school Mr. Gary entered his father's 
office, and he has since been intimately associated with the latter in his 
varied business operations. He showed, even as a boy, a distinctive 
predilection for practical business affairs, and while attending school 
voluntarily sought employment during his leisure hours as collector for 
various business concerns in his home city, also acting as collector and 
bookkeeper for the Macon Telephone Company. His advancement has 
not been merely one of paternal or other fortuitous influences, for he is 
of the timbre fi'om which strong business ability is naturally evolved, 
and his ambition has been one promotive of definite personal accom- 
lilishment. The importance of the enterprises with which he is con- 
cerned may be understood by referring to the previously mentioned 
sketch of the life of his father, to whom he is his private secretary in 
connection with all of the latter's operations. He is secretary and assis- 
tant manager of the Macon Telephone Company, and also assistant 
manager of the Atchison Telephone Company, of Atchison, Kansas; 
assistant manager and treasurer of the Nevada Telephone Company, 
of Nevada, Missouri ; secretary and director of the Hudson-Gary Land 
Company, of Macon ; a director of the Theodore Gary Investment Com- 
pany, of Macon, Missouri; and a director of the Topeka Independent 
Telephone Company, of Topeka, Kansas, as well as of the Macon, 
Atchison and Neveda telephone companies, already mentioned. 

In politics Mr. Gary is aligned as a stanch supporter of the princi- 
ples and ])olicies for which the Re])ublican party stands sponsor, and 
he is identified with the Masonic fraternity, in which he has attained 
to the chivalric degree, l)eing identified with Emmanuel Commandery, 
No. 7, Knights Templar. He also holds membership in the local organi- 
zations of the Knights of Pythias, Benevolent and Protective Order of 
Elks, and Knights of the Maccabees. He and his wife are zealous com- 
municants of the Protestant Episcopal church and are specially active 
in tlie work of 8t. James, jiarish in ^lacon. He is superintendent of its 
Sunday school at the time of this writing and has also been for twelve 



HISTOIir OF MACON COUNTY 653 

consecutive years iucumbeut of the position of secretary and treasurer 
of the Sunday school. 

Mr. Gary has taken a deep interest in athletics and outdoor sports, 
and he has served as vice-president of the Missouri Trap Shooters' 
Association and as secretary and treasurer of the Macon Gun Club, 
which latter dual office he held for three consecutive years. He is one 
of the loyal young men of his native city and shows much interest in 
every enterprise tending to advance its civic and material welfare. He 
and his wife hold a prominent position in connection with the social 
activities of the community, and their popularity is of the most 
unequivocal order. 

On the 28th of June, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. 
Gary to Miss La ]\Iora Sauvinett, who was born at Macon, this state, 
and who is a daughter of Hon. J. M. Sauvinett, a prominent and 
influential citizen of Macon, of which city he was formerly mayor. Born 
to this union one child, Mary La Mora, July 15, 1909. 

EDWAED S. SMITH, M. D. 

Among the distinguished representatives of the medical profession 
of Macon Dr. Edward S. Smith is numbered and is well known in 
jjrofessional and scientific circles. 

Edward Sanborn Smith is a native of Salina, Kansas, where he 
was born on the 25th of April, 1875, and in his ambition and vital 
initiative he well exemplified the progressive spirit of the west. He is 
a son of S. Edward and Eunice (Webster) Smith, who are now resi- 
dents of Macon, Missouri, where the father is engaged in the clothing 
business. The doctor was a child at the time of his parents' removal 
from Kansas to Macon, and here he attended St. James Military Acad- 
emy, at ]\[acon, for six years. In this institution he was prepared for 
college, and in 1894 he was matriculated in tlie Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity. He had taken up a pre-medical course during his regular uni- 
versity work in the academic department, and afterward he entered the 
medical department of the University of Maryland, in the city of Balti- 
more, in which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, 
in May, 1900. During that year he served as senior interne in tlie uni- 
versity hospital at the quarantine station of the port of Baltimore, and 
in this connection he gained invaluable clinical experience, so that his 
reinforcement for the active work of his profession was most admirable 
when he initiated his independent practice. 

In May, 1901, Mr. Smitli estalilished himself in practice in Macon, 
and here his recognized ability and exeei^tionally advanced training in 



654 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

his profession have contributed to his splendid success not less than 
has his unequivocal personal popularity. He is associate medical direc- 
tor of the International Life Insurance Company, of St. Louis; is a 
inember of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, 
with the title of major, conferred by the governor of Missouri ; is a mem- 
ber of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; a 
member of the National Geographic Society ; and is also identified with 
the American Medical Association and the Missouri State Medical Soci- 
ety. He is unswerving in his allegiance to the cause for which the Repub- 
lican party stands sponsor and takes an active interest in the same, as 
does he also in all that tends to advance the material and civic advance- 
ment of his home city and state, but he has never had aught of desire for 
the honors or emoluments of public office. Member of vestry of St. 
James' Episcopal church. 

On the 14th of October, 1903, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. 
Smith to Miss Emilj' Montague Frey, who was born and reared in the 
city of Washington, D. C, being a daughter of Eobert E. Frey and a 
lineal descendant of ^Montague Barron, who fought under La Fayette 
in the war of the Revolution. Dr. and Mrs. Smith are i^rominent in 
the social life of their home city and their home is a recognized center 
of gracious and generous hospitality. The)' have no children. 

• SAMUEL L. GASH. 

The ]iersonal history of American citizenship in all parts of the 
country, but particularly in the Middle and Farther "West, is a suc- 
cession of stories of men who have risen to consequence, and in many 
cases to celebrity, through their own efforts, because they have been 
quick to see, alert to seize and resourceful in using their opportunities 
to their own best advantage and for the benefit of the couunuuity 
around them. Fortune has not smiled upon them except as they have 
forced her to, and they have not needed her smiles. All they asked was 
a fair field and freedom of opportunity, and their own native ability has 
done all the rest. In many instances, even when circumstances have 
been unfavorable, they have compelled the adverse conditions to min- 
ister to their progress and become wings or weapons for their 
advancement. 

A striking case in point is the life-story of Samuel L. Gash, which 
it is the purpose of these paragraphs to briefly record. Mr. Gash is a 
native of Macon county and has passed the whole of his life to this 
time (1910) with its borders. He was born in Easeley township on 
May 6, 1858, and is a son of Thomas and Maria J. (Dale) Gash, the 



I 




SAMUEL L. GASH 



1 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY • 655 

• 

former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Missouri. The father 
came to this state when he was a young man and located in Elmer, this 
county. He was a miller and wrouglit industriously and profitably at 
his trade during the years of his activity. In politics he has always 
been a Democrat and has been firm and faithful in the service of his 
party, but has never held a political office of any kind. The mother, 
who died in 1905, was a daughter of Abraham and Effie Dale, long resi- 
dents and highly esteemed citizens of Macon county. Mr. and Mrs. 
Gash had five children, all of whom are living. They are : Laura, the 
wife of AV. H. McDavitt of Mercyville; W. W., a resident of Elmer; 
Samuel L., the immediate subject of this review; A. D., who lives in 
Chicago, and J. L., who, also is a resident of Elmer. The father is 
still living and has his home with his daughter, Mrs. "William H. 
McDavitt. 

Samuel L. Gash obtained a limited education in the district school 
of Mercyville, and after eom^Dleting that worked as a farm hand until 
1879. when he began farming on his own account. He had no capital 
for his entevjn'ise but liis own courage, ability and determined spirit, 
but these were of a fruitful kind and contained the elements of success 
within themselves when managed with prudence and good judgment, 
the directing qualities which he applied to them. He continued farm- 
ing with ■success and progress until 1907, when he retired from activity 
in this line of effort and turned his attention to real estate, insurance 
and loan business, in which he is still extensively and profitably engaged. 
He is a stockholder and one of the directors of the Farmers' Exchange 
Bank of Gifford and has been its president since 1906. He is also a 
member of the committee on construction of the Inter-Urban railway 
between Palmyra and La Plata, Missouri, and has been one of the 
most active and useful men in connection with the enterprise, promoting 
it by every means at his cominand and through the forces he has been 
able to invoke and bring to its aid through his influence and the force 
of his example. 

In many other ways Mr. Gash has been of great and ajjiireciated 
service to his township and county, and in the domain of public affairs 
has at all times been very active and zealous in behalf of the best inter- 
ests of the region in which he lives. He is an active, working Democrat 
in politics, but except a membership of more than eight years on the 
school board, has never been induced to accept a public office of any 
kind. But when business interests are at stake, he is all energy and 
enterprise. He has been president of the La Plata and Western Tele- 
phone company for the last five years, and its present high state of 



C56 IIISTOKY OF MALOX COUNTY 

development and efficiency are largely due to his progressiveness and 
skill in the management of its affairs. He owns and has farmed under 
his supervision a fine farm of 315 acres and possesses in addition 
extensive holdings of valuable city propertj- in La Plata. Beginning 
the battle of life for himself without a dollar, and now being one of the 
most substantial citizens of Macon county in a worldly way, his career 
has been successful from the beginning and furnishes a fine example of 
what enterprise, ability and persistent and intelligent industry can 
accomplish in a land where opi^ortunity only waits the commanding 
might of mind to yield up its treasures to its master. 

In fraternal life Mr. Gash is an Odd Fellow and a Modern Wood- 
man, and in religious association a member of Missionarr Baptist 
church. He was married in 1879 to Miss Mary J. Evans, a daughter 
of Allen and Hojjey (Morris) Evans, who were born and reared in 
Kentucky and came to Missouri in early life. Of the five children born 
of the union only three are living: Abraham H., of La Crosse, Mis- 
souri ; Minnie E., the wife of Emory Enterline, also a resident of La 
Crosse, and Sanford N., who lives in La Plata. 

^ WILLIAM E. WEBB, M. D. 

One of the definite purposes of this publication is to make specific 
record concerning those citizens of Macon county who stand representa- 
tive in their various spheres of endeavor, and in this connection there 
is all of consistency in according special recognition to Dr. Webb, who 
is engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of ]Maeon and 
who is known as one of the essentially able and successful physicians 
and surgeons of tlie county. 

Dr. Webb finds a due mede of satisfaction in reverting to the state 
of Kentucky as the place of his nativity. He was born in Perryville, 
Boyle county, in the fine old Blue Grass commonwealth, on the 6th of 
April, 1855, and is a son of William F. and Sarah E. (Balboa) Webb, 
both likewise natives of Kentucky, where their marriage was solemnized 
in the year 1850. The father was born in Greene county, that state, in 
the year 1824, and after due preliminary discipline he entered Central 
College, at Danville, Kentucky, where he com])leted a course of study. 
He engaged in the life insurance business and finally became general 
[ state agent for Kentucky of the Connecticut State Life Insurance Com- 
pany. Later he engaged in the publishing business, in which he con- 
tinued successfully for many years. He passed the closing years at the 
home of his son and died at ^lacon, Missouri. The doctor's mother is 
still living in Cincinnati, Ohio. Of their six children four are living, 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 657 

namely: Misses Sallie H. and Lulu, who are successful and popular 
teachers in the public schools of the city of Cincinnati, Ohio; Miss 
Ada, who resides in Cincinnati ; and Dr. AVilliain E., who is the 
immediate subject of this review. 

In politics William F. Webb was a stanch Democrat, and though 
he hud been the owner of a number of slaves he was stanchly opposed 
to secession and gave a loyal support to the cause of the Union at the 
time of the Civil war. He became captain of a company of home guard, 
and his northern sympathies caused him to become persona non urata 
in his section of the state, from which he was finally compelled to 
remove, remaining in the state of Ohio until after the close of the great 
fratracidal conflict between the states. Both he and his wife held 
membership in the ^Methodist Episcopal Church South. 

In both the paternal and maternal lines Dr. "Webb is a scion of 
distinguished and patrician stock. His paternal grandfather, Edward 
Carey "Webb, was born at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1792, and he passed 
his entire life in that state, where he died in 1868. He was a successful 
agriculturist and a man of prominence and influence in his community. 
His fathe'r. Captain Louis Webb, was born at Richmond, Virginia, 
April 6, 1755, and was a member of one of the old and honored families, 
of English origin, that settled in that historic old commonwealth in the 
early period of its history. He died in Kentucky, on the 12th of July, 
1841. He was ardently loyal to the patriot cause during the war of the 
Revolution, and in the same maintained a company at his own expense, 
besides personally rendering active service as an officer in the Conti- 
nental line. In recognition of his devotion to and support of the cause 
of independence the government granted to him a large tract of land 
in Boyle county, Kentucky, to which state he removed with his family, 
becoming one of the pioneers of that section, where he improved his 
estate and attained to conunanding influence as a citizen. 

The mother of Dr. Webb was a lineal descendant of the famous 
Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacifle ocean, and was practically the last 
of the Balboa line, whose name she periietuated until the time of her 
marriage. She was also a granddaughter of Colonel Harry Greenwood, 
who was born in "\'irginia, in 1750, and who passed the closing years of 
his life in Kentucky, in which state he had the distinction of being the 
first member of the Masonic fraternity. He gained his military title 
through service in the Revolution. His death occurred in the year 1831. 
Mrs. Webb was also a descendant of Major Fauntleroy Dye, who was 
born in 1763 and who sacrificed his life while serving as a soldier and 
officer in the war of 1812. 



658 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Dr. William E. Webb gained his early educational discipline in the 
Ijublic schools of Louisville, Kentucky, and after having made choice 
of vocation he began the work of preparing himself for the same. In 
this connection he was finally matriculated in the Ohio ^Medical College, 
in the city of Cincinnati, in which well ordered institution he was 
graduated as a member of the class of 1879, and from which he received 
his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine, coming forth well fortified 
for the active work of his profession. The doctor initiated practice in 
Athens, Ohio, where he remained four years, at the expiration of which 
he removed to Chanute, Kansas, where he continued in successful prac- 
tice for the ensuing four years. He then, in 1888, came to Macon, where 
he has continued in active general practice as a physician and surgeon 
for more than a score of years and where his success is best indicated 
by the prestige which is his and the large and representative practice 
which he controls. For the past fifteen years he has served as surgeon 
for the Wabash Railroad Company, and is surgeon to Blees IMilitary 
Academy. 

In his political allegiance Dr. Webb is found aligned as a stalwart 
supporter of the principles of the Democratic party, in whose cause 
he has rendered effective service. In 1904 he was elected a member of 
the city council of Macon, as representative of the Second ward, and 
in 1906 he was chosen as his own successor, retiring from office at the 
expiration of his second term, in 1908. He proved a most progressive 
and loyal member of the municipal governing body, in which he served 
three years as chairman of the light and waterworks committee and in 
wliich he was for one year chairman of the finance committee. In a 
fraternal way he is affiliated with the local lodge, chapter and com- 
mandery of tlie Masonic order, and he has held various official positions 
in the same, including that of high jn-iest of his chai)ter, eminent com- 
mander of Commaudery, of which position he was incumbent for three 
successive terms. He is past exalted ruler of Macon Lodge, No. 999, 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is one of the prominent 
and influential members of the Knights of Pythias in his state. In 
1895 he was elected grand outer giuird of the Missouri grand lodge of 
this fratei*nity, and in 1898 he was honored with election to the office 
of grand chancellor of the grand lodge. In the following year he was 
chosen brigadier general of the uniform rank of this order, and within 
his tenure of this position he was also elected supreme representative 
of the Supreme Lodge, retaining this incumbency for six years. Since 
1902 he has served as surgeon general of the uniform rank of the world. 
He has done much to promote the interests of the Knights of Pythias 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 659 

in Missouri and is one of its influential and popular representatives in 
the state. 

Dr. AVebb was married to Emma F. Pickett, at Guysville, Oliio, 
in 1875. They have had two children: John P., who died in infancy, 
and Austin Webb, who for fifteen years has been on the stage. At 
pre.sent he is l)eing starred under the Harris management in "The 
Traveling Salesman." 

*- ALFRED B. :kIILLER, M. D. 

One of the able and jjopular representatives of the medical profes- 
sion in ]\[acon county is Dr. Miller, who is engaged in active general 
practice in the city of Macon and who is known as a physician and 
surgeon who is thoroughly fortified for the work of his exacting and 
humane profession, in which he has gained both success and distinction, 
being one of its well known representatives in the state and having 
formerly been a member of the faculty of the medical department of the- 
state university. Aside from his ])rofession Dr. Miller is a business 
man of marked progressiveness and discrimination, and his capitalistic 
and industrial interests are of important order. 

Alfred Beckett Miller was born on a farm in Liberty township, 
near, the village of Palmyra, Marion county, Missouri, on the 1st of 
February, 1852, and is a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of 
this commonwealth, in which he is a representative of the third genera- 
tion. He is a son of Abdel and Sarah Mary (Jones) Miller, the former 
of whom was born in St. Louis county, Missouri, in 1818, and the latter 
of whom was a native of ^laryland, where she was born in the year 
1828, and whence she came with her parents to Missouri when a child. 
The ])aternal grandfather of Dr. Miller was a native of Kentucky and 
a member of one of the stanch old families of Pendleton county. He 
came to Missouri in an early day and was one of the pioneers of the 
state. He first located in St. Louis county, whence he later removed to 
Marion county, where he improved a farm in the ])rimitive forest, and 
continued to be identified with agricultural i)ursuits during the residue 
of his long and useful life. Abdel Miller was one year old at the time 
of the family removal to Marion county, where he was reared to man- 
hood, receiving a good connnon-school education, and there he continued 
to devote his attention to farming and stock-growing until his death, 
which occurred in 1868. He was a man of strong character and dis- 
tinctive individuality, wielding a large and beneficent influence in his 
comnuniity and ever connnanding the une(pii\'ocal confidence and 
respect of his fellow men. Though never consenting to become a candi- 



GCO HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

date for public office be was tborougbly loyal and public-spirited as a 
citizen and was a stanch and intelligent supiiorter of the principles and 
policies for which the Democratic party stood sponsor in bis day and 
generation. During the war between the states be took no active part, 
but bis sympathies were with the south. Both he and his wife, whose 
death occurred in 1872, were zealous and consistent members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church South. They became the parents of four 
children of whom one died in infancy ; "William G. lives in North Macon ; 
Alfred B. is the immediate subject of this review, and Medora A. is 
near Palmyra. 

Dr. Alfred B. Miller passed liis boyhood and youth on the old home- 
stead farm in Marion county, and his preliminary educational training 
was secured in the pulilic schools of tlie community and Palmyra Sem- 
inary, at Palmyra, after which he attended Central College, at Fayette, 
this state, for three years. In 1876, having formulated definite plans 
for his future career, he was matriculated in the historic old Jefferson 
Medical College, in the city of Philadelphia, in which institution be 
completed the prescribed course and was graduated as a member of the 
class of 1878, receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine on the 12th 
of March of that year and coming forth admirably equip]ied for the 
active work of his chosen vocation. Soon after his graduation Dr. 
Miller located in Shelbyville, Shelby county, Missouri, where he estab- 
lished himself in the practice of his profession and where he continued 
to maintain bis home for a period of four years, at the expiration of 
which, on the 14th of June, 1882, be took up his abode in Macon, where 
he has since been engaged in active general practice as a physician and 
surgeon and where his success has been of the most unequivocal order, 
as indicated by the large, lucrative and representative practice which 
he has long controlled. He has continued a close and appreciative 
student of both branches of bis profession and has kept in touch with 
the advances made in both medicine and surgery. Tie holds membershi]i 
in the American Medical Association and is also a prominent and valued 
member of both the Missouri State Medical Society and the Macon 
County Medical Society. He has been an occasional contributor to 
periodical literature of his profession and has ])rosonted valuable tech- 
nical papers before medical societies, but for eight years he was an 
influential member of the faculty of the medical department of the 
University of ^[issouri, at Columbia, where he held the chair of 
gynecology. 

Dr. ^liller has closely identified himself with every legitimate move- 
ment and enterprise tending to advance the civic and material welfare 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 661 

of his home city and county, and as a citizen he is essentially loyal, pro- 
gressive and public-spirited. He lias been president of the Macon 
Building & Loan Association since 1889; is a stockholder in the Rhea 
Lead & Zinc Company, of Cartersville, Missouri, and is a stockholder 
in the Linion Sand Company, of St. Louis. 

In politics Dr. Miller has ever been aligiaed as a staunch supporter 
of the cause of the Democratic party, but he has never had desire or 
leisure to enter the arena of "practical politics." In 1901 the gover- 
nor of Missouri appointed him a memlier of the hoard of managers of 
the state hospital for the insane at Fulton, but he resigned the office 
after one year's service. In the Masonic fraternity he is affiliated 
with Censor Lodge, No. 172, Free and Accepted Masons, in which he 
has passed the various official chairs, and also with Macon Chapter, No. 
22. Royal Arch Masons. He has been local surgeon for the Hannibal 
& St. Joseph Railroad for the past thirty years, and in 1893 he was 
president of the Missouri State Medical Society. Both he and his wife 
hold membership in the Metliodist Episcopal Churcb, South, of Macon, 
and are active in the support of the various departments of its work. 

On the 9th of October, 1879, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. 
Miller to Miss Lillian Rush, who was born in Liberty, Clay county, Mis- 
souri, and who is a daughter of the late Rev. Lilburn Rush, a representa- 
tive member of the clergy of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
in which he was in the active work for forty years. 

ANDREW EDWIN RILEY. 

Among the successful business men and popular citizens contrib- 
uted to Macon county by the fine old Buckeye state is Andrew Edwin 
Rile}', who is engaged in the real estate business and also identified 
with agricultural pursuits in the county, where he owns a farm. 

Mr. Riley was born on the 12th day of September, 1868, in Allen 
county, Ohio, and was next to the youngest child in a family of nine 
children. He came with his parents to Macon county in the spring of 
1866 and was reared on a farm near Redman, Macon county, and 
received his early education from the schools at that place. Later on 
he attended the State University at Columbia, Missouri. 

On the 7th of May, 1891, he was married to Miss Lizzie A. Archer, 
at the home of her parents, Joseph and Phoebe Archer, who were for- 
merly from Harriettsville, Nol)le county, Ohio. Mr. Archer was a fifer 
in the Civil war and a member of the 196th O. Y. I. 

Mrs. Riley was twelve years of age when coming to Macon county. 



G63 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

She is a graduate of the Macou High School and taught for a number 
of years in the county scliooLs as a successful teacher. 

Mr. and Mrs. Riley bought a tract of land just north of town in 
1902 and have divided it up into suburban homes until at present it 
forms one of the prettiest parts of town. ^Ir. Riley still owns a hand- 
some home and twenty-five acres of land adjoining Macon city. 

Mr. and Mrs. Riley have three children, Thelma, born on Septem- 
ber 16, 1897 ; Elizabeth, born on July 7, 1901, and Edwin Archer, born 
on December 28, 1906. 

Mr. Riley has devoted most of his life to farming and carpentering. 
From the time of attaining to Ms legal majority Mr. Riley has been 
an active and effectual worker in its local ranks, also a zealous worker 
in the cause of temperance. In 1898 he was elected constable of Hud- 
son township, and as further evidence of public confidence he was 
appointed to the position of justice of the peace for Hudson township 
for four years. His administration was a most able and faithful one in 
this office. Among several positions of importance he is at present 
acting as deputy sheriff for the county. He takes pride in raising fine 
fruits and berries and thoroughbred stock and ]ioultry. His father, 
Leslie P. Riley, was one of Macon county's best known citizens, and this 
sketch would not be complete without a short sketch of him. 

He was born in Burtington county. New Jersey, October 27, 1827. 
Reared in Allen county, Ohio. His father was Rev. George Riley, a min- 
ister of the Methodist Episcopal church. Speaking of this learned and 
able man, his biographer in Ohio says: "Father Riley was one of 
nature's noblemen, and his face wore the impress of moral excellence. 
He was a man of fine mental qualities." He was found writing an 
essay on mental philosophy at the age of ninety years. He was equally 
at home with the leading theological works of the church. His testa- 
ment was marked by his own hand as having been read through at the 
family altar twentj'-eight times. He died in 1882 at the age of ninety- 
one years. 

Leslie P. Riley inherited many of the qualities of his father and 
upon coming to Missouri in its pioneer state he immediately engaged 
in helping mentally and morally to uplift his community, and to that end 
spent much of his time in teaching and organizing churches and Sun- 
day-schools. 

On the 27th of October, 1848, he was married to Miss Susanna 
Cripp, daughter of Henry and Margaret Cripp, of Ohio, but formerly 
of Richmond, Virginia. In 1863 he was commissioned captain of Com- 
pany B, First Regiment Ohio Militia. He died So]itember 2, 1897, and 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUXTY 663 

liis wife January 21, 1901. Only five of bis children are still living. 
The subject of this sketch being the youngest of them. 

DWIGHT H. PAYSON. 

It was within the province of the late Dwight H. Payson to have 
wielded a large and beneficent influence in connection with civic and 
business atfairs in the city of Macon, to the promotion of whose prog- 
ress and material prospei'ity he contributed with all the loyalty of a 
thoroughly pul^lio-spirited citizen, and he was an exponent of that high 
type of manhood which ever stands indicatory of usefulness and sub- 
jective honor. He impressed liis strong individuality on tlie community 
which so long represented his home, and it is most consonant that in 
this historical publication be entered a brief tribute to his memory 
as one of the representative business men of Macon coiinty and as a 
citizen to whom was ever accorded the unqualified confidence and regard 
of all who knew him. He was the pioneer insurance man of Macon and 
here was identified actively witli this line of enterprise for nearly two- 
score years. 

Dwight H. Payson was a scion of a family early founded in America 
and Avas a native of the state of New Y^ork, where he was born in the 
year 1845. When he was a child liis parents removed to the state of 
YVisconsin, becoming pioneers of Rock county. His father inirchased a 
tract of land near the present city of Janesville, where the son was 
reared to manhood, duly assisting in the work of the farm and availing 
himself of such advantages as were offered by the common schools of 
the locality and period. In 1865, while a young man, he came to Macon, 
Missouri, ancJ here for a time he devoted his attention to the selling 
of books, after which he engaged in the general insurance agency, with 
the conducting of which he was thereafter identified until the time of his 
death, having been one of the first to here engage specifically in this 
line of business and having built uji a large and representative enter- 
prise as an underwriter of both fire and life insurance. He devoted 
thirty-seven years to the insurance business, and the agency which 
he thus established is now conducted by his only surviving son. 

Mr. Payson was a man of excellent intellectual equijniient and 
inflexible integrity of character, and he occupied a position of promi- 
nence and influence as one of the ])rogressive business men and loyal 
citizens of Macon county. He was charitable and tolerant in his 
.iudnTJicnt of his fcllow-meu and was ever ready to offer succor and 
sympathetic aid to those in affliction or distress. He was a man of 
energy and marked business acumen, and upon his career there rests 



6C4 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

no shadow of wrong or suspicion of evil, so that he has left to posterity 
the jjriceless heritage of a good name and of kindly thought and action. 
In politics he was a stalwart supporter of the cause of the Eepublican 
party, and, while he rendered active and effective aid in the promotion 
of its interests and in tlie furtherance of good government in his home 
county and city, he never aspired to public office nor would he i)ermit the 
use of his name in this connection. Mr. Payson was summoned to the 
life eternal on the 20th of October, 1904, and his cherished and devoted 
wife did not long survive him, as she passed away on the 4tli of the 
following month, so tliat in death they were not long divided. In the 
community their loss was felt with a sense of personal bereavement 
on the ]5art of all who knew them and now that they rest from their 
labors their memories are revered by those who came within the sphere 
of their benignant and gracious influence. 

In the year 1879 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Payson to 
Miss Margaret Patton, who was born and reared in Macon county, a 
daughter of the late Harvey Patton, who was one of the honored pio- 
neers of this favored section of the state. Of this union were born 
two sons — Emery H., who died at the age of sixteen years, and Charles 
H., who succeeded his father in business and who is individually 
mentioned on other pages of this volume. 

"^ CHARLES H. PAYSON. 

In the thriving little city of his nativity Mr. Payson holds prestige 
as one of the essentially representative business men of the younger 
generation and is one of the prominent and popular citizens of Macon, 
where he conducts the successful insurance business established by his 
father nearly forty years ago. In the matter of definite accomplishment 
and high personal integrity Macon county has every reason to be proud 
of her native sons who are lending their aid in forwarding her indus- 
trial, commercial and civic advancement, and such a one is found in 
the person of him whose name introduces this sketch. Mr. Payson 
is a man of fine intellectual attainments and marked business acumen, 
and he stands forward as a citizen of progressive ideas and utmost 
fealty and loyalty. 

A son of the late Dwight H. Payson, to whom a memoir is dedi- 
cated on other pages of this work, Charles H. Payson was born in the 
city of ]\Iacon, Macon county, Missouri, on the 4th of January, 1875, 
and he is now tlu^ sole surviving member of the immediate family 
circle. To the excellent public schools of his native ]ilace he is indebted 
for his early educational discipline, and after leaving the same ho 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY . GGo 

entered East Greeuwicli Academy, at East Greenwich, Rhode Island, 
where he com])leted the scientihc course and was graduated as a member 
of the class of 1892. In the autumn of the same year he was matricu- 
lated in the Ohio "NVesleyan University, at Delaware, Ohio, where he 
followed the scientific course for the ensuing two years, after which 
he entered the Eastman Business College, Poughkeepsie, New York, 
in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1895. 

Shortly after his graduation Mr. Payson returned to Missouri and 
assumed a clerical position in the Baird National Bank, of Kirksville, in 
which institution he continued to be employed until 1902, when he 
resigned the office of teller and in the same town established himself 
in the insurance business, to which he there continued to devote his 
attention until the death of his honored father, in October, 1904, when 
he returned to Macon county and assumed charge of the large and 
representative insurance business that had so long been conducted 
by his father and which he has continued with uninterrupted and cumu- 
lative success, the agency being the oldest and most important of its 
kind in Macon county and controlling the best class of underwriting in 
this community. 

Alert and progressive as a business man and public-spirited as a 
citizen, Mr. Payson maintains an abiding interest in all that tends 
to conserve the welfare of his native city and county, and though, like 
his father, he has never consented to become a candidate for public office 
he is known as a stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for 
which the Eepublican party stands sponsor, having been identified with 
the "grand old party" from the time of attaining his legal majority. 
He is affiliated with Macon Lodge, No. 74, Knights of Pythias, and is 
president of the Commercial Club, whose high civic ideals and well 
ordered functions have been potent in forwarding the material and civic 
progress of Macon. He and his wife are members of the Macon 
Presbyterian church, and he is leader of its choir, being especially inter- 
ested in the "divine art" of music and possessing a well cultivated 
baritone voice. 

On the 24th of December, 1900, Mr. Payson was united in marriage 
to Miss Lena Trowbridge, who was born and reared in Kirksville, 
Missouri, and who is a daughter of B. ,]. Trowbridge, a representative 
citizen of that place. The two children of this union are Gilbert Trow- 
bridge, who was born on the 19th of September, 1901, and Charles H., 
.rr., who was born on the 23rd of May, 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Payson are 
prominent in connection with the social activities of their home city 



666 HISTORY OF ilACOX COUNTY 

and their pleasant home, the old Payson homestead, is recognized as a 
center of gracious hospitality. 

SILAS A. PATTERSON. 

One of the aggressive and popular representatives of mercantile 
interests in the city of Macon is Mr. Patterson, who is here success- 
fully engaged in the clothing and men's furnishing business and who 
has liere maintained his home since his boyhood days. 

Mr. Patterson is a native of Illinois and is a scion of one of the 
honored pioneers of that commonwealth. He was born at Mount 
Pulaski, Logan county, that state, on the 5th of August, 1861, and is a 
son of Milton and Jane (Moran) Patterson, the former of whom was 
born in Logan county, Illinois, and the latter at Milford, Ohio; their 
marriage was solemnized on the 1st of January, 1844, and of tlieir nine 
children six are living. The father was reared to manhood in his 
native county, where he received a fair common school education and 
where he assisted in the work and management of the home farm 
during his boyliood and youth. In Illinois he eventually became a 
successful stock-grower, making a specialty of breeding high-gi-ade 
horses and training them for turf work. In 1879 he removed with 
his family to Missouri and took up his residence in Macon, where he 
continued successful operation in the buying and training of horses. 
He was a man of marked business acimien and his genial personality 
and sterling worth of character gained to him the unqualified confidence 
and esteem of those with whom he came in contact. He was a loyal and 
uncompromising supporter of the principles of the Republican party, 
though he never sought or desired public office of any descrijition. He 
died in Llacon, in November, 1882, and his wife died August 19, 1906, 
at Tyler, Texas. 

Silas A. Patterson, the immediate subject of this review, was reared 
to the age of seventeen years in his native town, to whose excellent 
pul)lic schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline, which 
was supplemented by a course of study in the Macon high school. He 
was seventeen years of age at the time of the family removal to this 
city, and after leaving school he secured emplojTiient as clerk in a local 
mercantile estalilishment. In this capacity he was thereafter employed 
by one firm for eighteen years in Macon and was made manager of the 
business of the firm of McKee & Smith most of those years, having 
won this preferment through his ability and his fidelity. "With this con- 
cern he continued to be identified for a period of eighteen years, within 
which he formed a wide acquaintanceshi|i and gained distinctive per- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 6G7 

soual popularity. In 1900 he became a member of tlie linn of Smith, 
Haberman & Patterson, dealers in clothing and gents' furnishings, and 
he retained a third interest in this concern until December 15, IStOo, 
when he sold the same to his partners, and in the following mouth 
he purchased the stock and business of the AVallace clothing store 
and engaged individually in business. His resourcefulness, marked 
initiative and executive ability, knowledge of business methods, and 
great personal popularity have been the factors through which he has 
built up his large and representative enterprise, transforming a busi- 
ness which had reached the lowest ebb to one of the most important 
and successful of its kind in this section of the state. His establish- 
ment is well stocked in all departments and its appointments are of 
metropolitan order. He caters to a discriminating trade and his store 
is one noted for its invarialile offering of value received on every 
purchase made. 

As a business man and also as a citizen Mr. Patterson is essen- 
tially progressive, and while he takes a deep interest in all that makes 
for the advancement and material and social prosperity of his home 
city and is a stalwart in the camp of the Eepublican party, although 
he has never permitted the use of his name in connection with candidacy 
for public office. He is identified with the local organizations of the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Woodmen of the 
World, and is affiliated with Censer Lodge, No. 172, Free and Accepted 
Masons, and Macon Chapter, No. 22, Royal Arch Masons, and Emanual 
Commandery, Knights Templar No. 7. He is a lover of music and has 
distinctive talent in this direction. 

On the 12th of November, 1886, Mr. Patterson was united in mar- 
riage to Miss Minnie Kingsnorth, who was born in St. Lo\iis and reared 
in Macon county, and who is a daughter of John W. Kingsnorth, a rep- 
resentative citizen of the city of Macon. To this union were born four 
children, of whom only one is living, Don, who was born in 1896. 

V CLAUDE L. POOL. 

One of the representative business men and influential citizens of 
the city of Macon is he to whom this brief review is dedicated. He 
is here engaged in the general merchandise business, in connection 
with which he has a large and well equipped establishment, and his 
personal jiopularity in the county is shown when it is stated that he 
has been called u])()n to serve in the office of county recorder of deeds, 
of which position he was incumbent for four years. He has been an 



GGS HISTORY OF :\[ACOX COUXTY 

iiiflueatial factor in public affairs of a local order and is one of the 
leaders in the county contingent of the Democratic party. 

Mr. Pool was born at Higland, Kansas, on the 6th of March, 1868, 
and is a son of Eev. Thomas G. and Louise (Lowry) Pool, the former 
of whom was born in 1837, at Huntsville, Eandolph county, ^Missouri, 
and the latter of whom was born in Fayette, Howard county, this state, 
on the 7th of May, 1838. Their marriage was solemnized on' the 18th 
of January, 1866, and both now maintain their home in Macon. The 
father was afforded the advantages of McGee College, at College Mound, 
Macon county, and after leaving this institution completed a theological 
course and was ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian church, 
in which he has labored with all of zeal and consecration for nearly fifty 
years — principally in Missouri and Kansas — and he has also devoted 
his attention to agricultural pursuits, in connection with which he is the 
owner of a well improved farm in Macon county. In politics he has 
ever given a staunch support to the princijiles and policies for which 
the Democratic party stands sponsor, and he has held a position of no 
little influence in its councils. In 1907 he was elected and served as 
chaplain of the state senate of Missouri, and he is held in high esteem 
by the leading public men of this commonwealth. He and his wife 
became the parents of four childi'en, of whom one daughter died at 
the age of eighteen months. Of the three surviving, the subject of this 
review is the eldest ; Birdie is the wife of James Y. Bradley, of Moberly, 
Missouri, and Anna is the wife of John H. Heather, of Hunts^'ille, 
this state. 

Claude L. Pool was about three years of age at the time of his 
parents' return from Kansas to Missouri, and his early educational 
discipline was secured in the public schools, after leaving which he was 
matriculated in his father's alma mater, McGee College, in which he 
completed the literary course and was graduated as a member of the 
class of 1888, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. After that he ])assed 
about four years on the home farm, assisting in its work and manage- 
ment, and thereafter lie was employed for seven years as salesman in 
a general store at Ardmore, ^lacon county. In 1896 he became a travel- 
ing salesman for a wholesale shoe house in Chicago, which he repre- 
sented in Missouri and adjoining states for a period of two years, at 
the ex])iration of which, in 1898, he became candidate on the Demo- 
cratic ticket for the office of clerk of the circuit court of Macon county, 
but met defeat with the re.st of the party ticket. In 1902 he was elected 
recorder of deeds for Macon county, in which office, as already stated, 
he served four years, giving a most able administration and doing 




WILLIAM A. WELCH, M. D. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 66i) 

much to systematize the work of the office. In his election to this posi- 
tion he had the distinction of leading the ticket, receiving a most gratify- 
ing majority at the polls. He has been a. most active and effective 
worker in behalf of the canse of the Democratic party, and has served 
as delegate to many of its conventions in Macon county, as well as to 
congressional and state conventions. 

In 1905 Mr. Pool engaged in the general merchandise business in 
Macon, and his store controls a large and representative trade, based 
upon the fair and honorable methods upon which the enterprise is eon- 
ducted and upon the ample equiinnent of the various departments 
thereof. 

In a fraternal way Mr. Pool is identified with the local organiza- 
tions of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of 
Pythias, the AVoodmen of the World, and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. 
He has long been a devotee of the great national game of base ball, and 
at one time held a distinct prestige as a performer on the diamond. 
He was also the chief promoter and the principal supporter of the ball 
team which has so ably repi-esented the city of Macon in various con- 
tests of late years. As a citizen he is most liberal and public-spirited 
and he takes a deep interest in all that tends to conserve the progress 
and material and civic jsrosperity of his home city, where his circle of 
friends is limited only by that of his acquaintances. 

Mr. Pool has been twice married. In 1893 was solemnized his mar- 
riage to Miss Ida Coleman, who died in 1894, leaving no children. On 
the 8th of October, 1895, he wedded Miss Mollie Lyle, a daughter of 
Alfred T., of Macon county, and they have three children, whose names, 
with respective ages (1909) are here entered: Claude L., Jr., eleven 
years; Anna Marie, eight years, and "William L., three years. IMr. and 
Mrs. Pool are prominent in connection with the social activities of the 
city of Macon and their home is a center of gracious hospitality. 

^ WILLIAM ALEXANDER AVELCH, M. D. 

During the last six years Dr. AVilliam A. Welch has been actively 
engaged in practicing medicine in tiiis county, allowing nothing to 
divert him from the course he has mai'ked out for himself. His con- 
stancy and devotion to his profession have brought him a large reward 
in the general esteem of the people and a practice considerable in mag- 
nitude and representative in character. He has risen to the first rank 
among the physicians and surgeons in this part of the State by demon- 
strating his right to it, although his jn'imary purpose is to serve the 
people well in his line of effort and make the most of his capacity and 



Cro HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

opportunities for the general welfare of the community, personal 
considerations being always secondary. 

Dr. AVelch is a native of Tennessee and was born in 1872. He is 
the son of Jonathan S. and Eebecca (Voiles) Welch, also natives of 
Tennessee. The Welch family are of an Irish decent. The forebearers 
having emigrated to America in 1770. Four of the sous settled in 
Illinois as early as 1835, while the grandfather of our subject settled 
in Tennessee and died in that state in his seventy-second year. His 
wife died at the same age. 

Jonathan S. Welch was the youngest of a family of fourteen, 
including ten sons and four daughters, who located in Tennessee, Ken- 
tucky, Illinois & Missouri. He was born in 1847, and was united in 
marriage in 1871 on May 2 to Rebecca Voiles, who was born in 1851. 
His wife's parents were of English descent and were among the early 
settlers of Virginia. 

Jonathan Welch displayed his patriotism during the rebellion by 
becoming a member of the second Kentucky Cavalry under the command 
of General Kilpatrick, liaving enlisted at Atlanta, Georgia on March 
V). 18()4. The legiment became a part of General Shennan's army, 
and took ]>art in all the engagements incident to that historical 
campaign through Georgia, and thence through the Caroliuas. 

^Ir. Welch was one of the ]iarty that first carried the terms of 
surrender to General Johnson at Raleigh, North Carolina, and was at 
Lexington, North Carolina when peace was declared. After receiving 
his honorable discharge at Louisville, Kentucky, he returned to his 
home in Tennessee, and shortly after moved to Rugby, Morgan county 
of that state, where he continued to reside until 1887. In that year he 
emigrated to Missouri and settled on a farm in Macon county, near the 
town of Callao, ^Missouri, where he and his wife still reside. 

Dr. William A. Welch was seventeen years of age when the family 
moved to Missouri, he received a common school education in his native 
])lace and sup])lemented this with a course of special instruction at the 
Kirksville Normal School in this state. After leaving that institution 
he taught school seven years. In 1899 he began the study of medicine 
at the State Universitj', completing his course at Washington Univer- 
sity, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 1903. 
lie began the practice of his profession at Ardmore but only remained 
there a short time. He then removed to Callao, where he has been 
actively engaged in an inci-easing general practice ever since. He 
attracted attention by his skill and ability early in his ])ractice, and 
while living at Ardmore was chief surgeon for the Central Coal and 



i 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 671 

Coke Company. Sinee his locatiou at Callao his rise in the profession 
has been steady and continuous, and so exacting and varied has been his 
l^ractice that he has felt tlie necessity of iiiore extensive preparation to 
meet its requirements. So in 1908 he took a post-graduate course at 
the Post-graduate Medical School in New York City, the value of wliich 
has been manifest to him many times since he completed it. 

The doctor is a diligent and reflective student of the literature of 
his profession and mingles freely with his professional brethren in 
the societies organized for the jjurpose of promoting its progress and 
liower. He is a member of the State and County Medical and American 
Medical Associations, an eai'nest particijiant in the proceedings of each 
and a valued contributor to the researches of both. He is local examiner 
for the Bankers', the John Hancock and the Minnesota Mutual Life 
Insurance companies and the International of St. Louis. In fraternal 
life he is allied with the Masonic Order and the Knights of Pythias. 
On November 4, 190.3, he was united in marriage with ]\[iss Myrtle 
Eandall, who was born and reared near Callao. They have two chil- 
dren, their son, Eldred E., aged five, and their son, ^lartin D., one 
year old. Mrs. AVelch attended school at Englewood, Illinois, seven 
years, graduating from High School of that place. j\Irs. Welch is a 
daughter of Captain Randall of Callao, further mention of whom 
appears elsewhere in this volume. 

JOHN W. GELLHAUS. 

Among the native sons of Macon county who have here attained 
to prominence and distinctive influence in connection with civic affairs 
is Mr. Gellhaus, who is the able and honored head of the Gellhaus Gro- 
cerj^ Company, of the city of Macon, an important industrial concern 
that is doing both a wholesale and retail business, and who is also a 
valued member of the city coimcil. He is a progressive and public- 
spirited citizen and to every worthy enterjjrise and measui-e tending to 
conserve the best interests of the community he gives a loyal support. 
He is one of the iiopular young business men of his native city and is 
well entitled to representation in this historical compilation. 

John "VVilliam Gellhaus was born in Macon on the 11th of Decem- 
ber, 1873, and is a son of John Thomas and Dora (Souercrip) Gellhaus, 
both of whom were born in Germany, whence they came with their 
respective parents to America when they were children. John T. Gell- 
haus received his elementary education in his fatherland and was 
twelve years of age at the time of the family immigration to the United 
States. His parents took u]) their residence in Kentucky, where he was 



072 HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

reared to maturity and where he completed his education. Tliere he 
continued to maintain his home until 1865, wlien he came to ^lacon, 
Missouri, where he estahlished liimself in the grocery business, begin- 
ning operations on a modest scale and eventually building up one of the 
largest and most substantial enterprises of the kind in this county. 
With this line of business he continued to be actively identified until his 
death, which occurred in January of 1903, at which time he was fifty- 
six years of age. The three surAuving children are Dora, who is the 
wife of Fred "\V. Gieselman, of ^lacon ; John AV., who is the immediate 
subject of this sketch; and Gei'trude, who is the wife of Albert Birdsell, 
of St. Louis, this state. In politics the father was a staunch advocate of 
the principles and policies of the Democratic party, and he was a citizen 
who wielded largo and beneficent influence in connection with public 
affairs of a local order, while he ever held a secure place in the confi- 
dence and esteem of the community which so long represented his home 
and to whose jirogress and prosperity he contributed in liberal measure. 
In 1901 he was elected mayor of Macon, having the distinction of being 
the 'first Democrat ever chosen for this office and thus .showing his 
impregnable hold upon the regard of the citizens of Macon. He gave 
a most able and businesslike administration and continued incum- 
bent of the mayoralty until his death. He was a communicant of the 
Catholic church, as is also his wife, and was affiliated with the Catholic 
Knights of America and the Woodmen of the World. In his death 
the cit}' of Macon lost one of its best and most honored citizens, and 
his name merits an enduring place on the roll of those who have figured 
as its upbuilders. 

John William Gellhaus, whose name initiates this article, wa^ 
reared to maturity in Macon, to whose parochial and public schools he 
is indebted for his early educational discipline, which was supplemented 
by a three years' course of study in the Christian Brothers College in 
the city of St. Louis. After leaving college he liecame associated with 
the work and management of his father's retail grocery business, in 
connection with which he received a most valuable training, familiariz- 
ing himself with all details of this line of enterprise, in which he has 
attained marked .success and precedence. After the death of his hon- 
ored father he assumed sole control of the retail grocery business estab- 
lished by the latter so many years ago, and he continued the business 
under the same conditions until ]\ray 4, 1909, when he amjiHfied its 
scope and importance by the organization of the Gellhaus Grocery 
Company, which, with the best of facilities, now controls both a whole- 



I 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY C73 

sale and retail trade and which represents one of tlie leading commer- 
cial concerns of the city. 

Mr. Gellhaus has ever taken a lively interest in all that has tended 
to advance the civic and material progress of his native city, and in this 
connection he has ably carried forward the work of his father. In 
1905 he was selected to represent the third ward in the city council, in 
which his influence has been exerted in a most helpful and loyal way 
and of which he was president for a period of two years. In 1906 he 
was elected a member of the road commission of Hudson township, of 
which office he continiaed in tenure for three years. No citizen com- 
mands more unqualified popular confidence and esteem and no one has 
shown a more vital interest in all that touches the welfare of the com- 
munity which has been his home from the time of his nativity. In 
politics Mr. Gellhaus accords an unswerving allegiance to the Demo- 
cratic party and he has rendered marked service in the promotion of 
its cause. He was reared in the faith of the Catholic church, in which 
both he and his wife are communicants, and he is affiliated with the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the "World 
and the Fraternal Order of Eagles, besides which he is an enthusiastic 
member of the Macon Gun Club. 

On the 3rd of February, 1898, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. 
Gellhaus to Miss Anna E. Jurgensen, who was born and reared in 
Macon and who is a daughter of Ferdinand and Elizabeth (Briill) 
Jurgensen, of this city. They have no children. 



\y 



LOGAN M. THOMPSON, M. D. 



Dr. Thompson, an able physician and surgeon, engaged in prac- 
tice in the city of Macon, is one of the distinguished and honored repre- 
sentatives of his profession in his native state and is a scion of one 
of the sterling pioneer families of Macon county. He was born at Sioux 
City, this county, on the 31st of March, 1858, and is a son of Logan 
and Angelina (Sweeney) Thompson, both natives of Pulaski county, 
Kentucky, where the foriuer was born on the 11th of September, 1811, 
and the latter on the 16th of August, 1816. Their marriage was sol- 
emnized on the 24th of December, 1836, and in 1839 they came to Macon 
county, Missouri, where the father ]iurchased a tract of land, near 
Sioux City. He developed one of the vahud)le farms of the county and 
here he continued to devote his attention to agricultural pursuits during 
the residue of his long and useful life, which came to a close in the 
year 1886. He was a man of strong individuality and impregnable 
integrity and commanded the high regard of the community which so 



GM HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

long represented liis home and to whose upbuilding and civic advance- 
ment he contributed his quota. He had the privilege of casting his 
ballot in support of General Andrew Jackson for the presidency of the 
United States and ever afterward continued a loyal supporter of the 
cause of the Democratic party. He took an intelligent interest in the 
questions and issues of the day and was well fortified in his convictions 
as to matters of public polity. Both he and his wife were zealous mem- 
bers of the Baptist church. They became the parents of nine children, 
of whom six are living, namely: Joseph, a resident of Macon county; 
John A^"., of Macon county; Zelphia, wife of Louis Lyda, of Macon 
county; Elizabeth, wife of Benjamin F. Taylor, of St. Louis, Missouri; 
Robenia, wife of "William Costello, a retired farmer of Kirksville, this 
state, and Dr. Logan M., subject of this review. The mother died 
in 1885. 

Dr. Logan Madison Thompson gained his early education in the 
schools of his native comity, after which he continued his studies in 
the State Normal School at Kirksville, after leaving which institution he 
began reading medicine. Within a short period he entered the College 
of Physicians and Surgeons at Keokuk, Iowa, in which he was gradu- 
ated on the 2d of j\farch, 1880, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. 
In 1898 he took an eti'ective post-graduate course in the Chicago Post- 
Graduate Medical College and Hospital. After his graduation Dr. 
Thompson established himself in the active practice of his profession 
in his native county, maintaining his headquarters at Economy for 
some time and later at Atlanta, where he remained until 1901, when he 
was appointed physician to the state hospital for the insane, at Nevada, 
Missouri. This incumbency he retained until 190.3, in which year he was 
appointed superintendent for the colony of epileptic and feeble-minded 
children, at Marshall, this state — a comparatively_new institution at that 
time. During his administration he there organized a school and vari- 
ous industrial departments, and to him is due in large measure the 
effective system now utilized in tlie institution. He resigned his office 
at the expiration of two years, and in June, 1905, located in the city 
of INIacon, where he has since been engaged in the private practice 
of his profession and where he has a large and representative clien- 
tele. The Doctor is a member of the American Medical Association 
and the Missouri State Medical Society. 

In politics Dr. Thompson is a stalwart supporter of the principles 
and policies of the Democratic party, and he is a recognized leader in 
its ranks in Missouri. He has been chairman of the county central 
coromittee of his party since 1905 and, while he has ever been a zealous 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 675 

worker iu the party cause, he has invariably refused to become a caudi- 
date for political office. He is a stockholder and director in the Gary 
Investment Company and vice-president of the Times-Democrat Print- 
ing Company, of Macon. He has attained to the chivalric degrees in the 
Masonic fraternity, being ideutiiied with Emauual Commandery, No. 
7, Knights Templar, of Macon, and also holding membership in Aradth 
Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the ^fystic Shrine, in 
Kansas City. He is a member also of the Knights of the Maccabees and 
the Modern Woodmen of America, and both he and his wife hold 
membership in the Baptist church. 

On the 21st of October, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. 
Thompson to Miss Alice Nickell, who was born and reared in iMacoii 
county, and who is a daughter of Alexander Nickell, who followed the 
vocation of stock-raiser during the major portion of his active career. 
Dr. and Mrs. Thompson became the parents of three children, Maud, 
who is now the wife of M. A. Eomjue, of Macon ; Eoduey E., who died 
in 1905, at the age of twenty-two years, and Euby, who died in 1884, at 
the age of nine months. 

JOHN J. CHOPE. 

An honored citizen and enterprising business man of Macon, which 
has represented his home from his childhood days, is Mr. Chope, who is 
here engaged in the harness and saddlery business. 

John J. Chope was born in Lake county, Illinois, not far distant 
from the city of Chicago, and the date of his nativity was March 7, 1862. 
He is a son of Thomas and Louise (Hoffman) Chope, the former of 
whom Avas likewise a native of Lake county, where he was born in 1839, 
a son of one of the sterling pioneers of that section of Illinois, where his 
father, of staunch English lineage, settled in a very early day. Louise 
(Hoffman) Chope was born in the kingdom of Hanover, Germany, and 
was a child at the time of the family removal to America. Thomas 
Chope removed with his family to Macon, Missouri, in 1867 and here 
he became a successful contractor and builder and a citizen to whom 
was accorded the fullest measure of popular confidence and esteem. 
Both he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives in Macon and 
both were consistent members of the Cumberland Presbyterian and 
Baptist churches. They became the parents of ten children, of whom 
four are living. Frederick Charles and John J. are twins, and the 
former is engaged in the mining business at Ai'dmore, Missouri; Frank 
maintains his home in Macon, and Minnie is the wife of John Colwell, 
of Bautry, North Dakota. 



67,3 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Joliu J. Chope ■^•as reared to manhood in Macon, to ^vhose public 
schools he is indebted for his earlj' educational discipline. At the age 
of eighteen years he entered the employ of Frank Dessert, of Macon, 
in whose establishment he learned the trade of harnessmaking, in con- 
nection with which he became a specially skilful workman. He con- 
tinued in the emploj^ of Mr. Dessert about eight years, and, in May, 
1894, he purchased the stock and business of William P. Dessert and 
engaged in the harness and saddlery business on his own account. In 
this line of enterprise he has since continued and he has built up a 
large and substantial trade, based upon fair and honorable dealings 
and effective service as well as upon his personal popularitj-, which is 
of the most unequivocal order. 

In politics Mr. Chope is found arrayed as a stalwart in the local 
camp of the Republican party, and as a citizen he is loyal and public- 
spirited. In 1905 he was elected to represent the tirst wai-d in the city 
council, and he remained incimibeut of this position until Aj^ril, 1910, 
and in which he gave his aid and influence in the support of good munic- 
ipal government and the promotion of public enterprises tending to con- 
sei-ve the general welfare and the civic and material advancement 
of his home city. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the "Wood- 
men of the World and the Women's Circle. He and his wife are 
members of the Presbyterian church. 

On the 27th of March, 1889, Mr. Chope was united in marriage 
to Miss Laura Z. Lyda, who was born and reared in Macon county, 
a daughter of John S. Lyda, a prosperous farmer of Lyda townsliip. Of 
the three children of Mr. and Mrs. Chope, one, Frank, died in infancy, 
and the two surviving are Earl Chester and Gladys Louise. 

SIDNEY G. BROCK, A. M., PH. D. 

That man lives not to himself alone is an assurance that is amply 
verified in all the relations of life, ])ut its pertinence is most patent in 
those instances where persons have so employed their inherent talents, 
so improved their opportunities and so marshaled their forces as to 
gain prestige wliich transcends mere local limitations and finds its 
angle of influence ever broadening in beneficence and human heljiful- 
ness. There are thousands of men of fine character and ability ever 
looming up among us. and in even a cursory review of the lives of such 
there lies much of incentive and inspiration. He whose name initiates 
this paragraph is one of the venerable and distinguished members of 
the bar of the state of Missouri and is still engaged in the active prac- 
tice of his profession, in the city of Macon. He is a man of high intel- 



I 



HISTORY OF MACON" COUNTY 677 

lectual attainments, a scion of one of the old and distinguished fam- 
ilies of our American republic, a veteran of the Civil war, and a citizen 
who has not only exempliiied the utmost civic loyalty but has also been 
called upon to serve in various offices of high i:»ublic trust. In offering 
perpetual record concerning the lives of such citizens a publication of 
this order exercises its supreme function. 

Sidney G. Brock was born in the city of Cleveland, Ohio, on the 
10th of April, 1837, and is a sou of Eleazer A. and Margaretta Maria 
(Piatt) Brock, the fonner of whom was born at Danville, Vermont, in 
1806, and the latter of whom was born at Plattsburg, New York, which 
place was named in honor of his paternal grandfather, who was the 
tirst distj'ict .judge of Clinton county. Eleazer A. Brock gained his 
earlier educational training at Burlington, Vermont, and later con- 
tinued his studies in an academy conducted by his father in Plattsburg, 
New York, where his marriage was solemnized in the year 1832. His 
father, David Brock, was a successful educator and continued to fol- 
low the pedagogic profession in the state of New York for many years. 
He there continued to reside until his death. David Brock was a son of 
Major John Brock, who served for seven years in the war of the Revo- 
lution, in which he attained to the rank of major, and who was sent to 
P'rance by the government after the close of the war as a member of 
the escort of General LaFayette. By virtue of the military service of 
this distinguished ancestor, the subject of this review is eligible for and 
holds membership in the Sons of the American Revolution. 

Eleazer A. and Margaretta M. (Piatt) Brock became the jiarents of 
seven children, whose names are here entered : Sidney G., David, 
Nathaniel P., Anna M., Sophia B., Caroline M., and Margaretta. Those 
now living (1909) are Sidney G., David, Sophia B., Caroline M. and 
Margaretta. Eleazer A. Brock became one of the pioneer business men 
and influential citizens of the city of Cleveland, Ohio, where he estab- 
lished and operated the first oil-cloth factory and where he also was 
engaged in the boot and shoe business for a number of years. In politics 
he was originally a Whig and later a Rei)ublican, and he served as a 
member of the city council of Cleveland, as representative of the first 
ward, which was at the time the richest ward in any city west of New 
York City. He held this office for two terms and was otherwise promi- 
nent in civic and business affairs in the Ohio metropolis, which repre- 
sented his home for many years. He was a resident of Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, at the time of his death, which occurred in 1878, and his devoted 
wife, a woman of most gracious personality, died at Cleveland, Ohio, in 
1867. Both were zealous niemljers of the Methodist Episcopal church. 



678 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Sidney G. Brock, the immediate subject of this sketch, was reared 
to maturity in his native city, where he received his early educational 
discipline. In 1855 he was matriculated in Allegheny College, at Mead- 
ville, Pennsylvania, in which institution he completed the classical 
course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1859, with the 
degree of Bachelor of Arts. From the same institution he received the 
degree of Master of Arts in 18G0, and in 1888 his alma mater conferred 
upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy. At the time of 
his graduation Mr. Brock delivered the Greek salutatory for his class 
and also received first honors for an essay in English. 

After the completion of his collegiate course Mr. Brock returned to 
Cleveland, where he began reading law under the direction of able 
pi'eceptors, and, in June, 1861, he was there admitted to the bar 
of his native state. In September of the same year he subordinated all 
personal interests and considerations to tender his aid in defense 
of the Union, whose integrity was jeopardized bj' armed rebellion. He 
enlisted as a member of Company H, Sixty-seventh Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry, in which he held in turn the offices of first lieutenant, adjutant, 
caiDtain and major. As major he was a member, in turn, of the staflfs 
of Generals Joshua Howell, Foster and Teriy. The history of his 
gallant command constitutes virtually the record of his military career, 
which was marked by his participation in twenty-one engagements, 
including a number of the most important battles marking the progress 
of the great internecine conflict. He was with his command in the 
Army of the Potomac during the major portion of his period of service, 
and he received his honorable discharge in February, 1865, with the 
rank of major. He has ever retained a deep interest in his old com- 
rades in arms and signifies the same by his membership in the Grand 
Army of the Republic and Loyal Legion. 

After the close of his faithful and gallant military career !Major 
Brock returned to Cleveland, where he remained until Spring, 1866, 
■when he took up his residence in Macon, Missouri, where he entered 
into a law partnership with General Fielder A. Jones, with whom he 
continued to be associated under the most pleasing relations until the 
death of General Jones. He soon gained marked precedence as an able 
advocate and counselor, and the firm controlled a large and representa- 
tive practice up to the time it was dissolved by the death of General 
Jones. In 1871 Major Brock and General Jones founded the Macon 
Republican, which they made an effective exponent of local interests 
and a distinct power iu political affairs in this section of the state. He 
continued as editor and publisher of this paper until 1888, when he 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 679 

sold the plant and business. In 1889 President Harrison appointed him 
chief of the Bureau of Statistics at Washington, D. C, and he continued 
incumbent of this governmental office untU 1893, when he returned to 
Macon and resumed the work of his profession, in which he has since 
continued and in connection with which he controls a large and repre- 
sentative clientage. He has appeared in causes of much importance in 
the state and federal courts in Missouri and is known as one of the 
reiiresentative members of the bar of this commonwealth, where he is 
well known and highly esteemed by his professional confreres. 

Major Brock has rendered effective service in promoting the cause 
of the Republican party, to which he has ever accorded a staunch alle- 
giance. From 1885 to 1887, inclusive, he served as mayor of ]\racon, 
and his administration has passed on record as one of the most progress- 
ive and well ordered in the history of the municipal government of his 
home city. In 1888 he was the candidate of his party for member of 
congress, but was unable to overcome the normal Democratic majority 
in the district, being defeated by Hon. William H. Hatch. The major 
and liis wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, and, 
in addition to being identified with the Grand Army of the Eepviblic, 
as already noted in this context, he is also affiliated with the Missouri 
Commaudery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United 
States. He is a member of the National Geographical Society, whose 
headquarters are maintained in the city of Washington, and also of 
the Academy of Political and Social Science, in Philadelphia. He has 
retained his membership in the Phi Kappa Psi college fraternity, of 
which he became a member while a student in Alleglieny college. ]\Iajor 
Brock has ever continued his interest in scholastic and literary mat- 
ters, and in his study and reading has covered a wide realm of litera- 
ture. He has also contributed to various periodical publications and 
is the author of a number of able and valuable books, including those 
designated by the following titles: "The Commerce of the Great 
Lakes," "History of the Hawaiian Islands," "Resources and Commerce 
of the Pacific Slope States and Territories," "Commerce with South 
America," and "Progress of the United States from 1790 to 1890." 

On the 1st of December, 1861, Major Brock was united in marriage 
to Miss Louisa 0. AVilliams, daughter of Professor Lorenzo 1). AVill- 
iams, who was at the time vice-president of Allegheny College, IMead- 
ville, Pennsylvania. The children of this union are Alson Williams, 
Sidney L. and Benijah B. Sidney L. is a merchant of Oklahoma City, 
Oklahoma, also president of Chamber of Commerce. Benijah B. is 
assistant manager of the Cable Piano Company, of Chicago. 



680 HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 

MILTON ANDREW EOMJUE. 

Among the representative members of the legal profession in Macon 
county is numbered Mr. Eomjue, who is established in successful prac- 
tice in the city of ISfacon, the judicial center and metropolis of the 
count}-. His success is the more gratifying to note by reason of the 
fact that it has been gained in his native county, where he is well known 
and enjoys marked j^opularity and where he is a scion of one of the 
honored pioneer families of this favored section of the state. 

Milton Andrew Eomjue was born at Love Lake, Macon county, 
Missouri, on the 5th of December, 1874, and is a son of Andrew J. and 
Susan E. (Eoan) Eomjue, the former of whom was born in Scotland 
county, this state, on the 4th of August, 1840, and the latter of whom 
was born in Randolph county, on the 6th of February, 1843. She was a 
daughter of John Eoan, who rode on horseback from North Carolina 
to Missouri and located in Eandolph county in 1836, there remaining 
until 1846, when he took up his residence in Macon county, where he and 
his wife passed the residue of their lives and where their daughter, 
Susan E., mother of the subject of this review, was reared and edu- 
cated. Andrew J. Eomjue was afforded the advantages of the common 
schools of his native county, where he assisted his father in the devel- 
opment and other work of the home farm and where he continued 
to reside until 1857, when he came to Macon county, where he became 
an extensive farmer and stock dealer and where he ever commanded 
the esteem and confidence of all who knew him. He was a man of excel- 
lent business acumen and he gained a position of independence and 
definite prosperity through his own well ordered endeavors. He died 
on the 27th of April, 1904, and his widow now maintains her home in 
Atlanta, Missouri. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, and 
in politics was a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic 
party, though he would never consent to become a candidate for pub- 
lic office of any description. Of the nine children in the family, two 
died in infancy, and of the survivors, the names are here entered in 
order of birth : William H., James F., Edgar, Eudora F. (wife of U. 
F. Ketcham), Milton A., Price, and Josie B. (wife of Hershel M. 
Goodding). 

John H. Eomjue, grandfather of him whose name initiates this 
article, was born in Kentucky, December 20. 1803, and there lie was 
reared to maturity. He received good educational advantages for that 
time and place, and in his youth learned the trade of cabinet making. 
He became dependent upon his own resources for when a lad his father. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 681 

whose name was also John H. Eomjue, was a wealthy physician, but 
lost his fortune of $40,000 paying the obligations of friends for whom 
he was security, and bravely did he, the son, fight the battle of life, 
in which it was his to win a victory worthy the name. He had prac- 
tically no financial reinforcement when he came to Missouri, but he 
eventually became not onlj^ one of the representative farmers and stock- 
growers of Scotland county, but also a citizen of prominence and dis- 
tinctive infiucnce in the community. He served for some time as judge 
of the county court of that county and he was called upon to serve in 
other offices of public trust. In 1858 he purchased land in Macon county 
and here he continued to be identified with the great basic art of agri- 
culture during the remainder of his active career. He died in this 
county in the year 1878. His wife, whose maiden name was Speer, was 
summoned to the life eternal in 1857. They became the parents of 
twelve children, and of the number two are living at the time of this 
writing, in 1909. 

Milton Andrew Romjue passed his boyhood and early youth on the 
old homestead farm, which was the place of his nativity, and after 
duly availing himself of the privileges of the public schools of Macon 
county he continued his studies in tlie Missouri State Normal School 
at Kirksville, for three years. He later was matriculated in the law 
department of the University of Missouri, at Colvmibia, where he com- 
pleted the prescribed technical course and was graduated, with the high- 
est honors of his class, in June, 1904, duly receiving his degree of Bach- 
elor of Laws. In the same month, upon examination before the supreme 
court, in Jeft'erson City, he was admitted to the bar of the state, and to 
the federal bar at St. Louis. Prior to thus fortifying himself for the 
practice of law- he had been a successful teacher in the public schools, 
having devoted his attention to the iiedagogic profession at intervals for 
about three years. After his admission to the bar he engaged in the 
practice of his profession in Macon, where he was not denied recogni- 
tion of his splendid equipment for successful work as an advocate and 
counselor, and he continued to devote his attention to general prac- 
tice, with marked success, until 1906, when he was elected judge of the 
probate court of Macon county, of which position he has since continued 
incum1)ent and whose important and diversified affairs he has minis- 
tered with signal discrimination and ability. In politics Judge Komjue 
is a staunch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party, and 
as a specially effective iiul)lic speaker he has rendered yeoman service 
in the cause of his party. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, 
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and tiie Modern Wood- 



682 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

men of America, besides which he is identified with the Phi Delta Phi 
college fraternity and the Phi Lambda Epsilon, Missouri University, 
AVhile in the law school Judge Romjue was valedictorian of his class, 
besides which he delivered the class oration at the graduating exercises. 
He was president of his class in the junior year. AVhile a student in 
the normal school at Kirksville, in .1899, he won the declamatory medal, 
and the following spring he won in the oratorical contest between the 
debating societies of the school. In 1900 he represented Kirksville in 
the oratorical contest particijiated in by representatives of the tliree 
normal schools of the state, at Cape Girardeau, and succeeded in car- 
rying off the honors for the school he represented. He and his brother. 
Price, were students in Kirksville at the time of the cyclone which 
swept that place on the 27th of April, 1899, and thirty-one persons 
were killed. He and his brother were driven for a distance of sixty 
yards and were covered with debris. It was thought they also had 
lost their lives, but both were fully recovered from their injuries within 
a few weeks. After the disaster, Judge Eomjue facetiously states, 
several letters of his brother's sweethearts were found at a point twen- 
ty-five miles northeast of Kirksville and were returned to him, much to 
his discomfiture, as his attention had previously not been accorded in 
"assembly" form. 

On the 11th of July, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Judge 
Eomjue to Miss Maud N. Thompson, who was born in Macon county 
and who is a daughter of Dr. L. M. and Alice (Nickell) Thompson, well 
known residents of this county. Her father is a well known physician 
in Macon county. Judge and Mrs. Eomjue have one child, Lawson 
Eodnej', who was born May 6, 1907. Milton A. Romjue and wife 
are members of the Baptist church. 

^ GENEEAL WILLIAM M. VAN CLEVE. 

A distinguished and honored citizen of Macon county was he to 
whom this brief memoir is dedicated. He served as brigadier-general in 
the state militia, represented Macon county in the lower house of the 
state legislature and later became a member of the senate of this com- 
monwealth, and in the city of Macon, where he maintained his home, 
he was known and esteemed as a reliable and progressive business man 
and as a citizen over animated by the utmost integrity. His generous 
altrilmtes of character and his genial personality gained to him a wide 
circle of loyal and appreciative friends, and in all the relations of his 
signally noble and useful life he was a man wortliy of unqualified 
esteem. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 683 

General Vau Cleve was born in Clark county, N'irginia, on the -ith 
of November, 1840, and was a son of John and Martha M. Van Cleve, 
both members of old and representative families of the patrician Old 
Dominion. He received his early educational training in his native state 
and when he was fifteen years of age, in 1855, his iiarents removed to 
Eandolph county, Missouri, where his father purchased a large tract 
of land and became a successful farmer and influential citizen. Both of 
his parents continued to reside in Missouri until their death. (Jeneral 
Van Cleve assisted in the work and management of the home farm 
after the removal to Missouri, and here he also became a successful 
teacher in the common schools, having followed the isedagogic profes- 
sion for some time, in Eandolph and Chariton counties. Later he 
returned to Virginia and completed a course of study in AYinchester 
Seminary, a well ordered institution of higher academic lines. While in 
Virginia he was married, on March 11, 1862, to Miss Frances N. Van 
Cleve, only daughter of Elijah and Eliza Van Cleve, of Berkeley county, 
same state. He continued to reside in his native state until 1871, when 
lie returned to Missouri and took up his residence in Macon, where he 
engaged in the general merchandise business in company with his 
brother, James G. Van Cleve. Later he was interested in the tie and 
grain business. He was an energetic, progressive business man and as a 
citizen he did much to further the development and civic and industrial 
advancement of his home city and county. He was the soul of gener- 
osity and, in addition to making liberal contributions to religious, char- 
itable and educational institutions and objects, his private benefactions 
were many, though ever imostentatious. He was a man of distinctive 
culture and represented the courtly type designated as gentlemen of the 
old school. 

In politics General Yan Cleve gave a staunch allegiance to the Dem- 
ocratic party as exemplified by Jefferson and Jackson, and he was 
well equipped for leadership in thought and action. In 1878 he was 
elected to represent Macon county in the state legislature, and in 1884 
he was chosen a member of the state senate, as representative of the 
district then comprising Macon, Randolph, Adair and Schuyler counties. 
He also took a deep interest in military affairs and was an able tacti- 
cian. He organized the First and Second Regiments of the Missouri 
State Militia, and during the administration of Governor Crittenden he 
held, by appointment, the distinguished office of brigadier-general of the 
militia of the state, being incumbent of this position as well as that 
of state senator at the time of his death, which occurred on the 15th of 
May, 1886. He and his wife were both zealous members of the Baptist 



684 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

church, and he was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, in which 
he attained the chivalric degrees, having been a valued member of the 
commandery of Knights Templars in Macon. He was also identified 
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. 
General Van Cleve's wife was summoned to the life eternal on the 
17th of February, 1880. They became the parents of three children, 
I.ucy, who is the wife of H. Waitman Doneghy, of Macon; Frances, who 
died in 1896, and William M., Jr., of whom specific mention is made on 
other pages of this work. 

HENRY M. POWELL. 

For about sixty-nine years this venerable man and most highly 
esteemed citizen of the city of Macon has been a resident of Macon 
county, and in that period his contributions to its welfare and progress 
have been so considerable that he is one of the best known men in the 
county, and stands as high in the regard and good will of its people as 
any man within its borders. He is not a native of the county or the 
state, having been born in Caswell county, North Carolina, on December 
9, 1833, but he was brought to this locality by his parents in 1841, when 
he was but eight years old, and he has lived here ever since. In all his 
long years of active and productive life he has been a potent force in 
the social, industrial and political affairs of the township and county of 
his residence, and has left his mark in enduring phrase and creditable 
inscription on its civil and educational institutions and all elements of 
its progress. 

Mr. Powell is a son of Henry A. and Nancy (Poteet) Powell, natives 
of the same county as himself and descendants of families resident in 
the Old North State for many generations. Their forefathers were 
prominent in the history and development of that state, dignifying and 
adorning almost every walk in life among its people in peace and war, 
and it was vouchsafed to them to bear the same relation to the progress 
and devel()i)ment of Missouri that tlieir ancestors did to that of North 
Carolina. The father was born on June 23, 1803, and remained in his 
native state until 1841. He then moved his family to Missouri and 
located in Macon county, where he boiight 300 acres of land and l)egan 
raising tol)acco. As his prosperity increased he kept on entering gov- 
ernment land until he owned 1,000 acres. He was very enterprising 
and successful, and, as he managed his undertakings with intelligence 
and good l)usiness capacity, he profited by them all, and became a man 
of considerable wealth as well as one of prominence and influence in 
the state. 




HENRY M. POWELL 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 685 

lu politics the father was a Democrat of the old school, and he held 
to the principles and governmental theories of his party with the utmost 
tenacity. In religion he was a Presbyterian and as loyal to liis church 
as he was to his political party. By his marriage to Miss Nancy Poteet, 
which occurred in 1827, he became the father of seven children. Only 
two of them are now living, Henry ^I. and his older sister Nancy, who 
is the ^^fe of Captain Turk of Macon. Their mother died in 1839, and 
the father afterward married ]\liss Mary Shepard, who was also a 
North Carolinian by birth. They had three children, all of whom are 
living: Shepard, who resides in Macon county: Baswell, whose home 
is in Dallas, Texas, and Martha Sarah, the wife of Benjamin Stone, 
who lives in the city of Macon. His second wife died in 1865, aged 
sixty-two years. 

Henry M. Powell was educated in the district subscription schools 
of Bevier township, and as they were primitive in character, limited in 
scope, crude in appliances and of short duration every year, his 
instruction necessarily covered only the rudiments of learning. But it 
at least gave him an idea of the value of extensive information and 
taught him how to acquire it. He has used all his advantages since 
leaving school to good purpose, and hj judicious reading and reflection 
has become one of the best informed men in Macon county. After leav- 
ing school he worked on his father's tobacco farm and generally assisted 
the family until 1855. He then ]-ented a farm and began raising tobacco 
on his own account, continuing his oi:)erations on this basis until 1857. 
Then, with some money he had made and a legacy from his grand- 
parents, he bought .300 acres of land as a permanent investment and the 
foundation of the fortune he had determined to win. He lived on this 
land for forty-nine years, adding to his domain by additional purchases 
from time to time until he owned 800 acres. Here he spent his 
strength in vigorous and intelligent farming on a large scale and in 
raising live stock very extensively. He took great pride in this branch 
of his industry and was the first man to introduce Shorthorn Cattle 
into this part of the country, and later, the first to introduce the 
Polled Angus bi-eed. In the latter years of his activity in the stock 
industry he made a specialty of mules. In 1906 he retired from active 
business and, dividing his land among his children, moved to Macon, 
where he now resides. 

Mr. Powell is a stockholder m the Citizens Bank of Macon and takes 
an earnest interest in its affairs. To the jsrogress and development of 
the community in which he had his home he has always been ardently 
devoted, and he has spared no effort possible on his part to aid in pro- 



68C HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

moting its advancemeut. In political matters he has always voted and 
acted with the Democratic party, and he is firm and unyielding in his 
loyalty to it and its principles. During the township organization he 
rendered excellent service to the public as collector, but this is the only 
political office he ever held, as he always preferred private life. Dur- 
ing a portion of the Civil war he was a member of the State Guai-ds in 
the service of the Confederacy, and served under General Price in Gen. 
John B. Clark's division, for a period of eighteen months. He took jiart 
in the battles of Lexington, Pea Ridge, Dry Wood, Springfield or 
Winson's Creek and others of importance, and numerous minor 
engagements. 

On November 15, 1855, ^Ir. Powell was maiTied to Miss Artelia 
Mathis, a native of Macon county and a daughter of Drewry and Delalj' 
(Jackson) Ma this, the former born in North and the latter in South 
Carolina, but for many years residents of this county, where they were 
among the earlj' settlers. Mr. and Mrs. Powell had nine children, of 
whom five are living: Susie, the wife of "William Hyde, who resides in 
Macon county; Robert Lee, who is also a resident of this county; Stone- 
wall Jackson, who lives in Arkansas ; Orie, the wife of "William Nesbeth 
of Bevier, and Ethel, the wife of Leonard Skinner, whose home is in 
St. Josejih, Missouri. 

The wife and mother died August 6, 1907, aged seventy-two years. 
She was a life long member of M. E. church south. 

v' WILLIAM J»I. VAN CLEVE. 

One of the representative younger members of the bar of Macon 
county is William M. Van Cleve, who is engaged in the siiccessful prac- 
tice of his ])rofession in his native city of ^lacon and whose labors in 
his profession have been attended with results that give ample justifica- 
tion to his choice of vocation. He is a son of the late General William 
M. Van Cleve, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this 
work, so that a repetition of the data is not demanded in the present 
article. 

]\rr. Van Cleve was born in Macon, on the 10th of February, 1880. 
and after duly availing himself of the privileges of the public schools 
he continued his studies in St. James Military Academy of this city, 
where he prepared for college. In 1898 he was matriculated in the lit- 
erary department of Cumberland University, at Lebanon, Tennessee. 
In May, 1901, Mr. Van Cleve began the study of law under the able pre- 
ceptorship of the firm of Guthrie & Franklin, of Macon, in whose office 
he continued his technical reading of the science of jurisprudence until 



t 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 687 

the following September, when he entered tlie law department of Wash- 
ington University, in the city of St. Louis, where he completed the pre- 
scribed course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1903. 
with the well earned degree of Bachelor of Laws. He had secured 
admission to the bar of tlie state the year prior to his graduation and 
after leaving the law school he opened an ofiice in Macon, where he has 
since given himself with all of ambition, zeal and devotion to the work 
of his profession in which his success has been of unequivocal order 
and in which he has a practice that is constantly expanding in scope 
and importance. 

In iwlitics Mr. Van Cleve is a stalwart supporter of the principles 
and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor and he 
has been an active worker in its local ranks. In 1901 he was made the 
nominee of his party for the office of city attorney, and in the ensuing 
election he led the entire ticket, being elected by a gratifying majority 
and retaining the office for two years and enjoys the distinction of 
being the only Democrat up to the present time that has. His adminis- 
tration of the same was eminently satisfactory and inured not a little 
to the increasing of his professional prestige. He is affiliated with the 
local lodge and chapter of the Masonic fraternity and also with the 
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. 

On the 27th of June, 1907, Mr. Van Cleve was united in marriage 
to Miss Florence Wardell, of this city. In the spring of 1910 Mr. Van 
Cleve was elected police judge for the city of Macon, which position 
he is now filling (1910). 



/ OSWALD HICKS. 

Identified with lines of enterprise which are of significance and 
important value in every community, Mr. Hicks is one of the repre- 
sentative citizens of Macon, where he is engaged in the abstract, loan, 
and real-estate business and where he is held in liigh regard as a 
reliable and progressive business man and liberal and public-spirited 
citizen. 

Mr. Hicks finds due satisfaction in claiming the fine old state of 
Missouri as the place of his nativity. He was born on the old home- 
stead farm of his father, near Thomas-liill, Randoli)h county, on the 
26th of February, 1861, and is a son of George W. and Virginia L. 
(London) Hicks, the former of whom was born in Virginia in 1827, a 
scion of one of the old and honored families of the patrician Old 
Dominion, and the latter of whom was born in the state of Missoui-i. 



688 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

The genealogy iu both lines is traced back to English origin. George 
"W. Hicks is a son of Jolm Hicks, who was a child of four years at the 
time of his parents' removal from Virginia to Missouri. The family 
located in Howard county, where the father of John Hicks was engaged 
in farming about ten years, at the expiration of which he removed to 
Randolph county, where he became the owner of a large landed estate, 
which he developed into one of the fine farms of this section of the 
state and where he continued to reside until his death, which occurred 
in 1879. There also his devoted wife passed the closing years of her 
life. They became the parents of five sons and three daughters, and of 
the number one son and two daughters are now living. 

George W. Hicks, father of the subject of this review, was i-eared 
to manhood in Randolph coimty, and there his entire active career 
was one of intimate and successful identification with the great basic 
art of agriculture. He became the owner of a valuable landed estate 
of 300 acres and was long prominent and influential as a citizen of 
Randolph county, where he is well known and where he is held in 
unqualified confidence and esteem He still owns his farm in that 
county, though he is now living retired in the city of ^lacon. He is an 
Independent in his political proclivities. Our subject is the only 
child. 

Oswald Hicks, whose name initiates this sketch, passed his boyhood 
and youth on the old homestead farm which was the place of his birth, 
and he was aflt'orded the advantages of the local schools and the public 
schools of Macon, after which he completed a course in Yale Business 
College, at New Haven, Connecticut, in which institution he was 
graduated as a member of the class of 1886. He then returned to 
Missouri, and for some time he diversified his labors in teaching school 
and assisting in the work and management of the home fann. For 
a time he was engaged in the retail grocery business in Chillicothe, 
this state. 

In June, 1887, Mr. Hicks established his present business enter- 
prise in Macon, and in each of the dejiartments of the same he controls 
a representative business. He has a complete and authoritative set 
of abstracts of titles to all real-estate holdings in Macon county, and in 
the handling of realty his books show at all times most desirable invest- 
ments in both city and farm ])roperties. He has also properties for 
exchange and rent, and makes a specialty of financial loans upon 
approved real-estate security. His agency is one of the most important 
of its kind in this section of the state and through his honorable methods 
and i)rogressive policy he has built up this flourishing and substantial 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY GS9 

enterprise. He is recognized as one of the loyal and public-spirited 
citizens of Macon and is ever found enlisted as an earnest sui)porter 
of all measures and enterprises that tend to advance the material 
and civic welfare of his home city and county. His political sujjport is 
given to the Populist party, Init he has never been animated by aught 
of ambition for the honors or emoluments of ]niblic office. He is 
affiliated with the local organizations of the Knights of Pythias and the 
Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks. 

In the year 1899 Mr. Hicks was united in marriage to Miss Mabel 
V. AVilliams, who was born in the state of California, and they have 
one daughter, Jennie Mabel. 

^ AVILLIAM G. AVALKER. 

One of the oldest business men and most honored and popular 
citizens of Macon is Mr. Walker, who is a scion of one of the sterling 
pioneer families of Macon county, which has represented his home fi'om 
the time of his birth and with whose annals the family name has been 
identified for fully three-fourths of a century. He is engaged in the 
real-estate business in the city of Macon, and is also the owner of 
valuable farm property in his native county. 

Mr. Walker was born in Eound Grove township, Macon county, 
Missouri, on the 30th of November, 1845, and is a son of John P. and 
Mary (Brown) Walker, both of whom were born in the state of Virginia, 
where the respective families, of English lineage, were early founded. 
John P. Walker was reared and educated in the Old Dominion, where 
his father was a successful planter and a man of prominence and 
influence, having been a native of Virginia and having there passed his 
entire life. John P. Walker came to Missouri in the year of 1839, 
making the trip from New Orleans up the Mississipjii river to St. Louis 
and thence coming overland with team and wagon to Macon county, 
where he secured a tract of government land and reclaimed a good 
farm. He was one of the pioneers of Round Grove township and was 
one of the most jn'ogressive citizens of the county, where he wielded 
much influence in public affairs. He was a man of strong individuality 
and excellent intellectual attainments, so that he was admirably 
equipped for leadership in thought and action. During the early 
period of his residence in this county his services were in requisition 
as a school teacher, and he proved a most able and successful instructor 
in the pioneer schools. He served for twelve years in the office of 
county surveyor, and while incumbent of this position did much impor- 
tant work which has effectually stood the test of time. He was also 



G90 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

elected to the bencli of the county court, and was presiding judge of the 
same for a number of years. He was a man of most gracious person- 
ality and of impregnable integrity, leaving an indelible and beneficent 
impress ujwn the history of Macon county, on whose roll of honored 
pioneers his name merits an enduring place. He continued to reside 
on his fine homestead farm until his death, and his devoted wife was 
sunmioned to the life eternal, later. She was a consistent and active mem- 
ber of the Baptist church, and in politics Judge AValker was ever a 
stalwart advocate of the principles and policies for which the Demo- 
cratic party has stood sponsor in a generic way. Judge and Mrs. 
AValker became the parents of five sons and four daughters, and all 
save one of the daughters attained to years of maturity. The five sons 
and two of the daughters are now living. Mrs. Walker's father, a 
Virginian by birth, was a valiant soldier in the war of 1812. 

"William G. AValker, whose name initiates this review, passed his 
childhood and youth on the old homestead which was the place of his 
birth, and his earliest experiences in connection with the practical 
affairs of life were in connection with the work on the farm. He was 
afforded the advantages of the common schools of the locality and 
period and also had the gracious surroundings and influences of a 
home of distinctive culture and refinement. After the close of the 
war between the states he became identified with the civil engineering 
work in connection with railroad construction. In this line of work 
he was identified with the building of the Missouri & Mississippi Rail- 
road, the Santa Fe system and other lines. He has been to a greater 
or less degree actively identified with agricultural ])ursuits in his 
native county from his youth to the present time. He has maintained 
his residence in the city of Macon since 1901. 

In 1872 Mr. AValker was elected county surveyor, and in this office 
he ably carried forward the work which has previously been assigned 
to the care of his honored father. He held this incumbency for a 
period of eight years, and since that time he has devoted his attention 
largely to the real-estate business, in which his operations have been 
of wide scope and important order in a relative way. To him was 
assigned the disposing of the lands owned in Macon county by the Han- 
nibal & St. Joseph Railroad Company, and he has had much to do with 
the material and civic develojiment and progress of his native county, 
where his name has ever stood exponent of integrity and honor in all 
the relations of life and where his circle of friends is limited only by 
that of his acquaintanceship, which is exceptionally wide and rejjre- 
sentative. He served as county superintendent of schools from 1869 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY G91 

to 1871. and has ever taken a deep interest in providing the best of 
school facilities in the county, as well as in all other matters that touch 
civic pros]ierity and social well being. He is aligned as a staun,ch suj)- 
porter of tlie cause of the Democratic party and is strongly fortified in 
his opinions as to matters of public policy. He is affiliated with the 
]\Iacon lodge of Free & Accepted Masons, and with the local lodge of 
the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks. Both he and his wife 
have long been zealous and valued members of the Presbyterian church 
in Macon. 

In the year 1871 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Walker to 
Miss Sarah C. Thompson, who was born and reared in ]\Iacou county 
and who is a daughter of the late Granville Thompson, a farmer by 
vocation and one of the honored citizens of the county. Mr. and Mrs. 
Walker have one son and six daughters: Fannie and Maude who now 
resides in Lethbridge, Canada ; Stella, who resides in Seattle, Wash- 
ington; Lela, who resides in Chicago. Nellie and Norma live with their 
parents in Macon, as also the son Clyde, who at this writing is attending 
school at Columbia, Missouri. 



*) 



WILLIAM E. MOSS. 

Tlie able and po])ular superintendent of schools in ]\Iacon county is 
undoubtedly one of the youngest incumbents ever called to this respon- 
sible position in this county, and in his administration of the affairs of 
his important office he has fully justified the wisdom of those through 
whose suffrages he was chosen. Mr. Moss is a native son of ]\Iacon county 
and a scion of one of its old and honored pioneer families. The name 
which he bears had been indissolubley identified with the annals of this 
section of the state from a veiy early period in its history and has ever 
stood exponent of sterling cliaracter and loyal citizenship, as one 
generation has followed another on to the stage of life's activities. 

Mr. Moss was born in Round Grove township, Macon county, Mis- 
souri, on the 15th of May, 1880, and is a son of Francis M. and Sarah 
J. (Hutton) Moss, both of whom are likewise natives of this county; 
the father was born in Round Grove township and tlie mother in Middle 
Fork townsiiip. Francis M. Moss was reared and educated in Macon 
county and his entire active career has been one of close identification 
with the great basic art of agriculture, under whose influences ;ind 
labors he grew to maturity. He is now the owner of a finely improved 
landed estate in his native townshi]), and is one of the representative 
farmers and highly honored citizens of the county. He is a Democrat 
in his political proclivities but has never desired public office. The 



(i'.)-> HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

only position of this order of which he has ever been iucnmbent was that 
of road overseer. His wife is a zealous member of the Christian church. 
To them have been born five children — two sons and three daughters — 
all of whom are living. 

James Moss, the i)aternal grandfather of the subject of this review, 
was likewise a native of Bound Grove township, this coimty, where he 
became a successful farmer. At the incei^tion of the Civil war he 
tendered his services in defense of the cause of the Confederacy, and 
enlisted in the Kegiment of Missouri Volunteer Infantiy. He was 
with his coumiaud in a munber of im])ortaut engagements and served 
under General Price. He was captured, and was confined for a con- 
siderable ])eriod in the federal prison at Alton, Illinois. After his 
release he started for his home but died en route, while in the city of 
St. Louis. His wife survived him by many years and died in Macon 
county. They became the parents of three sons and two daughters, 
all of whom still maintain their home in Macon county except one of the 
sons, who resides in ^Monroe county. James Moss, the honored 
veteran of the Civil 'war, in which he sacrificed his life, was a son of 
Carlos Moss, who came from Kentucky to Missouri, becoming one 
of the early settlers of Macon county, where he secured a tract of 
government land and eventually developed a productive farm. Here 
he continued to reside until his death. 

Wiliam E. Moss, whose name initiates tliis article, passed his boy- 
hood days on the old homestead farm in Round Grove township, and 
after duly availing himself of the advantages of the public schools of 
his native county he contuined his studies in turn in McGee College, 
at College Mound, and in the Chillicothe Xonnal School, at Chillicothe. 
After leavig this institution he devoted his attention to teaching in the 
schools of Macon county, and he continued to be successfully engaged 
in pedagogic work of this order for a i)eriod of nine years. In 1897 
he was elected to his present res))onsible office of superintendent of 
schools for Macon county, and his administration has been one of 
energ}', careful system and marked discrimination, so that he has 
done much to further the efficiency of the work of the schools of the 
county. His term of office will expire in 1911. ^Ir. Moss is aligiied 
as a staunch advocate of the principles and policies of the Democratic 
party, is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, and both he and his 
wife hold membershi]i in the Methodist E]iiscoi)al cliurch. He is well 
known throughout his native county, and his circle of friends is limited 
only by that of his acquaintanceship. 

On the 26th of June, 1903, Mr. Moss was united in marriage to Miss 



HISTORY OF .MACOX COUNTY 093 

Bertha Cook, wlio likewise was born and reared in ]\Ja(jon county and 
who is a daughter of Jeremiah L. Cook, a representative of Liberty 
township. Mr. and Mrs. Moss have three daughters, — Lucile, and 
Hazel and Helen, who are twins. 

^ JOHN T. DONEGHY. 

Among the men of Macon county who are known as self-made 
men there is none more justly deserves the title than the subject of this 
brief sketch, Mr. John T. Doueghy, who was for manj^ years actively 
engaged in merchandising and banking at La Plata, but who is now 
living practical!}' retired in the city of Macon, ]\Iissouri. ^Ir. Doneghy 
is a native of Danville, Boyle county, Kentucky, where he was born 
on February 18, 1852, and is a son of James and Kate (Campbell) 
Doneghy, who were also born and reared in that state. The family 
from which ^Ir. Doneghy sprang was among the old and well known 
ones in Kentucky and Maryland. ■ The first of them to become a resi- 
dent of Missouri was the father of our subject, who emigrated to this 
State in 1855. He located on a tract of land near Independence, and 
continued to reside there until his untimely death in 1862, when he 
became one of the first victims of that great Civil war that darkened 
this land from 1861 to 1865. 

John T. Doneghy obtained his education at Bi->'ant's Academy, 
Independence, Missouri. He was obliged to begin life for himself at 
a very early age, and began making a meager living for himself when 
he was but fourteen, by working as a clerk in a general store at Inde- 
pendence. He continued his industry in this capacity until he reached 
the age of twenty. In 1874 he moved to La Plata accepting a position 
as clerk for his uncle, T. C. Campbell, who was operating a store there. 
Some time aftei-wards he and his brother purchased their uncle's 
interest in the business and formed a i^artnership under the firm name 
of "J. C. Doneghy & Brother." The business flourished under the 
wise and productive management they applied to it, and they continued 
to carry it on successfully for more than twenty years. In 1894, J. 
T. Doneghy i^urchased his brother's interest in the establishment, and 
from then until 1900 he continued the business alone. In the year last 
named he disposed of the stock and all that went with it, and six years 
later he became a resident of ^lacon, where he has ever since resided. 

Although seemingly retired from the daily exactions of a large 
business, Mr. Doneghy is by no means an idle man. He is vice-president 
of the Savings Bank of La Plata, and still has large interests in the 
locality of that town which requires his close and diligent attention. 



G94 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

He is also a director of tlie State Excliange Bank of Macou, and is con- 
nected with other productive activities of this city. His active mind and 
strong ijhysique could not be satisfied with a life of ease and leisure, 
and although he has changed the form he has not lessened the volume 
of his engagements or diminished the intensity of his energy. The 
aifairs of the city, couutj', state and nation enlist his earnest and serv- 
iceable attention and command his active and intelligent support in 
whatever he believes to be right. No movement for the advancement 
of the county or city goes without his co-operation in the most sub- 
stantial way, and no project for the general welfare of the people 
escapes his notice or lacks his energetic assistance. He is an ardent 
Democrat in politics, but while he always gives his party loyal and 
effective support, he has steadfastly refused to accept a political office 
of any kind, or rank, having no fondness for the distinction of official 
station and being very averse to its exactions and responsibilities. 

On May 20, 1885, Mr. Doneghy was united in marriage in Mexico, 
^Missouri, with Miss Mary M. Craddock, a daughter of Samuel F. Crad- 
dock, a prominent lawyer of that town. Mrs. Doneghy is a native of 
this state, but her father was born and reared in Munfordville, Ken- 
tucky. One child has been born to them, their son John T. Doneghy, 
Jr., who is now (1910) a senior in Yale University, where he is 
prepai-ing himself for a business career. 

In conclusion we can truly say that Mr. Doneghy is in every sense 
a self-made man. The Civil war stripped him of all possessions that 
would have been his by inheritance, yet he rose from the ruin and 
rebuilt his estate to proportions surpassing those which dignified it 
before the disaster came. He has ever been a man of peace, settling all 
controversies by persuasion and concession in conferences of reason, 
never appealing to force of any kind, never suing anybody or being 
sued in his life. By those who know him well he is admired and 
esteemed as few men are, and by all that know him slightly or have 
knowledge of his record and career, he is regarded as a fine type of 
the most exalted American manhood. Both his private life and business 
career are above reproach and universally acknowledged to be altogether 
creditable to him. 

-" FRANCIS DUNN JONES. 

Miner, music teacher, editor, poet, preacher and man of affairs, 
Francis Dunn Jones of Bevier, this county, has contributed to tlie land 
of his adoption a stimulus for good and an artistic inspiration in many 
lines of endeavor, and has also aided in its material development and 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 695 

moral and mental uplifting in ways and to an extent that lias won liim 
the esteem of all who know him and a high rank in the citizenship of 
the county aud state. He has given to the productive forces of Mis- 
souri both brawn aud brain, and has made au excellent record as a 
worker in all tlie departments of industry in which his faculties have 
been employed. 

Mr. Jones is a native of South AVales and the son of David W. and 
Elizabeth (Jones) Jones, also natives of that part of the Welsh country. 
He was born in 1859, and when he was but a year old his father came to 
this country and located in Pennsylvania, where he was foreman of a 
mine for a number of years. lu 1881 he came to Missouri aud took up 
his residence at Bevier in Macon county, where he died in November, 
1893. His marriage with Elizabeth Jones occurred in 1838, and by it 
he became the father of eleven children. Four of these are living: 
AVilliam, whose residence is at Keading, Peunsylvauia ; AVatkin, who 
lives at Donaldson in the same state; Mary A., the wife of Jonathan 
Davis, a citizen of Iowa, and Francis Dunn. The mother of these 
children died in 1868, and in 1869 the father mari'ied a second time, 
uuitiug himself with Miss Elizabeth Thomas, who was also born in 
South Wales. They had one child, their daughter Elizabeth, who is 
now the wife of David G. Thomas, at one time state mine inspector of 
the state of Wyoming. After his arrival at Bevier the father engaged 
in mining there during the remainder of his life. 

Francis D. Jones was educated in the public or state schools of his 
native land and thoroughly instructed in music there by Prof. T. Price, 
a renowned musical teacher aud composer of that country. After 
completing his education, the young man, the theme of this writing, 
whose parents were far distant from him, making their way to com- 
fort and consequence in a foreign country, worked in the mines in 
Wales for a few years. He, also, came to the United States with a 
view to bettering his fortunes, making the trip in 1880 and living for 
a time in Pennsylvania. He became a resident of Missouri and ^lacon 
county, 'finding a home in a region somewhat similar to his native 
heath in the mining district of Bevier, where he located. Here he 
mined coal and taught music for a period of about eight years, mak 
ing headway in the world in the accumulation of some means and 
gaining in favor and ]iopularit}' among the people. 

In September, 1889, he foimded The Bevier Appeal, of which he is 
still the editor and proprietor, being the oldest newspajH-r edilor in 
continuous service in Macon county. He is especially well litted for his 
work in the field of letters, having considerable scholastic attainments, 



696 HISTORY OF ilACOX COUNTY 

a ready and fluent pen, a comprehensive grasp of pnhlio affairs and a 
Ligh sense of duty. He is an aceomxilisbed musician and a great lover 
of music. And he has another gift of intellectual power among the 
ornamental and more graceful lines of literary ability. His father 
was a poet of ability and celebrity in the AVelsh language, and the son 
has inherited the talent and uses it in a different tongue. He has 
written many Englisli sonnets and other poems which are esteemed 
as productions of high merit and have given him a wide reputation as 
a refined and graceful writer of verse. 

In political affairs Mr. Jones is independent of party control, bestow- 
ing his suffrage according to his best judgment without reference to 
partisian considerations, choosing his candidates according to their 
worth and wholly apart from any claim their party alliances might 
seem to give them. He has always avoided the turmoil of political 
contentions and might very properly be said to have no party ties at 
all. In September, 1882, he was married to Miss Jennie Jones, a 
native of Macon county whose parents came to this region from South 
Wales. Of the nine children born to the union six are living : Myf anwy, 
whose home is in Denver, Colorado; and Anna, Frank, David, 
Gwenwyfar and Jennie, who are living in this state. The father is 
a Knight of Pythias and a Modern Woodmen of America in fraternal 
relations, and in religious affiliation he is connected with the First 
Baptist church, in which he is the leader of the choir. He is a preacher 
in his church organization and has been of considerable service to the 
community in this capacity, although he has no regular charge or 
congregation. Among the citizens of Macon he stands high and is 
universally esteemed. 

ROBERT ALLEN GUTHRIE. 

This gentleman, who is one of the leading men of ^lacon in busi- 
ness, social and church cii-cles, was born at College Mound, Missouri, 
on January 2, 1875, and was brought by his parents to the city of Macon 
when he was but one year old. Since then he has lived in the city 
and ever since reaching maturity has been active and zealous in the 
work of promoting its welfare, aiding and augmenting its forces of 
})rogress and building up its industrial and commercial power and 
influence. No project of merit in which the enduring good ol its jicople 
has been involved has been without his active support and intelligent, 
broad-minded direction. 

He is a son of a distinguished sire, Capt. Ben Eli Guthrie, a sketcli 
of whose life will be found in Ibis volimie, and began Ills education in the 



I 



HISTORY OF MACON" COUNTY 697 

public schools of Macon. His scholastic training was com])leted in 
Missouri Valley College, located at Marshall, Missouri. After leaving 
that institiition he engaged in newspaper work, acting as secretary 
and treasurer of the corporation that owned and conducted the Macon 
Times, until 1898. Previous to his connection with the paper he was 
employed for a few years in the Bank of Macon. This gave him an 
insight into and a taste for the banking business and he returned to 
it a few years later. When he severed his connection with the Macon 
Times in 1898 he assumed the management of the La Plata Home 
Press, and was the controlling spirit of that enterprising and able 
publication for about one year. In 1899 he accepted an appointment 
on the force of the First National Bank of Macon, and he remained in 
association witli that institution until 1907, rising through successive 
steps on demonstrated merit to the position of cashier,' and filling 
every position he held with great credit to himself and benefit to the 
bank and its patrons. 

On September 1, 1907, he resigned as cashier of the bank and 
accepted the position of secretary and treasurer of the Theodore Gary 
Investment Comj^any, one of the most energetic, enterprising and pro- 
gressive business institutions in the city of Macon. He is still acting 
in that capacity and the company is flourishing and enlarging its busi- 
ness as a result of its own enterprise and the care and capacity with 
which he performs his duties in its service, which, though at times 
onerous and exacting are in line with his tastes and his business 
training for effective work. 

Mr. Guthrie is allied with the Democratic party in politics and 
an active worker for its success in all caiupaigns, but he has always 
refused to accept a political office, either by election or appointment, 
and has never consented to allow the use of his name as a candidate, 
preferring at all times to serve the state from the honorable post of 
private citizenship. His religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian 
church, and in the congregation to which he belongs he is a zealous 
worker and a leading man. He is a member of its board of deacons 
and the treasurer of the church and its Sunday school, and engages 
earnestly in ail its benevolent and uplifting work. 

On November 7, 1900, Mr. Guthrie was united in marriage with 
Miss Eflie Shar]), a daughter of J. P. and Mary L. (Stark) Sharp, who 
came to Missouri and ^lacon county from Kentucky many years ago. 
Mrs. Guthrie was born and reared in this county. She and her hus- 
band have two children, their daughters Allene and Mary Sue. The 
l)arents move in the leading social circles of the city and are accounted 



C98 HISTOEY OF ilACOX COL'A'TY 

as among its best and most useful citizens, contributing to all the forces 
for good at work among its peojjle and stimulating others to exertion 
by their own industiy for the general weal and the excellent examples 
of fidelity to duty which they give. 

JAMES EOBEET HUNT, M. D. 

"With twelve years of active general practice in this county as a 
physician and surgeon, Dr. James R. Hunt has had opportunity to win 
a large business and establish himself tirnily in the regard and good 
will of the people, and he has used his opjjortunity to the best of advan- 
tage by faithfully performing his every duty and giving the public the 
best service of which he has been cajiable. which has been the best his 
circvmistances and abilities have i^ermitted. He has taken nothing 
for granted and been satisfied with nothing less than the best that was 
attainable. He has kept abreast of the most advanced thought and dis- 
covery in his profession by a close and reflective study of its literature 
and a free interchange of thought and experience with its leading 
13ractitioners all around him. 

Dr. Hunt is a native of Macon county and his professional serv- 
ices have had the incentive, in addition to others, of being rendered to 
his own people — the men and women among whom he has grown to 
manhood and passed his life so far. He was born on April 18, 1874, the 
son of John Henry and Julia (Leathe) Hunt, born October 16, 1839, 
the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Vii'ginia. The father 
became a resident of Macon county when he was but ten years of age 
and has been living within its confines ever since prosperously engaged 
in farming. His birth occurred March 25, 18.33 and his marriage 
on April 18, 1856. He and his wife became the parents of eight children 
three of whom are living : Ella, wife of George Brock of College Mound ; 
George 0., a successful Macon county farmer; and Dr. James R., the 
immediate subject of this sketch. The father has been a life-long 
Democrat in politics. He and the mother are still living and have 
their home at Callao. 

Dr. Hunt was reared in the city of Macon and began his scholastic 
training in its pul)lic schools. This he completed at tlie Missouri State 
University, which he attended two years. At the end of his university 
course he began the study of medicine at St. Louis, attending the Beau- 
mont Tros])ital ^ledical College, from wliich he was graduated with the 
degree of ^\. 1). in 1897. He began his practice at Macon and for eight 
years, while performing with fidelity and zeal the duties of a general 
practitioner, he also served as physician and surgeon for the Central 



II 




JAMES R. HUNT. M. D. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY G99 

Coal and Coke Compauy at that place. In June, IDUd, he located at 
Callao, where he has been carrying on an increasing practice ever since. 
He has now reached the first rank of physicians in the county, and while 
standing well with his professional brethren, is also cordially respected 
and esteemed bj- all classes of the people. 

In connection with his practice he owns and operates a drug store 
in Callao, and to this he gives his personal attention to the extent of 
seeing that it is conducted with every regard to the welfare of its 
patrons, and that all its work is iirst class in every particular. The 
iitmost care is used in compounding prescriptions, and only the freshest 
and purest drugs are en^ployed in the work. The general stock of 
the store is up to the highest standard, and the prices are always 
reasonable and fair. 

While Democratic in his politics, the Doctor is not an active parti- 
san, always believing that he does his part in helping to keep the peo- 
ple from illness and relieve their sufterings when sickness or disease 
assails them, without attempting to aid in governing them. Frater- 
nally he is a member of the Masonic order, the Odd Fellows and the 
"Woodmen. Professionally he is examiner for the New York and the 
Aetna Life Insurance Companies and the National Life Insurance 
Comi3any, of Vermont. He was married on April 13, 1898, to Miss 
Nellie Gibbs Cromwell, a native of this county, born January 11, 1877. 
He has been very successful and is acknowledged to be one of the leading 
physicians of the county. 

v' FEEDERICK H. TEDFORD. 

' ' Here shall the Press the People 's right maintain, 
Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain ; 
Here patriot Truth her glorious precepts draw, 
Pledged to Religion, Lil)erty and Law. ' ' 

This exalted sentiment, whicii Story i)enned as a motto for the 
Salem (Massachuetts) Register many years ago, might fitly be written 
conspicuously on the Times-Democrat of ^facon as that newsjiapor is 
conducted under the proprietorshij) and editorial management of Fred- 
erick H. Tedford, its present owner. It is the leading Democratic paper 
in the county, and the most potential organ of the party whose prin- 
ciples it advocates with such signal ability and force, and it has a hold 
on the regard and good will of tiie peoi)le that is solely due to merit of 
a high order. 

The ]3roprietor and editor of the ])aper, Frederick II. Todford, 
is well known all over Missouri as a first rate citizen, a cultivated gen- 



700 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

tleman, and a writer of eorisidera1)le fluency and force. He has served 
the ]5eople well in important public offices and has contributed to the 
wealth and power of the state by excellent work in mei"cantile lines. 
He also rendered good service for a number of the earlier years of his 
manhood in the transportation de])artment of industrial life. In every 
position he has filled he has met all the requirements in a masterly man- 
ner and won high commendation by the ability and integrity he has 
shown. 

^Ir. Tedford was born on a farm near Moberly, Eandolph county, 
Missouri, on July 5, 1873, and is a son of John F. and Virginia (Baird) 
Tedford, the former a native of Missouri and the latter of Pennsylvania. 
The parents are both living and have their home in Moberly. The 
father served in the Confederate army in a Missouri regiment under 
the command of General Price from the beginning to the end of the 
Civil war. He participated in many a hard fought battle, endured the 
wearying and wearing draft of many a long march, suffered often for 
want of food and proper shelter, and tiually was taken prisoner, and for 
a time languished in a military prison. During a portion of his mili- 
tary service he was under the command of Capt. Ben Eli Guthrie, a 
sketch of whom will be found in this work. His service was arduous, 
and, while he escaped being wounded, he found it, at all times, full of 
hardships and privation. But his paternal ancestors were Virginians 
and he was true to the section of his nativity and the family history, 
abiding by the convictions that pervaded it. 

Frederick H. Tedford grew to manhood in Mobei-ly and obtained 
his education in the public schools of Moberly. After leaving 
school he entered the employ of the AVabash railroad company as an 
office boy at Moberly and remained with it in various positions until 
he reached the age of twenty-five years. In 1898 he was appointed 
chief deputy grain inspector for the state, with headquarters at Kansas 
City, and after serving well in that capacity six j'ears, was ai)i)ointed 
chief inspector and held the office three years. At the end of his term 
lie spent a year on the road selling cement, then, in January, 1909, took 
charge of the Macon Times-Democrat, which he is still in coTitrol of. 
The ])ai)er gives him oi)i)ortuiiity for the full ex])ression of his i)olitii'al 
convictions, as he has been a life-long Democrat, and a student of i^ublic 
affairs, and it also affords him an o])i)ortunity to advocate and defend 
Avhat he believes in at all times. He does this with great ability and 
force, and without fear or favor, keeping his })a))er in the lirst rank 
of its class and holding it ever uj) to a high standard of excellence. 

Mr. Tedford 's religious affiliation is with tlie T^resbyterian ciinrcli. 



HISTORY OF MAL'OX COUNTY 701 

and he is a deacon and the superintendent of tlie Sunday school in the 
congregation to which he belongs. In fraternal life he is a member 
of the Masonic order of the Eoyal Arch degree, and also belongs to the 
Order of Elks. In 1897 he was united in marriage with Miss Gertrude 
McCulIy of Macon. They have two children, their daughter Frances 
M. and their son Howard William. The parents are reckoned among 
the leading citizens of Macon and have hosts of admiring friends 
wherever they are known. The father is a man of influence and promi- 
nence, with a potential voice in the public affairs of the city and county 
of his home and in the political councils of the state. He is a pro- 
gressive and enterprising man in reference to public improvements 
and tlie advancement and development of the region in which he lives, 
and at all times and under all circumstances does his part toward 
l)romoting them to the highest degree and in the most wholesome 
nuiuuer. Macon has no better citizen and none for whom all classes 
of the people have a higher regard, or in whom they have greater 
confidence. 

JAMES M. RANDALL. 

Retired farmer and veteran of the Civil war, and having met the 
claims of duty on both the farm and the battlefield in a manly and 
courageous way, James M. Randall of Callao has served his country 
well in lines of production in peaceful industry and defense in time 
of need. He was l)orn at Canton, St. Lawrence county, New York, on 
February 13, 18-11, and is a son of Ora P. and Jane (Putnam) Randall, 
the former a native of Vermont and the latter of the state of New 
York. The jjarents were prosperous farmers in New York and also 
in Wisconsin after their removal to that state in 1856. 

The father was born in 1819 and died at his Wisconsin home iu 
1889, the mother following him to the other world two years later, pass- 
ing away in 1891. After wrestling for years with the soil in the state 
of New York in an earnest endeavor to make it yield up it full mete 
of return for their systematic and well aiijilied industry, they looked 
westward and saw a winning smile on the face of the country. They 
yielded to its persuasions and moved their family to Waupaca county, 
Wisconsin, locating near Oshkosh in the adjoining county of Winnebago, 
which was then, as it is now, the largest town in a large extent of the 
surrounding country and the point of identification for a very con- 
siderable region. Here they improved a farm taken from the wild- 
erness, nnd on it they passed the remainder of their days. They had 
five children but only two are living, James M. and his sister. 



702 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

The Kandall family is of English origin. Its first representative 
in this country was John Randall, who settled at Westerly, Rhode 
Island, where iiis oldest son, Peter Randall, was born in 1673. From 
there the family moved to Vermont, and some generations later to New 
York, becoming domesticated in St. Lawrence county in that great com- 
monwealth. The region in which it located was almost as much the 
frontier then as Wisconsin was when Ora P. Randall settled in it, and 
as Missouri was at the same time. It might be said with propriety, 
therefore, that this family has been a pioneer family from early colonial 
days, and if there be anything in the doctrine of heredity, it would still 
be one if there were any longer a frontier in this country- for it to 
pitch its tent on. 

James M. Randall grew to manhood in Wisconsin and obtainet? 
a limited education in the primitive schools of his boyhood on the west- 
ern plains. After leaving school he engaged in farming and continued 
his operations in this line of industry until 1861. Being fervently 
attached to the Union and inspired by lofty patriotism in his devotion, 
he obeyed the first call for volunteers to defend it against dismem- 
berment, and enlisted in Company B, Fourteenth AVisconsin infantry. 
He served in this company eleven months and during a portion of the 
time was orderly sergeant. AVhile belonging to it he took part in the 
battle of Shiloh. In the summer of 1862 he was transferred to Com- 
l)auy G, Twenty-first Wisconsin infantry and made second lieutenant 
of it. In the spring of 1863 he was promoted captain, and served as 
such until he was dicharged in 1865. 

While connected with Company Q Captain Randall i)articipated 
in the battles of Stone River, Perrj'ville, Telehoma, Chickamauga, Mis- 
sionary Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Peach Tree Creek, and the siege and 
capture of Atlanta. He was then with Sherman in his victorious 
march to the sea, and aftei'ward in the campaign in the Caroliuas. He 
was discharged from the service at Goldsborough, North Carolina, in 
consequence of injuries received at Bentonville in the same state, his 
discharge taking place in 1865, after four years of service in which he 
faced death on many bloody fields, tramjjed thousands of miles on the 
march, and saw thousands of gallant men, among them some of his 
best beloved friends, fall before the withering fire of one of the most 
sanguinary conflicts of history. 

After leaving the army Captain Randall returned to his former 
Wisconsin home and there followed farming until 1868. In that year 
he moved to Macon county, Missouri, and took up a new farm, which he 
farmed and improved until a few years ago, when he retired from all 



I 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY T03 

active pursuits. He was married on December 25, 18G3, to Miss Martlia 
M. Pollard, a native of "Wisconsin and a daughter of Martin and Rachel 
(Powers) Pollard, the former born in New Hampshire and the latter 
in Vermont. The Captain and Mrs. Randall have four children : Lena, 
the wife of P. A. Decker; Linden M., a prosperous farmer living in 
Macon county; Clinton L., and Mrs. Dr. Welch. The father is a 
Republican in politics and has served as county judge. He is a Blue 
Lodge Mason and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic 
fraternally and belongs to the Christian church in religious affiliation. 

^ BLOOM J. SIMMONS. 

The worthy son of a prominent, enterprising and successful sire, 
and combining in his parentage the sturdy strain of Old England's 
yeomanry and the all-daring, all-enduring spirit of the early New 
Yorkers, Bloom J. Simmons, one of the successful and progressive 
farmers and stock men of Eagle township in this county, has had the 
inspiring influence of good family traditions and examples to stir him 
to action and give him the confidence in himself that is usually neces- 
sary to success in any undertaking and scarcely ever fails to win a 
considerable measure of it. He is not a native of Missouri, but was 
born just across the great river in Pike countj', Illinois, on July 11, 
1853, but became a I'esident of the township in which he now resides 
when he was but two years of age, liis parents locating in Eagle 
township in 1855. 

Mr. Simmons is a grandson of Jacob Simmons, who was born and 
reared in England and came to the LTnited States when he was a young 
man. He took up his residence in Rensselaer county, New York, and 
there his son, William H. Simmons, the father of Bloom J., was born 
in 1820. He remained in his native county until his marriage, then 
joined the tide of migration to the West, as it was then, locating in 
Pike county, Illinois, where he was actively and profitably engaged in 
general farming until 1855, when he moved his family to a farm of 
320 acres of land which he bought in Eagle township, INlacon county, 
Missouri. He continued his general farming operations here and added 
a thriving and steadily expanding live stock industry, and both as a 
farmer and a stock man became prominent and highly successful, own- 
ing at one time 700 acres of land, all under advanced cultivation with 
a stock raising and feeding business commensurate with his acreage. 
Some years previous to his death, which occurred in 1889, he divided 
his land among his children and retired from active ])ursuits. 

He was a very enterprising and energetic man, making ail his 



704 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUXTY 

efforts tell to his owu advantage and the benefit of tlie section in whicii 
he lived, and rising to considerable consequence and influence in the 
community of his home, both in this state and Illinois. His political 
allegiance was given firmly and with ardor to the Republican party, and 
he was an earnest and effective worker for its welfare. In 1842 he was 
united in marriage with Miss Sarah AVager, and by this marriage 
became the father of ten children, four of whom are living of the six 
that grew to maturity. They are: Harriet, the wife of James Wilson, 
who lives in Macon county; Bloom J., the subject of this writing; and 
Lafayett and Addie, the wife of Henry Muff, who are also residents 
of this county. 

Bloom J. Simmons grew to manhood in Eagle township and obtained 
his education at Hickory Grove district school, which he attended about 
four months a year until he reached the age of seventeen. He then 
worked on his father's farm and assisted the family until 1876, when 
he began the battle of life for himself. A year or two later he moved 
to Minnesota, where he bought seventy acres of land and passed seven 
years actively occupied in farming, and during the greater part of the 
time, conducted a saw mill with great success and profit. In 1887 he 
returned to his former home in Macon county, Missouri, and located 
on a farm of 120 acres of land given him by his father. He sold all his 
interests in Minnesota and devoted himself wholly and with productive 
energy to the cultivation of his laud in this county and the development 
of an active and remunerative business in raising and feeding stock 
for the markets. His farm now comj)i'ises 200 acres and is nearly all 
under cultivation. It is well improved, skillfully tilled and has grown 
into considerable value and been also made very complete, convenient 
and attractive as a country home, being one of the admired farms in 
the township. 

Mr. Simmons has been devoted to the progress and development 
of his locality, giving all its public affairs, its industries and its social 
life the benefit of his active aid and intelligent help in supervision, and 
stimulating others to exertion by the force of his exani]ile and his 
influence. He has been a meml)er of the school board twenty-one 
years, and the value of his service to the people in this capacity is shown 
by the elevated standard and excellent condition of the schools. He is 
a Republican in i)olitics and a hard and efficient worker for the good 
of his party. On IMarch 19, 1876, he was married to I\Iiss Xancy Ann 
Wilson, a daughter of Richard and Sarah Wilson, esteemed residents 
of Macon county for many years. Five children liave lieen born of the 
union and all of them are living. They are all, also, residents of Macon 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY T05 

county aud are: Sarah, the wife of Thomas Goodman; Dora, the 
widow of the late Emory Naj^lor ; and Ada, Esther and Virgil, who are 
ytill at home with their parents. 

JOHN C. CARPENTER. 

This vigorous, progressive and successful farmer is a native of 
Macon county and has passed the whole of his life to the present time 
within its borders and been active and heljjful in the development of its 
industries and the promotion of all of its elements of progress and 
power. He was born in Richland townshij) on December 8, 1856, aud 
obtained his education in Seibert district school in that township. 
Selecting farming and raising stock as his occujjation for life, he began 
very early in his manhood the career in those industries which has 
distinguished him as one of their energetic and enterprising promoters 
in tliis part of the county. 

Mr. Carpenter is a grandson of Samuel Carpenter, who was born 
in Virginia and became an early settler in Cooper county, Missouri, 
where his son, Henry Carjienter, the father of John C, was born. Hen- 
ry remained in that county until 1847, when he moved to Macon county 
and acquired the ownership of 400 acres of land, on which he conducted 
a highly successful and profitable business in farming and raising stock 
until the beginning of the Civil war. Then, inspired by a strong love 
of his«state and fii'm faith in his political convictions, he gave himself up 
to her service by enlisting in the Confederate army under General Price 
He continued his military service until 1865, when he was taken 
prisoner and sent to a military prison at St. Louis, where he died. He 
participated in numerous engagements during the war, among them 
the battles of Lone Jack and Pea Ridge, and a host of encounters of 
minor historic imijortance. 

He was united in marriage with Miss Nancy E. Gilbreath of tliis 
county, and by this union became the father of seven children, five of 
whom are living: Samuel, whose home is in La Plata, this county; 
Hugh P., who is also a resident of Macon county; AVilliam H., who 
lives in Texas; John C, the subject of this memoir; and James N., who 
is one of the prosperous and progressive citizens of California. In 
politics the father was an active and loyal member of the Democratic 
party of the ultra state rights' school, and he gave his every energy, 
his most zealous service and finally his life in behalf of his political 
convictions and the wing of his ])arty to which he belonged. He was 
a Baptist in religious faith and a member of Mission Baptist chui'ch. 
Industrious and frugal in the pursuits of peaceful industry, valiant 



706 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

and all-daring in war, and patient under the liardsliips and privations 
of prison life, lie was a man of whom Missouri is justly proud as a 
representative of his citizenship, and whose memory is securely 
embalmed in the admiring regard of her people. 

His son, John C. Carpenter, began his career as a farmer and stock 
man at the age of twenty-two, when he bought 120 acres of land as a 
base of operations and ou which he has ever since lived, labored wisely 
and flourished in a gratifying measure. He has increased his farm to 
225 acres, improved it judiciously and brought it to a high state of 
development and productiveness. His stock industry has also been 
conducted with energy and capacity, and been kept up in magnitude to 
the limit of his resources for its successful and profitable prosecution, 
making it one of the leaders in its class in this part of the state. 

Mr. Carpenter has also been active and helpful in promoting the 
welfare of the township and county and the substantial advancement 
of their people. He has served well and with approval as school 
director and in many other ways has been of decided benefit to the 
region in which he lives by his enterprise, breadth of view and public- 
spirit. On March 3, 1878, he was united in marriage with Miss Ella 
Graves, a daughter of John E. and Mary (Gates) Graves, esteemed 
residents of Macon county, of which she is a native. She and her 
husband are the parents of three children, all of whom are living. They 
are: Aura, the wife of W. E. Hertzler, of Independence township, 
this county; and Wilbur and Nellie, who are living at home. The 
father's political allegiance is given to the Democratic party and he 
is very energetic and zealous in its service. Although in no sense an 
office seeker himself, he does all he can to aid in securing the success 
of his party, the election of its candidates in all campaigns and the 
maintenance and increase of its power at all times. He is regarded as 
one of the leading men in his township and is highly esteemed for his 
demonstrated worth and sterling manhood, which find expression in 
elevated and serviceable citizenship. 

*^ GENERAL GILMOEE SLAUGHTER. 

Prominent among the progressive and prosperous farmers of Rich- 
land township, a leading man in the live stock industry of the same 
locality, and an important and influential citizen in the social and polit- 
ical life of his community, General Gilmore Slaughter is a credit to 
Macon county and to the stalwart manhood of Missouri. He is not 
a native of the state, having been born in Fayette, Seneca county. New 
York, on June 16, 1863, but has lived in Macon county ever since he 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 707 

was seven years of age, and during the whole of his youth and manhood 
to the present time, has been actively and fruitfully engaged in pro- 
moting its industries and advancing the substantial and enduring 
welfare of its people along all lines of wholesome progress. 

Mr. Slaughter is a son of Andrew B. and Mary (Brown) Slaughter, 
the former born in Germany in 1827 and died January 31, 1895, and the 
latter a native of Seneca county, New York, where she was born Sep- 
tember 10, 1823, and died January 26, 1872, in Macon county, Missouri. 
The father came alone to this country when he was fifteen years old, 
arriving in 1845 and taking up his residence in the town of Fayette in 
the great Empire state of the East. There he met with and married 
Miss Mary Brown and by this marriage he became the father of four 
children, three of whom are living and named as follows: Jacob, a 
resident of Macon county, Missouri ; Chester, whose home is in Fayette, 
New York, and General Gilmore, the immediate subject of this brief 
review. The father brought his family to Macon county in 1870 and 
settled in Richland township. Here he was actively engaged in farm- 
ing on a tract of eighty acres of land, which he boiight soon after his 
arrival in the locality, during the remainder of his life. He died 
January 31, 1895. His birth occurred July 9, 1827. 

His son, General G. Slaughter, obtained his education in the Davis 
district school of Richland township, and after completing its course 
of instruction, worked out by the month and assisted the family until 
1884. In that year he bought sixty acres of good land as a start in 
the industries of farming and raising stock, to which he had deter- 
mined to devote himself, and to which he has adhered with unwavering 
persistency ever since. He has been very successful in his under- 
takings and all his years of labor have been years of progress. He now 
owns 318 acres of land, and has his farm well improved with attractive 
modern buildings, equipped with everything needed for its advanced 
cultivation, and brought to a high state of development and produc- 
tiveness. His stock industry is also a thriving and i)rofitable one, and 
both tliis and his farming operations are conducted with vigor, intelli- 
gence and skill. 

On February 27, 1884, Mr. Slaughter married with Miss Mary 
E. C. Percival, a daughter of Jered Erostus and Snsan (Allen) Percival. 
(She was born April 12, 1844 and died January 8, 1893.) They were long 
esteemed residents of Macon county. Jered E. Percival was born at 
Shounee Town, Illinois, January 6, 1841 and died October 4, 1869 in 
Macon county, Missouri. He served in the Civil war as a member of 
Company I, Seventh Missouri Cavalry. Mrs. Slaugliter was born and 



70S HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

reared iu ilacou couuty, and tbey had three children: Mary, the wife 
of William Yates of this county; Susan, the, wife of Harvey S. Easley, 
also of Macon county, a sketch of whom will be found in this work ; and 
Bedford G., who lives on the home place. The father is an ardent 
Kepublican in his political allegiance and a zealous and energetic worker 
for the good of his party. He is a member of the Christian church and 
takes a leading part in all its worthy imdertakings for the improve- 
ments of the community and the good of mankind. Mrs. Slaughter's 
death occurred March 2, 1908. 

Mr. Slaughter has been in all respects the architect of his own 
fortune, and his record is altogether to his credit. It shows a grati- 
fying and steady progress from nothing to consequence, the results 
being achieved wholly by his own efforts and ability. He is a man 
of prominence and influence in his township and held in universal 
esteem for the uprightness of his life, the elevation of his character 
and his usefulness as a citizen. 

HENRY WILLARD HALL. 

Nature has no choice spots for the birth of her great inen. "When 
her purposes require it she is all Athens, all Stratford-on-Avon, all 
rural Virginia, in which she brought forth a race of heroes for our 
Revolutionar)' struggle. Neither is she strenuous in her exactions as 
to age. Often she endows young men with the breadth of view, the 
comprehensiveness of grasp and the ready and resourceful aliility for 
great affairs which is ordinarily the result of long training in practical 
experience and through other means of development. In his way and 
to the extent of his oi)erations, Henry AVillnrd Hall is an illustration of 
this fact. He is but thirty-six years old, or scarcely that, and yet he is 
o]ierating as a farmer and stockman on a scale which is the goal of 
many a long life in this part of the country and yet is but his starting 
point. 

Mr. Hall was born in [Macon county, Missouri, on May 17, 1874, 
and is a son of Henry and ]\[rs. Aug-usta (Pulver) Hall, the former 
born in Michigan in 1829, and the latter in this county. They were 
married in 1873 and had three children, only two of whom are living, 
Henry W. and his brother, Charles, who lives in Adair county, this 
state. The father was a carpenter and worked at his trade in many 
states, being of a roving disposition and keeping on the move at inter- 
vals until his death, which occurred in June, 1901. 

His son, Henry W., obtained his education, it might be said, on the 
wing, attending schools in a number of different places, but iirincipally 




JOSEPH PARKE 



710 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

and her alone, she unbosoms her treasures of legal lore and success 
in the application of it in the same generous measure. A striking 
illustration of these truths is to be found in the career of Joseph Parke, 
of La Plata, one of the eminent attorneys and counselors of Macon 
county, who has been assiduous in his attentions before the altar of 
Themis, and has found liis lideUty an open sesame to her storehouse, 
securing a large measure of professional reputation and a substantial 
return in more material acquisitions. 

Mr. Parke is a native of Henry coimty, Iowa, where he was born 
in 1848. His father, John Parke, was born and reared in Pennsylvania, 
in the eastern part, and emigrated to Henry county, Iowa, in 1842. 
There he worked industriously at his trade as a cabinet-maker uutil 
his death on June 7, 1851. In 1820 he was married to Miss Sarah Barry, 
a native of Pennsylvania, who was born January 1, 1804, and they 
became the parents of ten children, six of whom grew to maturity, our 
subject being the youngest. The mother survived her husband a full 
quarter of a century, dying on Christmas day, 1876. By his death she 
was left with a large familj' of young children to rear and educate, 
but, although the task was one of great magnitude and difficulty, she 
entered upon it with resolute courage and performed it with fidelity 
and a considerable degree of success. 

Joseph Parke was reared and educated in the city of Ottumwa, 
Iowa. He was deprived of the guidance and assistance of his father 
at the age of three years, but he found in his mother a faithfiil friend 
and a safe and sjTiipathetic adviser. Besides, he had within himself 
the qualities that compel success and the disposition to use them. His 
direct scholastic training was necessarily limited, owing to the circum- 
stances of the family, but its deficiencies have been made up by Mr. 
Parke's extensive reading, observation and reflection, and been richly 
atoned for in the lessons of experience and his wisdom in laying them 
to heart. He is a gentleman of extensive general information, and of 
positive and accurate knowledge of many subjects of the higliest human 
interest. And, what is more to his credit, his acquisitions in every line 
of effort are the fruits of his own ability and energetic practical 
industry. 

Mr. Parke began the study of law in 1874. at Kirksville, Missouri, 
and was admitted to the bar on June 11, 1875. He at once began the 
practice of his profession at La Plata, and has been engaged in it there 
ever since. He has risen to eminonoo as an advocate and eounsolor. 
exhibiting on all occasions extensive knowledge of the law and its con- 
struction by the courts, and admirable skill and shrewdness in the appli- 



HISTORY OF MxVCOJn-^ COUNTY 711 

cation of liis acquirements. His professional brethren esteem him higlily 
for his aciunen and comprehensive ability, and the whole people hold 
him in cordial regard because of his integrity, his progressiveness and 
his exalted and serviceable citizenship. AVhile pushing his own car of 
progress with all the energy^ and prudence he could command, he has 
not been oblivious of the general welfare of the community around him 
and has been sedulous and constant in helping to protect and promote 
the best interests of its people. 

Although he has never held or desired a political office, he is an 
active worker for the principles and candidates of the Republican 
party, of wiiicli he has been a zealous member from the dawn of his 
manhood. He has taken a warm and eai-nest interest in all the details 
of its campaigns, serving as a delegate to all its state conventions for 
many years, and a national delegate in 1896 to the convention which 
nominated AVm. ]\[eKinley for president, and doing all in his power to 
give its assemblies wise counsel and its activities proper guidance and 
trend. His services in this respect are so highly appreciated bj' both 
the party leaders and the rank and file that he is regarded as one of 
the party's best advisers and his judgment is always deferred to in 
matters of party judgment. In fraternal relations he is allied with the 
Masonic order, and his membership in it is highly valued because of the 
interest he takes in its work and the judicious counsel he is able to 
give its local authorities in every time of need. Mr. Parke is able to 
give all of the work in the different degrees from memory, even to the 
burial service, with the exception of the lectures of the second degree. 

In 1875 Mr. Parke united in marriage with Miss Lottie McQuary, 
a native of this county. All of the eight children liorn to them are 
living. They are: Jay Clinton, cashier I). & E. CJ. Kailway, Trini- 
dad, Colorado; Austin E., a successful lawyer living at Los Angeles, 
California; Charlotte, the wife of T. E. Francis, attorney, of St. 
Louis, with the firm of Boyle & Priest, and reporter for the St. 
Louis Court of Appeals; Grace Linn, the wife of Dr. T. J. Collins, 
who lives at Trenton, Missouri; Chester J., engineer for the Prairie 
Oil Gas Company, at La Plata; Mrs. Mary Stagg, wife of J. B. Stagg, 
assistant civil engineer A., T. & S. Fe R. R. at Topeka, Kansas, and 
Josephine Kay and Pauline, who are living at home with their father. 
Mr. Parke is approaching tlie sunset of life and he finds his evening 
serene and benignant because liis day has been active and ])roductive. 
It has been filled with useful labor for himself and others, and given him 
a record of fidelity to every duty and capacity for every requirement. 



n-2 HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 

Now, "liouor, love, obedience, troops of friends, such tilings as should 
accompany old age," attend him and will go with him to the end. 

FRED X. :i{cDA^^ITT. 

This progressive and ])rosperous young farmer, who is one of the 
most successful and enterprising men engaged in this line of productive 
industry in the township of Richland, Macon county, is a son of Asa 
'W. and Mary ^I. (Murry) ]\IcDavitt, a brief sketch of whom appears 
elsewhere in this volume, and both in his character as a man and his 
record as a farmer and stockman admirably sustains the family reputa- 
tion and is a credit to the citizenship of the locality in which he lives. 
He is not a native of Missouri, having been born in Adams county, 
Nebraska, during the residence of his parents in that state. But the 
greater part of his life to the present time (1910) has been passed 
here and he is a tliorough Missourian in everything but his birth. 

Mr. McDavitt's life began on March 10, 1876, and his education 
in the district schools of Macon county, to which he was brought by his 
parents in his boyhood. He completed his scholastic training at Lom- 
bard College in Galesburg, Illinois, and after leaving that institution 
taught school one year. Thereafter, preferring to make farming and 
raising stock his occupation, for a time at least, if not for life, he worked 
on his father's farm until 1889, then went to work improving and devel- 
oping one of his own, comprising eighty acres, which his father gave 
him when he attained his majority. He has adhered steadfastly to his 
chosen employment ever since and has made it pay well by giving it close 
and careful attention and applying to it all the information he has 
been able to gather from studious reading and reflective observation 
of the teachings of his experience. His methods in his farming opera- 
tions and also in his stock industry are modern and are applied with 
a vigor and intelligence that are bound to command success, and this 
he has enjoyed in a marked degree, making his farm a silent but elo([uent 
testimonial to the value of enterprise and progressiveness in agriculture 
and his live stock business an equally strong argument for the same 
elements of power in that line of endeavor. 

Enlightened, wideawake and energetic as he is, with reference to 
his own affairs, he is no less so in connection with the welfare and 
progi'ess of his township and county. AVith a true citizen's loyal devo- 
tion to the locality of his home, he gives every commendable project for 
its improvement and advance in development and commercial or indus- 
trial ]iower his ready, active and effective support, acting on the convic- 
tion that the general well being of any community ^n-omotcs the interests 



li 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 713 

of every one living in it, and that it is the duty of all to do whatever 
they can to bring the region in which tlieir lot has been oast to the 
highest and best condition its resources will allow, and help to make its 
people as intelligent, progressive and comfortable as possible under 
the circumstances of the case. His farm now comprises 105 acres and 
he has it all under cultivation. 

On August 17, 1889, ]\Ir. McDavitt was united in marriage with 
Miss Euth Reesman, of La Plata, a daughter of David B. and Cordelia 
(Randal) Reesman, prominent residents of that town. The marriage 
has resulted in three childreu, Elwood, David W. and Mary, all of wliom 
are still members of the jjarental household. The father is a Repiiblican 
in politics and a Knight of Pythias in fraternal life. He and his wife 
are zealous and devoted members of the Universalist church and take 
a leading part in all its useful exertions for the good of the community 
and its residents. They are looked upon as among the leading citizens 
of their township and stand high in the regard and good will of all its 
people. 

FRANCIS MARION CURTIS. 

Born and reared in this state, aiding in its defense against armed 
invasion and internal strife during the Civil war, and engaging ener- 
getically and productively in its industries throughout his mature life 
to this time (1910), Francis Marion Curtis, of Richland township, Macon 
county, has been closely connected with its progress and a valuable con- 
tributor to its development and improvement in every material, mental, 
moral and commercial phase of its varied and multitudinous activity. 
Although not a native of Macon county, he has lived in it for a continu- 
ous period of twenty-eight years since his last location among its 
people, and before that passed the greater part of his youth in Missouri. 
He has therefore had plenty of opportunity to become known to its 
inhabitants and win their esteem by his uprightness and business enter- 
prise as a man and his usefulness as a citizen. 

Mr. Curtis was born in Ray county, Missouri, on December 11, 
1838. He is a son of Samuel K. and Nancy (Gentry) Curtis, the for- 
mer a native of Tennessee and the latter of Kentucky. On the father's 
.«ide the family long lived in Tennessee and its members were promi- 
nent and influential in the history of that state, the paternal grand- 
father, Elijah Curtis, being one of the leading citizens in the county 
of his home there. The same is true of the ancestry of the mother 
in Kentucky. Samuel K. Curtis was born in 1800 and came to Mis- 
souri wilh his i^arents while he was yet a boy and the ]iresent great 



714 HISTORY OF MACOX COL^TY 

state of the Middle West, in which he passed the remainder of his 
days, that now challenges the admiration of the world by its enterprise 
and progress, was but an expanse of unpruned wilderness, given up 
to the dominion of the savage and the wild beasts of the forests and 
plains. On its arrival in this state the family located in Eay county, 
and there the father of Francis M. Curtis grew to manhood and obtained 
a district school education. He remained in that county until 1852, then 
moved to Macon coimty and took up his i-esidence in Eichland township, 
wliere he entered eighty acres of government land on which he passed 
the rest of his life successfully and profitably engaged in farming 
and raising live-stock. At the time of his death, which occurred in 1874. 
he owned and had under vigorous and advanced cultivation 280 acres, 
which made one of the attractive and valuable fanns of the township, 
and was a model that inspired other farmers to increased enterprise 
and activity. His marriage to Miss Xancy Gentry occurred in 1836 
and brought him five children, three of whom are living: Francis 
Marion, of Eichland township; David, who resides in Adair county, 
and General Jackson, who is also a resident of Macon county. 

Francis M. Curtis was educated in the district school near his home 
and, after com])leting its course of instruction, worked on the home 
farm and assisted the family until 1861, when he enlisted in the Federal 
army, at Macon in Company I, Seventh ^Missouri Cavalin*, under com- 
mand of Colonel Foster. He served eleven months in the war and 
took part in a nimiber of skiiTQishes in the vicinity of his home, that 
is in Macon and the nearby counties, and at the end of his term ho 
was mustered out at the same place that witnessed his enlistment. 
In 1862 he quit the army and returned to his home in this county. 
During the next twelve years he worked again on his father's farm, and 
in 1870, desiring to do something on his own account, he bought 120 
acres of land in Adair county. This farm was his home and the seat 
of his progressive operations until 1882, when he returned to Macon 
county and took up his residence on the farm which is now his home. 
He has 200 acres of first-rate land, all of which is under good cultiva- 
tion and is well improved with commodious and comfortable buildings. 
His farming operations are extensive and carried on with the utmost 
energj' and all the skill he has acquired in long experience and from 
an industrious study of the requirements of the business he is engaged 
in. He conducts, also, a flourishing industry in raising live-stock and 
does it in such a way as to make it profitable to himself and a valuable 
addition to the productiveness of the township in which it is located 
and so successfully prosecuted. 



HISTOEY OF MACOIs' COUNTY 715 

In polities Mr. Curtis gives his fealty and active service to the 
Eei^ublican j^arty. Fraternally he is a member of that fast-fading host, 
the Grand Army of the Kepublic, and in religious affiliation he is 
connected with the Christian church in whose improving activities he 
takes a leading part. He is also a zealous member of the Masonic frater- 
nity, to which he has belonged for a great many years, and in which he 
has foimd a great deal of enjoyment. On June 5, 1863, he was united 
in marriage with Miss Martha Phillips, a daughter of James and Ruth 
(Chambers) Phillips, and a native of Macon county. Eight childrea 
were born of the union, but only three of them are living: Emma 
J., the wife of S. H. Elliot, who resides in the county of ^Macon ; James 
S., a highly" resjDected citizen of Macon county, and John F., whose 
home is in the state of Montana. The wife and mother passed away 
August 3, 1909. She was a lifelong member of the Christian church 
and highly respected by all who knew her. 

JOSEPH V. LANE. 

The great state of Pennsylvania, which is a veritable hive of almost 
every form of human industry, has sent abroad throughout the rest 
of the coimtry many men trained to usefulness in her busy and produc- 
tive fields of labor, who have put in motion in other places the forces 
of fruitfulness which they drew in with their stature and strength from 
her soil. Among the men of this class who have located in Macon 
county, Missouri, and contributed to its progress and develoj^ment, 
adding to its industrial and commercial power and aiding in giving 
tone and character to its citizenship, Joseph V. Lane, of La Plata town- 
ship, is entitled to honorable mention and the high place he holds in 
the regard and good will of the people living around him among whom 
he has long lived and labored. 

Mr. Lane was boi-n in Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, on October 
31, 1844. There also his father, John Lane, was native and was born 
in 1791, and there he passed almost the whole of his life, actively 
engaged in general farming until his death, which occurred in 1863. He 
was married, in Pennsylvania, to Miss Elizabeth Stoakley, a native of 
New Jersey, and they became the parents of twelve children, only five 
of whom are now living. They are: Bennet, whose home is in "West- 
moreland county, Pennsylvania ; James, who resides in McKeesport, 
in the same state; Mary, the wife of Maury Sutton, who lives in Indiana 
county, Pennsylvania ; Susan, the wife of Isaac Jacobs, a resident of 
Washington county, Pennsylvania, and Josepli V., the only member of 
the familv who lives in Missouri. 



71G HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

The last named obtained a limited education in the district schools 
of bis native county, and, after completing that, worked on the home 
farm and assisted the family until the death of his parents in 1863. 
Then, left alone in his orphanage at the age of nineteen, with the 
wide world before him and no equipment for any enterprise among 
its multitudinous activities excejjt the health, streng-th and determined 
spirit nature had given him and the training in farming he had acquired 
from experience, he still lingered in the neighborhood of his former 
home and worked on farms nearby for a number of years. He hung 
around the old homestead for a time, but all the while the voice of 
the great west was sounding in his ears with increasing force, pleading 
with him to join its army of industrial conquest and offering him larger 
opportunity and better rewards for his eft'orts than his own state could 
then promise. In 1879 he hearkened obediently to the persuasions and 
came to Missouri, locating in Macon countj'. He had saved a little 
money from his meager earnings, and with this and the confidence he 
had in himself and inspired in others by his bearing, he bought the 
farm of 159 acres in La Plata township on which he now lives, and 
on which he has ever since been engaged in energetic farming and a 
vigorous, flourishing and expanding live-stock industry, through which 
he has secured a competence for life and risen to consequence and influ- 
ence among the people of the township and county. 

The progress and development of the region around him have 
always been matters of the greatest import to Mr. Lane, and he has 
borne faithfully and energetically his full share of the burden incident 
to promoting them in an enterprising and fruitful manner. He has 
served the people well and wisely as road commissioner and also as a 
member of the school board, and in many other ways has shown the 
high and productive quality of his citizenship and his entire loyalty and 
devotion to the welfare of the community and his adoption as a perma- 
nent residence and base of operations. 

On December 31, 1878, Mr. Lane was united in marriage with Miss 
Emma Norfolk, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of John and 
Ijucina (Morrison) Norfolk, of that state. Seven children have blessed 
the union and sanctified the family hearthstone and all of them are 
living. They are: Frank, a resident of Macon county; Florence, the 
wife of Ben Self, of Moberly, Missouri, and John, Violet, Alice, Joseph 
and Sylvia, all of whom are living at home with their parents. In 
])olitical allegiance the father is a Republican and an ardent and effect- 
ive worker for the good of his party in all campaigns. He and his 
wife are devoted members of the Presbvterian church, in which he is an 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 717 

elder and both are zealous, efficient and appreciated aids in every worthy 
undertaking of the congregation to which they belong. Mr. Lane has 
been very successful in life and it is greatly to his credit that his 
success is wholly the result of his own industry and ability. He has 
seized his opijortunities as they came and has made the most of them. 
He has also attended faithfully to all the duties of citizenshiij and in 
every relation in life has proven himself entirely worthy of tlie high 
and universal esteem in which he is held. 

K GREENUP WILSON. 

Although a native of Dearl)orn county, Indiana, where he was born, 
on February 23, 1857, Greenup AVilson, of Johnston township, has lived 
in Macon county, Missouri, ever since he was two weeks old, having been 
brought to the county by his parents at that age. His father died in 
1860, leaving the son an orjohan at the age of three years. It is easy to 
infer that he was thrown on his own resources at an early age, for 
while his mother did all she could to rear her family well and educate 
her offspring, she found the task a difficult one, and as soon as the sons 
were able they began the battle of life for themselves, each in his 
own way. 

Mr. Wilson's parents, Greenup and Elizabeth (Moulton) Wilson, 
were born, reared, educated and married in Indiana. The father came 
to ^Missouri in 1846, but after a residence in the state of two years at 
that time, he returned to Indiana, where he remained until 1857. He 
tlien moved his family to this county and located in Johnston township, 
and here the family has ever since been domesticated. The father 
was a farmer and prospered in his business, owning 280 acres of good 
land, well improved and fully equipped for its vigorous cultivation 
at the time of his death, which occurred in 1860. He and his wife became 
the parents of eleven children, six of whom are living: Nancy Jane, 
the wife of Green Bowen, of Knox county, Missouri; Sarah Elizabeth, 
the wife of John S. Lilburn, of Kirksville; Joseph B., whose home is 
in Colorado; Joshua B. and Harvey Tj., whose residences are also at 
La Plata. Greenup Wilson still lives on the farm. The father was 
a Democrat in politics and a man of jirominence and influence in his 
party. 

Greenup Wilson attended the district schools of Johnston township 
when he could, and while doing so assisted the family in the work on the 
farm. ' After leaving school he continued this useful and filial course 
until 1880, when he bought eighty acres of land and began farming 
on his own account, and also raising stock on a scale as extensive 



718 HISTORY OF ]\rACO^^ COUNTY 

as Lis facilities would allow. He has kept up his enterprise in these 
lines of effort ever since, adding to his farm until he now owns 162 
aoi'es, and increasing his live-stock business in proportion. He has his 
farm nearly all under advanced cultivation and directs its operations 
with sedulous care and such ijractical intelligence that it is one of the 
most jaroductive and profitable in the township for its size. His stock 
interests are also as flourishing as close attention to their requirements 
and the utmost care in managing them in every detail can make them. 
Mr. AVilson is regarded as one of the best and most progressive farmers 
and stoclauen in this part of the county. 

He is also prominent in the iiolitical, social and official life of his 
locality, for he has been very energetic and broad-minded in jDush- 
ing its advancement and bringing about every good condition for the 
advantage of its people that has been attainable. He is now, and has 
been for more than twenty-five years, a member of the school board, 
and has also given the community excellent service as road overseer. In 
Politics he is a Eepublican and an effective worker for the success 
of his party, although not seeking any of the favors it might have to 
confer for himself. In fraternal relations he is connected with the 
Order of American Patriots, and in religious affiliation with the Cum- 
berland Presbyterian church. His membership in the organizations 
to which he belongs is not a mere form. He takes an active interest and 
a leading part in all their proceedings and is one of their energetic 
workers for every good purpose, wise in counsel and zealous in action 
for every nndfrtaking in which lie engages. Greenup Wilson has been 
president of the telephone company ever since its organization. 

On February 22, 1880, Mr. Wilson was united in marriage with 
Miss Mollie E. Emmons, a daughter of Jerome B. and Polly Ann (Til- 
ler) Emmons, long prominent and esteemed residents of Macon county, 
where Mrs. Wilson was born and reared. She and her husband have 
had eight children, all of whom are living: Enoch, who resides in 
Macon county; Lola Ellen, the wife of Grove Chambers, also a resident 
of this count}^; Lorain J., whose home is at Novelty, Missouri; and 
O. W., J. 0., Mintie H., Gay Sylvester and "Babe," all of whom are 
still living at home with their father, their mother having died on 
December 7, 1900. She was recognized throughout the community as a 
good woman, faithful to every duty, zealous in behalf of every worthy 
cause and true to a lofty ideal of womanhood in every relation in life. 
Mr. Wilson is also highly esteemed as a man and as a citizen. His 
career shows what can be accomplished by enterprise and good business 
capacity in the unostentatious and noiseless walks of life, and demon- 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 719 

strates also that whatever maj- be said of the American idolatry of 
money, no genuine merit will go long without recognition and general 
appreciation among our people. 

v^ AUGUSTUS WARES. 

A native of Macon county, Missouri, and having passed the whole 
of his life to this time within its borders, engaged in the promotion of its 
agricultural development and the extension of its live-stock industry, 
and taking his place in all the activities of the people wdth a faithful 
performance of his duty in every way, Augustus AVares, of La Plata 
township is justly and rightfully regarded as one of the representative 
farmers and stockmen and useful citizens of the locality in which he 
lives. He has not sought prominence or distinction among men, even 
in his own neighborhood, but has stiiven to meet the requirements 
of plain, every-day duty and steady and reliable citizenship all the 
time, and this course has given him not only success in business, but a 
lasting place in the regard and good will of the people who live around 
him and have had the benefit of his service and example. 

]\Ir. Wares was born in Johnson township, this county, on March 
25, 1851. His father, William Wares, was boi'n in the town of Pratt, 
Roane county, in what was then Virg-inia, in 1822. He came to Missouri 
in a very early time and located on a tract of government land of 160 
acres in Johnson township, ]\Iacou county, where he ]:)assed the remain- 
der of his life farming and raising live stock extensively and profitably. 
His death occurred in 1887, after nearly or quite fifty years of viseful- 
ness in this portion of the country. When he came here the Indians 
still inhabited this section, and while they were in the main not 
unfriendly to the whites, they sometimes resented the intrusion of 
the latter into what they considered their rightful domain, and became 
troublesome. The wild beasts of the forests and plains were also still 
numerous, and their enmity to the new comers was as pronounced and 
often as deadly as that of their long-time masters, the red men of the 
wilderness. The elder Mr. Wai'es was a Democrat of the most pro- 
nounced type in his political faith and allegiance, and in religious con- 
nection belonged to the Missionary Baptist church. He was married 
in West Virginia to Miss Mary Pratt, a native, like himself, of Vir- 
ginia. They had eight children, but four of whom ai-e living. They 
are: Robert, who dwells in the new state of Oklahoma; Richard, an 
esteemed resident of Macon county; Augustus, who is the immediate 
subject of this review; and PHllen, the wife of Ralph Zents, whose home 



720 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUXTY 

is at Brashear, Adair county, Missouri. The wife and mother died 
in this county in 1873. 

Aug-ustus AVares received a very limited common school education. 
Under any circimistances, at the period of his school days, his facilities 
■would have been meager in this i^art of the country. But they were 
rendered even more so than they would othenvise have been by the 
disturbed condition of the locality just before and during the Civil 
war. After leaving school he worked on his father's farm until 1871- 
and assisted the family. In that year he began a farming and stock- 
raising enterjirise of his own on land which he rented for the purpose. 
After renting land and farming as a tenant for four years, he bought 
160 acres of his own, and on this he continued to farm and raise stock 
until 1883, when he sold the place and purchased the farm of 355 acres 
in La Plata township, on which he now lives. His farming operations 
and his live-stock industry have always been extensive and have been 
conducted with energy, ability and success. On the new and larger 
farm he increased them both and became one of the leading men in 
the business in this part of the county. Nearly all of his land is 
under cultivation and the farm is improved with good buildings and 
completely equipped for its cultivation in the most vigorous and pro- 
gressive manner, and both lines of the industry to which it gives life 
and activity flourish and bring in good returns. 

The public affairs of the township and county have at all times 
received a good citizen's attention from Mr. Wares, and everything 
that seemed likely to minister to their welfare and the advancement 
of their residents has had his earnest and energetic support. lie has 
served as a school director and in many other ways has done his part 
for the progi'ess and improvement of the region in which he lives. In 
politics he is an active, working Democrat, strong in his faith in the 
principles of his party and zealous and effective in heli)iug it to suc- 
cess in all campaigns. In fraternal life he belongs to the Knights of the 
Maccabees, aIlc^ in religious relations is a member of the Missionary 
Baptist church, of which he has for years been one of the deacons. 
His wife is also an active and devoted member of this clmrch. 

The marriage of Mr. Wares occurred on December 24, 1871, and 
was with Miss Nancy B. Kelley, a daughter of William and Frances 
Kelley, early settlers in Macon county, where INIrs. AVares was l)orn. 
She and her husband have eight children living of the ten born to them. 
Those li\ang are : Alary ; Frances, the wife of AA^illiam Boland ; James ; 
William B. ; Alelissa, the wife of Everett Fisk; Clark; Adra and Ray, 
all residents of Macon county and the three last named living at home 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 721 

with their parents. The i^arents are prominent in the social life of the 
township, and the father is a man of considerable influence in the polit- 
ical and business activities of the county. 

" GAMALIEL H. GRAVES. 

For a period of twenty-two years on the road as a traveling sales- 
man, subject to all the perils, inconveniences and annoyances of that 
exacting employment, and, since he abandoned that line of endeavor 
a farmer and laud-owner on a large scale, with all the responsibilities 
and cares incident to such a position in the industrial and productive 
world, and, finally, with his home darkened by the awful tragedy of a 
railroad accident which bereft him suddenly and terribly of the partner 
he had chosen for life, G. H. Graves, of La Plata, in this county, has 
bad his full share of burden to bear and sorrow to suffer. But, in 
spite of all, he has kept steadily on his way of expanding and pro- 
gressive prosperity, adding to his worldly estate and steadily gaining 
in prominence and influence among the people around him. For he 
has a nature that is not easily discouraged or driven from its purpose, 
and while he has by no means been indifferent to his burden of toil and 
care, he has not allowed it to master him, lessen his activity or abate 
his enterprise. Eather has it increased his efforts and made them more 
fruitful, it should be said to his credit. 

Mr. Graves is a native of New England, born in Litchfield county, 
Connecticut, on January 14, 1847. His father and his grandfather 
were of the same nativity as himself, and his mother was born and 
reared in the adjoining county of Fairfield, Connecticut. He is a son of 
Jackson J. and Mary E. (Giddings) Graves, who had nine children, 
four of whom are living: Sarah C, the wife of Perry L. Hubbell, of 
Gaylord.sville, Connecticut; Frank, whose home is at St. James, Mis- 
souri; G. H., the immediate subject of this brief review, and Charles 
M., who lives in Chicago, Illinois. The father was born in 1816 and 
passed the greater part of his life in his native county. He was a 
fanner for many years and also served as railroad station agent at 
Gaylordsville, Connecticut, for a number. In 1879 he moved to Mis- 
souri and located in Macon coimty, and here he resided, with occa- 
sional periods of absence, until his death, which occurred in 1900. In 
politics he was a Republican and active in the service of his party, and 
both in his native state and the state of his adoption he was univer- 
sally esteemed as an excellent citizen and an upright and useful man. 

G. H. Graves grew to manhood on his father's farm in Connecticut 
and obtained his education in the public schools of his native township, 



723 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

finishing with a course of special commercial training at a first-rate 
business college in Bridgeport, Connecticut. After leaving that institu- 
tion he entered the employ of the Whiting Paper Company, of Holyoke, 
]\Iassachusetts, and during the next twenty-two years he was on the 
road as one of its traveling representatives. So faithful was he in 
the performance of his duties, and so successful in pushing the interests 
of the company and increasing its business, that long before he quit his 
occupation as a commercial tourist he became a member of the company, 
with a considerable interest in its operations and an influential voice in 
its management. 

In 1887 Mr. Graves took up his residence in Macon county, Mis- 
souri, and became an extensive purchaser of land and a farmer and 
stockman on a large scale. He began buying land here soon after the 
close of the Civil war and has kept on in this line of acquisition until 
he now owns 1,200 acres of first-rate land and has all of Jiis tract under 
vigorous and advanced cultivation. His farming operations are carried 
on with the same solicitous care and the same broad intelligence and 
productive energy that disting-uished him in mercantile life, and that 
has characterized his movements in everything else. He is also one 
of the leading stockholders in the La Plata Savings Bank. 

In political faith and allegiance Mr. Graves is a Ee])ublican, and, 
while he neither seeks nor desires a political office of any kind for him- 
self, he is zealous and effective in service to his party, giving it aid 
that is appreciated cordially by both its leaders and their followers. 
He also takes an earnest, intelligent and helpful interest in the affairs 
of his township and count}', backing every worthy enterprise for their 
advancement by his influence and helping all with wise counsel and 
more material assistance. No citizen of La Plata township has been 
of greater service to this part of the county, and none is more highly or 
generally esteemed. He was married in 1891 to Miss Mary S. Mon- 
crief, a daughter of Wilson and Matilda (Young) Moncrief, natives of 
West Virginia, highly respected residents of Macon county. Of the 
three children that blessed the union and sanctified the family altar only 
one is living, a daughter named Minnie E. On September 6, 1904, her 
mother was killed in a wreck on the Wabash railroad, which brought 
bereavement to many households. The event shrouded the whole com- 
munity in grief, for Mrs. Graves was held in liigh regard and her 
tragic death was felt as a personal bereavement by all who knew her 
and a distinct loss to the region which had enjoyed the benefit of her 
valued services and excellent example in all tlie relations of life. 




EDWARD A. GATES 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY T23 

HON. EDWxVED ALLEN GATES. 

A native of Maeon county, and having passed the whole of his 
forty-five years of Hfe to this time within its borders, mingling with its 
people and bearing his full share of the labor and responsibility involved 
in the management and further development of its industrial, intel- 
lectual and moral activities, Hon. Edward Allen Gates, county judge 
for the Southern District, is well qualified by his knowledge of the 
conditions and requirements of the county and the habits, tendencies 
and aspirations of its I'esidents, to discharge effectively and for the best 
interests of all the duties of the exalted station to which the voice of the 
people called him in November, 1908. And that he will do this all the 
record of his past life attests. 

Judge Gates was born in this county on October 16, 1864, and is a 
son of "William and Elizabeth (Whelan) Gates, the former a native 
of Kentucky and the latter of Eandolph county, Missouri. The father 
came to Missouri and located in Macon county in 1835, and was married 
in 1856. The parents were industrious and i^rosperous farmers and 
stood high in the esteem of the whole township in which they lived. The 
father's life was cut short, his death on July 17, 1866, ending a promis- 
ing career, when he was but thirty-one years old. The mother survived 
him forty-three years, passing away on April 2, 1909. She was uni- 
versally venerated as one of the most estimable Christian women in the 
county, and her life was cited as an example worthy of all imitation. 

Judge Edward A. Gates attained his maturity in his native place, 
and wliile gaining strength and suppleness of body and independence 
and self-reliance of spirit in his labors on his father's farm, sought 
mental develo]mient and further preparation for the battle of life in 
the great universily of the people, the public schools. Although his 
opportunities for schooling were meager, he made good use of what 
he had, and especially acquired the habit of study, reading and reflec- 
tion, and this has been the source of his present wide intelligence and 
excellent equipment for any of life's duties. After leaving school he 
began an enterprise in farming and raising stock, which he is still 
conducting, and in which he has won great success and prosperity. He 
now owns and farms more than 300 acres of first-rate land, and has 
it well improved with substantial and commodious buildings and other 
structures. His land is cultivated with intelligence and skill, and has 
been made as good and productive as any in the county. 

On October 28, 1883, Judge Gates was united in marriage with 
Miss Emma Summers, a native of Macon county and a granddaughter 



724 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

of Judge Evans Wright. Two children have blessed their union, their 
daughters, Eva, the wife of "William AV right, of Callao, and Josie, the 
wife of Perd Grimshaw, a resident of Ilanford, California. The mother 
of these ladies died on October 2, 1890, and on March 30, 1892, the 
father was married a second time, being united on this occasion with 
Miss Lina Tuttle, who was born and reared in this count j', a daughter 
of Marion Tuttle, of Callao. Five children have been born of this 
union and all are living. They are Carl B., "Wanita Ruth. Ura "Way- 
land, "William Marion and George Gailia. 

In politics the Judge is allied with the Democratic party. He has 
always manifested a good citizen's interest in public affairs, and has at 
all times been active and effective in the service of his party. His influ- 
ence has been potential in its councils, and his work on the hustings 
and otherwise in the successive campaigns has been of the most pro- 
nounced and beneficial character. His activity and skill in party work 
brought him prominently into the notice of the people and established 
him in their regard as a man of affairs and well qualified for judicial 
functions. To this judgment his high character and sterhng worth in 
every way gave added weight, and the people were not slow to act on 
their convictions. In November, 1908, he was elected judge of the 
county court for the Southern district. His tenure of the office has been 
shoi't to this time, but he has already demonstrated that the judgment 
of the electorate was a wise one, and given ample assurance in his 
course on the bench so far that the whole of his term will be creditable 
to him and beneficial to the county and its people, conserving and pro- 
tecting all rights, public and private, and holding the judicial ermine 
high above all taint or chance of uncleanness. The laws will be prop- 
erly enforced and equal and exact justice to all will be meted out, as far 
as human agencies can accomplish it. 

The judgeshija is not the only public position the Judge has filled 
with acceptability to the people. He has been a member of the school 
board almost continuously since he Avas twenty years of age, and is now 
president of that body. He is also one of the directors of the Callao 
Fair Association. In fraternal circles he is connected with the Knights 
of Pythias and the order of IModern AVoodmen of America. His relig- 
ious affiliation is with the Christian church, in whose welfare and 
beneficent activities he takes great interest, advising with those who 
counsel and working with those who work. In every attribute of good 
citizenship he is highly endowed and all his powers are freely placed 
at the service of his county and its people. 



fflSTORY OF MACON COUNTY 725 

DORIAX DUDLEY WHITE. 

The position of station agent on a busy railroad line, or several of 
them, and in a populous and progressive community, is a very impor- 
tant one in itself and in its relations to the people. Almost everybody 
in the community has business with the man who tills it, and the com- 
fort and convenience of the whole population can be greatly promoted 
or interfered with by him, according to his disposition. If it be to 
accommodate and jjlease, he can be of great service and win extensive 
and general popularity. If, on the other hand, he chooses to do only 
what is required of him, and that in a perfunctory or autocratic man- 
ner, he can bring both himself and the road or roads for which he works 
into disfavor and make the patrons of the latter very uncomfortable 
and dissatisfied. 

Dorian Dudley White, railroad agent at La Plata, belongs to the 
class of officials who aim to please those who have dealings with them 
and afford the public every proper accommodation. And, although 
he has been stationed at his present post only a few months, he has 
already won the regard and good will of the whole community. By 
his course he has also brought greater popularity to the railroads cen- 
tering in La Plata, and rendered them less subject to criticism and 
censure. 

Mr. White is a native of Montgomery county, in this state, and was 
born at Wellsville on September 13, 1869. His parents. Fielding and 
Eebecca (Hyatt) White, also natives of that county, were born and 
reared at Middletown. The father's life began there in 1844, and 
there he grew to manhood and obtained his education. When he 
reached maturity he took up his residence at Wellsville and opened 
a drug store. He prospered in his undertaking and conducted the 
business with success and profit until his death, which occurred on 
December 15, 1893. 

His marriage took place at Middletown and he and his wife became 
the parents of six children, all of whom are living and are: Naomi, 
the wife of A. N. Jones, of AVellsville; Anna, the \vife of D. E. Payton, 
also of Wellsville; Dorian D., who now lives in La Plata, as noted 
above ; Ollie, the wife of C. M. McCoy, of St. Louis ; Lottie, the wife of 
H. W. Schultz, of St. Louis; and L. H., who lives in Dallas, Texas. In 
political faith and allegiance the father was a firm and faithful Demo- 
crat, and in religious connection he was allied with the Christian church. 
He was cordially devoted to his church and took a very active part in 
its good work for the benefit of the connnunity in which he lived. He 



726 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

was one of the charter members of the congregation to which he 
belonged, and it was through a liberal contribution from him that the 
church edifice in Wellsville was erected. In all respects he was a most 
estimable man and a very desirable citizen, conducting his business on a 
high plane of integrity, and his private life with noticeable uprightness. 

Dorian D. "White obtained his education in the public schools of 
Wellsville and was graduated from the high school in that city. After 
leaving school he clerked in his father's store for two years, then 
engaged in railroad work as a telegraph operator at various places until 
he was appointed station agent at Gallatin, Missouri. He occupied that 
position six months, and at the end of that jDeriod was transferred 
to St. Peters, where he remained two years. His next assignment was 
to Jonesburg, and there he was retained four years. He was then sent 
to Atlanta and during the next four years had control of the railroad 
business in that city. In October, 1909, he. was transferred to La Plata, 
and in that city he now has his home. In all the places in which he 
has lived and labored he has taken a hearty and helpful interest in the 
welfare of the community and has contributed essentially to the promo- 
tion of the comfort and convenience of the people. He has also assisted 
in promoting general advancement and improvement wherever he has 
been, and has won hosts of friends by his course. 

Mr. White is a stockliolder and director of the Bank of Atlanta 
and was one of its foimders and a charter member of its directorate. 
He was married on October 16, 1897, to Miss Anna Tate, a resi- 
dent of La Plata and a daughter of Jesse and Sallie Tate. He is a 
pronounced Democrat in his political faith and activity, and he and his 
wife are zealous members and regular attendants of the Christian 
church. They are earnest but unostentatious church workers, and they 
aid in every way they can to augment the force and increase the bene- 
ficial activity of all good agencies at work around them, social, intel- 
lectual, moral and religious. 

• DAVID E. ATTERBERRY. 

This esteemed citizen of Atlanta, who has lived in Macon county 
sixty-five years, except when he was absent during the Civil war, and 
has reached the ordinary limit of human life as fixed by the psalmist, 
is a son of Seamon and Nancy G. (Weatherford) Atterberry, and a 
brother of Philander Atterberry of Lyda township, in a sketch of 
whom, which will be found in this volume, the life story of the parents 
and the family history is given. He is a worthy son of a distinguished 



fflSTORY OF MACON COUNTY 727 

sire, and in all the relations of life has fully sustained in his own career 
the family name and reputation. 

Mr. Atterberry was born on January 13, 1840, in Davis comity, Iowa, 
and came with his parents to Macon county, Missouri, when he was 
about five years of age. He obtained a limited education in a school 
taught by his father in what is now the city of Atlanta, which the father 
founded and laid out. After leaving school he worked on the home 
farm and assisted the family until 1862. He then obeyed the imi")ressive 
call of President Lincoln for volunteers to save the Union from dismem- 
berment and enlisted in Company E, One Hundred and Eighth Illinois 
Infantry. His company was at first under the command of Col. John 
A¥arner and later under that of Col. Charles Turner, and was in turn 
a part of the army divisions commanded by Gen. A. J. Smith and Gen- 
eral Grant. He served until the close of the war and was mustered 
out in Chicago in August, 1865. 

Mr. Atterberry found that military life was no holiday. His com- 
pany was constantly on the march or in the field and saw some of the 
most active and dangerous service known in the momentous conflict 
between the sections of the country. He took part in the battles of 
HajTies' Bluff and Arkansas Post, the sieges of Vicksburg and Mobile, 
battle of Gvm Town, and a large number of minor engagements. He 
was often in the very center of a deluge of death, but escaped unharmed, 
and after the close of the war returned to his Macon county home and 
gave his attention to farming, carrying on his operations extensively 
and vigorously, and continuing them vmtil 1899, when he retired from 
business activity and moved to Atlanta, where he and his wife now 
reside. His fine and well improved farm comprises 180 acres and he 
owns valuable town property besides. 

Enterprising and zealous as Mr. Atterberry has been in seeking to 
advance his own interests, he has not been oblivious of the welfare of 
his township and county, but has, on the contrary, done everything in 
his power to aid in promoting it. He has been an energetic sup]iorter 
of all worthy undertakings for the development and improvement of 
the region of his home and the comfort and convenience of its people. 
As school director he rendered tbe township valuable and appreciated 
service for a mmiber of years, and in many other ways he has fostered 
and advanced its general well being. 

He was married on April 18, 1868, to Miss Minerva J. May, a 
daughter of Philetus and Eacliel (Ford) 'May, long residents of INfacon 
county, who came to this state from Indiana. Three of the five children 
born of the union are living: Eachel, the widow of the late John D. 



728 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

AVood, who is making her home with her parents; Maiy, the wife of 
George Taylor, of Los Angeles, California; and Oren, who resides in 
Macon county. Their mother died in 1886 and on March 6, 1889, the 
father married a second wife, his choice on this occasion being Miss 
Martha A. J. Bunch, a daugliter of J. "W. and Lucinda (Bunch) Bunch. 
Mr. Atterberry is a Eepublican in politics, a member of the Grand Army 
of the Republic in fraternal relations and a Universalist in religion, he 
and his wife being active workers in the congregation to which they 
belong, and in which their productive membership is valued by all who 
are interested in the church and the good work it is engaged in. 

^ ALBERT M. ATTERBERRY. 

School teacher, soldier, merchant, farmer and stock man, lumber- 
man and local public official, Albert M. Atterberry of Atlanta has run 
almost the whole ordinary' gamut of human occupation, and it is greatly 
to his credit that he has done well in each line of activity that he has 
followed. His grandfather and his father were Kentuckians and farm- 
ers, and both were men of consequence in their day and locality. They 
did what they found to do with zeal and fidelity, in both private and 
public life, and they never failed to uphold the highest ideals of Ameri- 
can citizenship, whatever was at stake. The grandfather's name was 
Thomas and the father's William P. Attebeiy. 

William P. Atterberry was born in Barren county, Kentucky, in 1804 
and on Mai'ch 8. In 1828 he left his native heath and moved to Wood- 
ford county, Illinois, where he acquired a farm of 1(50 acres and farmed 
vigorously and successfully until 1856. He then sold his farm there 
and bought one of 592 acres in Macon county, Missouri, on which he 
passed the remainder of his days, extensively engaged in farming and 
raising stock until his death, which occurred on April 25, 1878. He was 
very active and influential in politics but never sought or accepted a 
political office. He took a great interest in church work, belonging to 
the sect known as "Christian," and was one of the founders of the 
congregation of that sect at Eureka, Illinois, and a liberal contributor 
to Eureka college at that place, which is conducted under the sujier- 
vision of the church organization. He was married in 1826 to Susanna 
Glazebrook, of Kentucky, and by this union l)ecame the father of eight 
children, three of whom are living: John J., whose home is in Adair 
county, ^Missouri ; Albert M., and Cynthia, the wife of Dr. It. K. 
Cunningham, of La Plata, in this county. 

The life of Albert M. Atterberry began on November 9, 1841, in 
Woodford county, Illinois. He began his education in the district 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 729 

schools of his native place, continued it at Eureka college, in the same 
county, and completed it in some of the higher schools of Macon county, 
j\lissoui-i, -u-jiither he came with his parents when he was fifteen years 
old. After leaving school he was engaged in teaching until 1861. Then, 
being cordially attached to the Union, he volunteered in its defense 
against dismemberment, enlisting at Eureka, Illinois, in Company K, 
One Hundred and Eighth Illinois Infantry, under Col. John Warner 
and later Col. Charles Turner, in the commands of Gen. A. J. Smith 
and General Grant. He ser^'ed until the close of the war and was 
mustered out on Juty 27, 1865, at Vicksburg, Mississippi. His mili- 
tarj^ service was active and took him into the thick of the fight on many 
a bloody field, among them the siege of Vicksburg, the big battle of 
Champion Hill and Black River, and the hot contests at Arkansas Post 
and Gunto^vn, Mississippi, besides a large number of engagements of 
less importance. 

After the war Mr. Atterberry returned to his home in this county 
and engaged in merchandising in Atlanta. He continued this enterprise 
two years and was very successful in it. At the end of the period men- 
tioned he sold the business and bought eighty acres of land and began 
fanning and raising live stock. He prospered in this venture also and 
increased his holdings until he owned 400 acres. He sold part of his 
land and, in 1888, entered the live stock and commission business in the 
National Stock Yards at East St. Louis. After ojierating there in that 
line for two j'ears under very favorable conditions, he returned to his 
farm in 1890 and remained on it until 1893. He then removed to Atlanta 
and engaged in the lumber trade as a member of the firm of Shain & 
Atterberry. The firm was highly successful and the business flourished 
vigorously. But at the end of eleven years Mr. Atterberry tired of it and 
determined to retire from active pursuits and enjoy the rest and recre- 
ation he had so richly earned. Accordingly, in 1904 he sold his interest 
in the firm and since then he has been largely a gentleman of leisure, 
but has done some business in the domain of transactions in real estate. 

Mr. Atterberry is a stockholder in the Atlanta State Bank and owns 
considerable farming land and a large amount of business and residence 
property in the city of Atlanta and elsewhere. He has been a very 
enter]irising and successful man and fortune has smiled upon him with 
a bounty corresponding to his devotion and fidelitj' before her shi-iue. 
In politics he is a Democrat and an imi)ortant factor in the management 
of his party. Under the townshii) organization he was assessor and 
collector and a member of the township board, and he is now secretary 
of the school board. When Athinta was incorporated he was elected 



1 



730 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

mayor and sei-A'ed as president of the fity board of conncilmen three 
years. His fraternal connections are with the Masonic order and its 
auxiliary, the Order of the Eastern Star. In his Masonic lodge he 
has been Senior Warden two years, Worshipful Master two years and 
secretaiy twenty-one years. He has also been "Worthy Patron of his 
lodge in the Eastern Star five years. He and his wife are active, work- 
ing members of the Christian church. On January 19, 1870, he was 
married to ]\Iiss Jeanuette Atterberry, a daughter of Martin and Eliza- 
beth (Weatherford) Atterberry, the former a native of Kentucky and 
the latter of this county. Of the three children born of the union two 
are living, Phradie, the wife of Nicholas M. Moody, of Macon county, 
and Claude, who lives in Atlanta. 

• JOSEPH WAED. 

Retired now from active pursuits and spending the evening of his 
long day of toil and trial in peace after many conflicts, in comfort after 
much hardship and privation, Joseph "Ward, of Atlanta, is a fine exem- 
plification of the truth stated by the sacred writer that the end of a 
good man is peace. Although not a native of Macon county or the state 
of Missouri, Mr. Ward has lived in Jackson township about forty-five 
years, forty of them on the farm on which he located when he came to 
the county, and during all of this long period has been deeply interested 
in and very helpful to the industrial, political and social life of the 
region. He has not chafed under the harness of citizenship, but has 
cheerfully and vigorously pulled his full share of the load of promoting 
the best interests of the township and coimty, giving both excellent 
ser\'iee himself and stimulating others to increased exertion by the force 
of his influence and example. 

Mr. Ward was born on February 20, 1838, in Armstrong county, 
Pennsylvania, and is a son of Jeremiah and Rachel (Kowan) Ward, 
the former a native of Columbiana county, Ohio, and the latter of 
Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. The father was born in 1805, 
and was reared and educated in his native county. AVhen he reached 
man's estate he moved to Armstrong county, in the adjoining state of 
Pennsylvania, where he followed farming with enterprise and profit, 
after he got a start, until 1854, when he moved to Cedar county, Iowa, 
where he died in 3861, his life ending at ^rechaniosville, in that state. 
He began the battle of life as a day laborer, but was industrious and 
frugal, spending no time or effort in vain, but making every hour and 
every stroke count to liis advantage. AVlieii lie died ho was possessed 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 731 

of a fine Iowa farm of IIG acres of land, which he had himself im]iroved 
and carried to a high state of productiveness. 

The elder Mr. AVard was married in 1830 to Miss Eachel Kowan, 
a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. They had eleven chil- 
dren, only four of whom are now living: Joseph, the interesting sub- 
ject of this bi-ief memoir; Emeline, the wife of George (jreenlield, of 
Shelby county, Missouri ; and Jeremiah and John I., both of whom are 
residents of the state of Colorado. In his political allegiance the father 
was a Whig and in his religious affiliation he was connected witli the 
Methodist Episcopal church. His venerable and venerated widow died 
in Shelby county, Missouri, in the autumn of 1909 at the advanced age 
of ninetj'-seven years. 

Their son Joseph obtained a very limited education in the district 
schools of his native county, the only text book he owned while attend- 
ing them being a testament. After leaving school he worked on his 
father's farm vmtil 1861. Then roused by the armed resistance to the 
integrity of the federal Union, which had begun the Civil war, he 
enlisted as a eorjooral in Company H, Thirty-fifth Iowa Infantry, serv- 
ing at first under the command of Colonel Hill and later under that of 
Colonel Keeler, being assigned to several divisions during his three 
years of service, and finally mustered out at Davenport, Iowa. He 
participated in the battles of Nashville, Vicksburg, Bed River, Mobile 
and others of historic renown, and also in numerous engagements of 
minor importance. He was hit three times with bullets but received 
injury from only one, the others having spent their force before 
reaching him. 

After the war Mr. Ward came to Missouri and located in Macon 
county. He bought 100 acres of laud and on this and the additions he 
has since made to his acreage he was actively and successfully engaged 
in farming and raising stock until 1905, when he retired from active 
pursuits and moved to Atlanta. At that time he owned 356 acres of 
first rate land, but he has since sold a portion of it. lie has taken an 
interest in other matters of profit to himself and benefit to his com- 
mimity, having been one of the charter members in reoi-ganizing the 
Atlanta State Bank and served as a director and the vice-president of 
the institution for a jieriod of twelve years. But he is no longer 
connected with tiic bank, having sold his stock in it in Ibo summer of 
1909. 

In the public affairs of his community Mr. Ward has been one of 
the most active and serviceable men in il. Under the township organi- 
zation he was treasurer of the townsliip and since then he has been 



732 HISTOEY OF JIACOX COUNTY 

president of the board of town trustees of Atlanta and mayor of the 
city. He is a EeiJublican in politics and at all times deeply interested 
in the welfare of his party. In fraternal life he is an active member 
of the Grand Army of the Eepublic and in religious affiliation a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is very energetic in church 
work and is now one of the trustees of the congregation to which he 
belongs and a member of the church board of management. 

In 1866 he was united in mari'iage with Miss Judith E. Maxey, 
a native of Macon county and daughter of Joel H. and Peggy 
Maxey, residents of the county for many years. Only two of the six 
children born of the union are living: Jennie R., the wife of Morton 
Meisner, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Alice, the wife of Ernest 
Ocker, of Macon county, Missouri. 

^ PHILANDER ATTERBERRY. 

The pioneers of all sections of Missouri, like those of other parts of 
the country, were a heroic race and flinched at nothing. They dared all 
that endangered them and endured with fortitude all that oppressed. 
And they have left enduring marks of the altitude of their spirit and 
the firmness and force of character that distinguished them. Some of 
them built special monuments to their enterprise and daring, although 
at the time they had nothing in view but the bettemient of their own 
fortunes and the development of the country, which they found a 
wilderness and left rich in many of the products of civilization and 
cultivated life. 

Among the latter was Seamon Atterberry, the father of Philander 
Atterberry, of Lyda township, in this county. He laid out the town of 
Atlanta in what was at the time literally a howling wilderness and 
started it on its career of usefulness and progress. His father, Elijah 
Atterberry, was born and reared in South Carolina and in his young 
manhood moved from that state to Kentucky, locating in Barren county. 
There his son Seamon was born in 1814 and grew to tlie age of twelve 
years. Then the family moved to Missouri and took u]i its residence 
in Monroe county, where Seamon grew to manhood, engaged in general 
farming and also taught school until about 1836. About that time he 
moved to Davis county, Iowa, and there he continued farming until 1844. 
The wilderness, liowevcr, had for him a savor that no other condition 
could snj)piy, and in tlie year last mentioned he again sought it in this 
county, taking up his residence where the town of Atlanta now stands 
and building a house of some pretensions in size for that period. In 
this he tauglit the sons and daughters of the liardy juonoers the rudi- 



HISTORY OF MACON" COUNTY 733 

ments of learning, and seeing with clearness of vision the possibilities 
of the region, he determined to found a town in it. Pie therefore laid 
out what is now Atlanta, and built tlie first schoolliouse in it on his own 
land. He continued to teach for a number of years and also fai-med and 
operated two sawmills. The first of these was run by horse power and 
the second by steam. 

At the time of his death, which occurred on July 4, 1886, he owned 
and cultivated 500 acres of land and had considerable town property. 
It will easily be inferred that he was a man of consequence in the com- 
mimity and wielded considerable influence; also that he was a leading 
spirit in all jDublic aifairs. During the Civil war he was postmaster of 
the town and practically held its destiny in his hands. In politics he 
was a Eepublican, and in all the relations of life a very reliable and 
upright man. He was a zealous member of the Masonic fraternity and 
belonged to the Universalist church, in which he was a very earnest and 
energetic worker for the good of the cause. He was married in 1837 
to Miss Nancy G. AVeatherford, a native of Tennessee, but at the time 
of the marriage a resident of Monroe count}'. They had seven chil- 
dren, five of whom are living: Mary E., the wife of William T. Will- 
iamson, of Atlanta ; David E., who lives in the same place ; Sarah Ann, 
the wife of John B. Kimrel, of Moulton, Iowa ; Philander and Benjamin 
C, both residents of Atlanta. Their mother died on February 8, 1852, 
and in October, 1853, the father married a second wife, his choice on 
this occasion being Miss Mary C. Dabney, also of Macon county. They 
had tiiree children, two of whom are living: Buford M., of St. Joseph, 
and Erasmus M., of Williston, North Dakota. Four of the sons served 
in the Union army during the Civil war, freely offering their lives on 
the altar of their country and in defense of what they believed to be 
right. 

Philander Atterberry was educated in the public school in Atlanta, 
but owing to the undeveloped state of the coimtiy and the lack of nearly 
all the ordinary concomitants of civilized life, the school was primitive 
in character and limited in scope, and his education was therefore neces- 
sarily a meager one, embracing only the rudiments of scholastic acquire- 
ments. After leaving school he worked on the home farm and gener- 
ally assisted the family until 1867. He then started out in life for him- 
self, working as a hand on neighboring farms and farming for himself 
seventeen acres of land given to him 1>y his father. In 18G9 he rented a 
large farm, and since then he has been continuously and very success- 
fully engaged in general farming and raising stock, making a specialty 
of mules and dealing in them extensively. He owns and cultivates 343 



734 HISTORY OF MACUX COUNTY 

acres of land in his home place, and also farais vigorously and with 
skill and intelligence a large acreage which he rents for the purpose. 
In addition he is a stockholder in the Atlanta State Bank and owns 
some mining stock of value. 

On Fehruary 18, 1869, Mr. Atterberry was united in marriage with 
Miss Melissa J. Farmer, a daughter of John M. and Elizabeth 
J. P. Farmer, early settlers in Macon county. Five children have 
blessed the union and all of them are living. They are: Anna, 
the wife of E. E. Moss, of Macon county, Cora E., the wife of J. B. 
Fisk, of Macon city; Fannie M., the wife of Joseph Newmyer, also of 
Macon city ; Fred A., who lives in Atlanta ; and Eula C, who still abides 
with her father. The mother of these children died on May 29, 1895, 
and on March 17, 1896, the father married a second time, uniting 
with Mrs. Mary E. Fuqua, a daughter of James H. and Mar- 
garet iVnn Fai-mer. The offspring of this union numbers three : Ray- 
mond L., Florence J. and Noble Eugene, all of whom are living under 
the parental rooftree and contributing to the brightness and warmth of 
the family fireside. 

In i)olitics Mr. Atterbeny is a Eepublican and consistent in his 
loyalty to his party, as he is earnest and eiTective in his services to it. 
He is one of its reliable workers in his township in all campaigns and 
omits no effort possible for him to make with propriety to bring success 
to its candidates, and his zeal and industry in the party service is 
highly appreciated by both its leaders and its rank and file. But he 
has never sought, accepted or desired a political ofiice for himself. His 
religious allegiance is given to the Universalist church, and he takes an 
active and leading part in all its works of benevolence and morality, 
aiding every worthy undertaking it inaugurates and helping in every 
way he can to build up and strengthen the particular congregation in it 
to which he belongs. In all the relations of life he is accounted estimable 
and fully entitled on demonstrated merit to the universal esteem which 
he so richly enjoys. 

ERNEST D. LANDREE. 

Among the younger business men of Macon county none stands 
liigher than Ernest D. Landree, of Atlanta, and none is more deserAang 
of high rank. From his boyhood he has used all his faculties and oppor- 
tunities in doing good work for eveiy interest with which he has been 
connected, and in keeping in the van of progress toward elevated and 
high-minded citizenship. At school he was diligent and studious, look- 
ing ever to future success in life and using all his facilities in preparing 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 735 

to win it. In the banking business for a number of years he was atten- 
tive to every duly and conscientious and capable in the performance of 
alL And now as a purchasing and sales agent he is alert, ready, 
resourceful and constant in his industry. 

Mr. Landree is a native of Macon county, born in Lyda township on 
December 29, 1882, and is a scion of old Virginia families domesticated 
in the Old Dominion from colonial times. His paternal grandfather, 
James Landree, was born and reared in that state, and with the adven- 
turous spirit that has always characterized the family, came to Missouri 
in his young manhood and located in what is now the city of Macon. 
Here his son, J. Monroe Landree, the father of Ernest D., was born in 
1855. He was reared and educated in Macon, and has lived there all his 
life to this time, actively engaged in farming and raising and dealing 
in live stock extensively. He has been very successful in all his under- 
takings and is one of the substantial citizens of the county. His fine 
farm comprises 370 acres and is nearly all imder advanced cultivation. 
He was married in 1879 to ]\Iiss Jennie E. Nickell, a native, like himself, 
of Macon county. Two of their four children are living, their sons, 
Ernest D. and James C, the latter of whom lives in St. Louis. The 
father is a Democrat in political connection and a Modern AVoodman 
of America. His wife is a zealous and devoted member of the Southern 
Methodist church. Both are highly respected and well merit the esteem 
in which they are held bj^ all classes wherever they are known. 

Ernest D. Landree began his scholastic training in the public 
schools and completed it at the Kirksville State Normal school. After 
leaving that institution he pursued a course of special training at the 
Gem City Business College in Quincy, Illinois. Upon the completion 
of his education he was appointed assistant cashier of the Atlanta State 
Bank, which he served well and acceptably until 1908, pleasing both the 
bank officials and its numerous i:)atrons by his fidelity and ability and 
his close attention to the business of the institution. 

Desiring to cai've out a business career for himself and occupy his 
faculties in building up some enterprise expressive of his individuality 
and owing its being and magnitude to his own immediate direction, he 
quit the bank in the year last mentioned and turned his attention to 
handling timber for the Star Timber Company, of Des Moines, Iowa, 
in which he has an interest of value. He is still engaged in this line of 
activity and is making his mark in it. The business of the com]iany in 
this portion of the country has flourished and grown under his man- 
agement and is still steadily expanding. Mr. Landree also has farming 
property of value and other interests of high vitality and great promise. 



736 HISTOltY OF MACOX COUNTY 

lie is a geutleman of considerable activity wherever the welfare of 
the community is involved, and as a loyal Democrat takes an active and 
helpful part in the public affairs of the township and county in which 
he lives. In fraternal life he is a Freemason, an Odd Fellow -and a 
member of the Order of Elks, in all of which his membership is 
serviceable and highly appreciated. 

JOSEPH MORT McKIM, JR., D. D. S. 

The science of dentistry is one of the most progressive of modern 
times. New discoveries and inventions are constantly enriching it with 
appliances for better results, the artistic character of its product is 
steadily rising in rank and the excellence of its achievements in every 
way is every year more and more admirable and commendable. It 
requires in its practitioners, who wish to keep pace with it, constant 
study and observation in practice, industrious reading of its literature, 
and frequent intercourse with the sources of advanced information, 
technical and practical. 

Dr. Joseph Mort McKim, of La Plata, is one of its enterprising and 
progressive votaries, and his diligent attention to its requirements is 
winning him the rewards that always follow fidelity iu any i)ursuit of 
practical utility^ — public confidence and esteem, widening reputation 
as a master of his craft, and material acquisitions in increasing patron- 
age and the profits it brings. Dr. McKim is a native of Missouri, having 
been born at Newark, Knox county, in this state, on June 24, 1882. His 
father, the late Dr. Joseph M. McKim, was a native of Kentucky and 
one of the pioneers of this state, coming here in 1839, and locating at 
"Winchester. "With Newark as a base of operations he practiced medi- 
cine and surgery in that place and throughout a large extent of the 
surrounding country for forty-five consecutive years, becoming promi- 
nent in his profession and an influential leader in the public affairs of 
that portion of the state. He was one of the representatives of Knox 
county in the state legislature for tAvo terms, and served on the board 
of regents of the Kirksville Normal School during eighteen successive 
years. He was a thirty-second degree Free Mason and an energetic 
and detennined Democrat in political relations. 

The elder Dr. McKim was married in 1858 to Miss Natelia Rose, 
who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and brought by her parents to 
Missouri when she was but four years old. By their marriage the 
Doctor and his wife became the parents of six children: Hettie, the 
wife of James Nesbitt, of Shelbyville, Missouri ; Dr. H. "W., of La Belle, 
Missouri; James Montgomery, a prosperous druggist at Albuquerque, 




DR. J. M. McKIM 



4 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 737 

New Mexico ; Dr. J. V., of Newai'k, in this state, who enjoys a hirge 
practice and is president of the Farmers Bank of Newark; Natelia J., 
the wife of William Holloway of Canton, Missouri, and Dr. Joseph M., 
the immediate and interesting subject of this l)rief review. The father 
died in 1903. The mother is still living and has her home at Newark, 
Knox county, where she has so long resided and where she is known 
and esteemed by everybody. 

Dr. Joseph M. McKim was reared in his native jilace and liegan his 
academic education in its })ublic schools. He also attended the Kirks- 
ville Normal School and high school in St. Louis, the "Stoddard." He 
began the study of dentistry in the ^ledical College of Keokuk, Iowa, 
and finished the course at the Barnes Dental University, in St. Louis, 
from which he was graduated with the degree of D. D. S. on May 3, 1905. 
He stai-ted his professional career at Newark, his native place, but soon 
afterwards moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where he remained until 
late in 1908. On December 1, that year, he located in La Plata, and 
there he has been established ever since, actively engaged in a growing 
practice and rising to prominence in the affairs of the town. He is 
up-to-date in his professional work, and keeps abreast of its most 
advanced thought and discoveries in both theory and practice, meeting 
all the requirements of his business with a comprehensive knowledge 
of its details and the highest skill in the practical application of that 
knowledge. His accomplishments in his profession are winning him a 
high rank in it, and his high character as a man and enterprise and 
usefulness as a citizen command universal esteem and commendation. 
He is always at the front in the suj^port of all worthy j^rojects for the 
good of the community, and in its moral, intellectual and social life 
is one of the leading influences for advancement toward the highest 
standard of excellence. 

In fraternal life the Doctor is extensively connected and service- 
al)ly energetic. He belongs to the Masonic order, the Odd Fellows, the 
Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Modern Brotherhood of America. 
In religious affiliation he is a Christian, and in political relations a zeal- 
ous and hard-working Democrat. On June 9, 1909, he was joined in 
marriage with Miss Bess Tansil, a native of La Plata, Missouri, and 
daughter of Lon and Minie (Yancy) Tansil. 

RICHARD S. THOMAS. 

The life storj' of this esteemed citizen of Bevier is one of arduous 
effort at all times for his own advancement and the welfare of his 
country, and of heroic struggle under great difficulties after a tragical 



'i38 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUXTY 

visitation in the performance of important duties in an occupation full 
of hazai-d, and in which the employers of labor seldom take suflScient 
jorecaution to protect their workmen from disaster, many of them 
seeming" to consider human life cheaper than safety devices or the 
enforcement of strict discipline in the operation of their business. 

Mr. Thomas was born on October 19, 1865, at Morris Run, Tioga 
county, Pennsylvania, and is a son of John S. and Elizabeth (Hughes) 
Thomas, natives of Wales, where their forefathers lived many gen- 
erations following the vocation in which their son Richard met with such 
signal disaster. The father was bom in Wales on July 15, 1834, and 
came to the United States in 1863. On his arrival in this country he 
located at Morris Run, Pennsylvania, because there he had opportunity 
to follow the calling to which he had been trained in his native land, 
that of coal mining. In Heolyfelin, Aberdare, South Wales he met 
with and married ]\Iiss Elizabeth Hughes of the same nativity as him- 
self, the marriage occurring on March G, 1862. They became the parents 
of twelve children seven of whom are living: Thomas H. of Bevier; 
Annie, the wife of John F. Barnhart of Denver, Colorado ; Sarah, 
the wife of David Abrahams of Rock Springs, Wyoming ; Mary J., the 
wife of John Rice, who also lives in Denver; Maggie, the wife of Adam 
Walker of Amarillo, Texas ; and Edward S., who is a resident of this 
county. 

The family remained in Pennsylvania until 1869 and the father 
continued mining there until that time. He then moved to Missouri 
and located in Livington county, where he followed farming for two 
years. At the end of that period he changed his residence' to Carroll 
county, and there he farmed for one year. In 1872 he moved to Bevier, 
and after mining for a time, again turned his attention to farming and 
raising stock, and in these occupations he passed the remainder of his 
life, which ended on May IS, 1903. He was a Republican in politics, 
an Odd Fellow and charter member of Bevier Lodge in the order in 
fraternal life, and belonged to Mission Baptist church, in which he was 
an active worker and organizer. 

Richard S. Thomas obtained his education in the public schools 
of Bevier, and as soon as he completed it went to work in the mines 
there, as he had been doing from the time when he was nine years old. 
In 1888, when he was twenty-three, he went to Fremont county, Colo- 
rado, and there he again followed mining and gave supervisory service 
in various caj)acities to his employers until 1891, when he was so seri- 
ously injured while in the performance of his duties that he was unable 
to work at mining again for hve years. During that period, however, 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 739 

he learned the barber trade and worked at it in Colorado until 1896, 
most of the time on crutches. In the year last named he returned to 
Bevier, and here he has ever since resided. Having- recovered some 
measure of his strength and freedom of motion, he mined coal at Bevier 
until 1905, when he was appointed mine inspector by Governor Folk. 
He served four j^ears under him and three months under Governor 
Hadley. Prior to that time, in 1899, he was elected doorkeeper of the 
state house of representatives, and after serving a term of two years 
in that capacity, was appointed assistant paymaster and clerk of the 
clerical force. Since leaving- the office of mine inspector he has been 
selling coal for the Eombauer Coal and j\liuing Company of Noviuger, 
Missouri. 

Mr. Thomas has taken a very active interest in the affairs of the 
city and county in which he lives and rendered valuable and appi-eciated 
sei-\'ices to their people in many ways. He has been a member of the 
city board of aldermen for the last ten years, and has looked after the 
interests of the city with studious and intelligent diligence. He is a 
pronounced and unwavering- Democrat in political allegiance, and on 
all occasions is an earnest and elTective worker for the good ot iiis 
party. During- the past ten years he has been county committeeman of 
the organization and as such has won a high reputation as an organizer 
and energetic worker. In fraternal relations he l)elongs to the Order 
of Elks and the Order of Redmen. 

On December 2.3, 1896, he was married to Miss Annie C. Scheller, 
a native of Eckhart Mines, Maryland, where she was born on December 
19, 1875. They have had three children all of whom are living- and 
still members of the family circle of the parental home. They are 
Leota, Marion and Cathryn. The mother is a daughter of William 
L. and Isabelle (Close) Scheller, the former a native of Pennsylvania 
and the latter of Maryland. They have for many years been highly 
esteemed residents of Macon county. 

^ LOUIS J. MELVIN, SR. 

Louis J. Melvin, Sr., one of the progressive and prosperous farmers 
and stock men of Bevier townshiji, this county, has had experience in 
several states of the American Union and a variety of occupations, 
and he has made it all tell to his advantage. Being an observing and 
thoughtful man, he has not been slow to take the hints his experience has 
given him, and being enterprising and energetic he has made full use 
of them in advancing his owm interests and helping to promote the wel- 



740 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

fare of his community and the people living in and also interested 
in its progress. 

Mr. Melvin is a native of Lawrence county iu the great central 
state of Indiana, where he was born on May 5, 1834. He is of old 
Southern stock, his grandparents having been born and reared in 
South Carolina, where their forefathers had lived for generations 
before them, and having moved from that state to Kentucky early in 
their married life. Tlieir son Levi, the father of Louis J., Sr., was 
born in Kentucky and grew to manhood there. "While yet a young 
man he moved to Lawrence county, Indiana, where he farmed indus- 
triously, raised live stock extensively and profitably, and served as 
constable and deputy sheriff acceptably until his death in 1834, soon 
after the birth of his son Louis J. He was married in 1820 to Miss 
Elizabeth Neal, a native of South Carolina, and they became the parents 
of six children, four pf whom are living : George, whose residence is at 
Lancaster, Missouri ; Henry, whose home is in Schuyler county ; Levi, 
who also lives at Lancaster, and Louis J., the immediate subject of 
this brief memoir. 

After the death of Mr. Melvin 's father his mother married Bennet 
Rector, and they also became the parents of six children, of whom 
three are living: James, whose home is in Kansas City, Missouri ; Nancy, 
the wife of John Payton, of Omaha, Nebraska; and Frank, who resides 
in Iowa. The mother did the best she could to rear her offspring by 
her first marriage and give them good preparation for life's struggle, 
but in the nature of the case it became necessary for them to begin 
providing for themselves as soon as they were able. 

As a result her son Louis J. was thrown on his own resources at an 
early age and has ever since fought the battle of life for himself, rely- 
ing on his own resources and efforts for success and winning it in a 
gratifying measure wholly through them. He obtained a very limited 
education in the district schools of his native county, where he remained 
until he reached the age of eigliteen, working at home and on neigh- 
boring farms. In 1854 he determined to come "West and made his way 
to Kansas. But he remained in that state only a short time, as political 
and social life was greatly distur])od by sectional questions and the 
agitation over the activities and fate of John Brown. From Kansas 
he moved to Schuyler county, Missouri, and there he operated a saw 
mill until 1857, wlien he came to Macon county and located on the farm 
which is now his home. 

AVith a readiness for any duty and a willingness to do any kind of 
labor that would afford him a livelihood, Mr. Melvin worked in the coal 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 741 

mines at Bevier for a period of thirty-three years, and sinee tlie expi- 
ration of that period he has been continuously engaged in farming and 
raising stock with immediate success at the start and increasing profits 
ever since. He owns a fine fanu of eighty acres, which is well improved 
and has been l)rought to an advanced state of productiveness. His live 
stock* industry is also a flourishing one, adding considerably to liis 
revenue and helping to satisfy his desire for something of value to 
occupy his mind and engage his energies. 

He has always shown a cordial and helpful interest in the welfare 
of his community and has done his part in aid of all worthy under- 
takings for its promotion. He is a Democrat in political faith and works 
for the good of his party in all campaigns as a matter of duty and with- 
out any desire for any of the favors it may have to bestow as a reward 
for faithful service. He has long been a zealous member of the Masonic 
fraternity and always taken a deep and ardent interest in its work, 
giving his lodge as regular attendance as his circumstances would per- 
mit and standing by it with the utmost loyalty under all circumstances. 

On May 15, 1860, he was married to Miss Louisa J. Reed, a daugh- 
ter of David and Elizabeth (Wilson) Reed and a native of Kentucky. 
They have had nine children and seven of them are living: David L., 
whose home is in Denver, Colorado ; James, who is living at home with 
his parents; Mary E., the wife of W. H. NewHn of Macon county; 
Retta G., who is also still a member of the parental family circle; 
Minnie J., the wife of Evan Jones of Bevier; Fannie B., the wife of W. 
F. Allen of St. Joseph, Missouri ; and Louis J. Jr., who is also at home. 
The wife and mother died March 25, 1891. 

^ RICHARD SIMPSON TATE. 

Three of the great commonwealths of the United States had the 
benefit of the intelligent and well-applied energj' of Richard S. Tate, who 
was one of the leading farmers of Liberty township in this countj-, and 
while in all of them he had followed the same lines of endeavor, his 
experience had not been without variety and many different phases of 
interest. He farmed and raised live stock not only under different 
conditions as to locality and surroundings and amid people of widely 
diverse tastes, habits and dispositions, but also in successive stages in 
the progress of these industries themselves and the mercantile con- 
dition to which their products were subject, involving all the elements 
of production, i)rei)aration for tlie mai'kets, transijortation and methods 
of barter and sale. That he kept pace with the advance in all these 



742 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

respects proved that he was a progressive man and at all times alive 
to the requirements of his business. 

Mr. Tate was a native of Clark county, Kentucky, where he was 
born on September 8, 1832. His paternal grandfather, AYilliam Tate, 
was born and reared in Tennessee, and while yet a yoimg man moved 
to Kentucky, where he passed the remainder of his life. He located 
in Clark count>', and there he married and reared a family. In that 
county his son AYaddy Tate, the father of Eichard S., came into the 
world, and there he grew to manhood, obtained his education, married 
and became a farmer. His marriage was with Miss Ruth "VVinn, who 
was also a Kentuckian by nativity. They had nine children, all of 
whom have passed away. The family remained in Kentucky until 
1841, then moved to Iowa, where it dwelt fifteen years, father and son 
engaging in farming and making substantial progress. In 186-3 both 
families, that of the father and that of his son Richard, took another 
flight into a new country, this time coming directly south and locating 
in Liberty township, Macon county, Missouri. Here the father con- 
tinued farming and raising stock until his death at the age of seventy- 
five years, and after a life of continuous usefulness. 

Richard S. Tate grew to the age of sixteen in his native state and 
obtained his education in the public schools of Clark county. In 1848 
he accompanied his parents to Da^^s county, Iowa, and there he fol- 
lowed farming and stock breeding, occupations to which he had been 
reared, and in which he had previously been engaged. 

He became a resident of Missouri in 1863, and one year later 
located on the farm on which he died on March 5, 1910. He bought 
eighty acres to begin with, and since then, by active and energetic farm- 
ing and stock raising and good business management, he trebled 
his holdings, owning at the time of his death a fine farm 
of 240 acres, well improved with good buildings and completely 
equipped for the purposes of modem fanning, making it one 
of the most attractive and valuable country homes of Liberty 
township. He had all his land under cultivation, but reserved 
a sufficient portion every year for pasturage for his stock. His stock 
industry was also extensive and flourishing, and like his farming, 
yielded good returns for the labor and care he bestowed upon it, and 
the intelligence with which he managed it. 

Mr. Tate was a potential factor in the development and progress 
of the countj-, always aiding in the promotion of every worthy enter- 
prise for its advancement and helping to strengthen and quicken to 
greater usefulness all good agencies at work among its people. He 



J 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 743 

was a Democrat in political faith and a hard worker for the success 
of his party, although never sought or desired any of the honors or 
emoluments it had to bestow for himself. His citizenship found its best 
and most sen'iceable expression in doing well what he had in hand for 
himself and contributing to the general weal by activity in its service 
and giving those around him an example of clean living and steadfast 
uprightness as a man, and not by the perfonnance of oflBcial duties, 
however capable and acceptable he may of been for them. He was 
married on January l-t, 1850, to Miss Caroline Lowe, a daughter 
of Obadiah and Caroline Lowe, natives of Kentucky and resi- 
dents, at the time of the marriage, of Davis county, Iowa. Twelve 
children were born in the Tate household and nine of them are living: 
Catherine, the wife of Harrison Floyd of Price county, Wisconsin; 
Drucilla, the wife of George Holdberry of Adair county. Missouri ; and 
Jefferson 1)., Richard S., Jr., Obadiah B.. Caroline, the wife of Marion 
Johns, John, Daniel, and Euth, the wife of George Lafond, all residents 
of Macon county. His wife died in 1883. He was actively engaged in 
farming until his death ^larch 5, 1910. 

WILBUR FISK MORSE. 

Having contributed to the progress and prosperity of three of the 
great states of the American Union as a carpenter, a farmer and a 
breeder of high grade live stock, and having helped to save that L'nion 
from dismemberment as a valiant soldier in the Federal army during 
our Civil war, in which he faced death on some of the most sanguinary 
fields of the momentous conflict, Wilbur F. Morse of Liberty town- 
ship, Macon county, has been a very serviceable citizen of this country, 
and has made a record that is wholly to his credit. His varied and 
intense experience has also been of great value to himself, giving him 
breadth of view and readiness for emergencies that have aided him to 
many a personal advantage and helped to keep his car of progress 
steadily in motion. 

Mr. Morse was born on April 12, 1839, in Washington county. Ohio. 
His paternal grandfather. Justice Morse, was a native of England and 
came to the United States a young man, locating in Connecticut, where 
his son, Madison Morse, the father of Wilbur F., was born in 18i!8. 
While he was yet very young the family moved to Ohio, and there he 
grew to manhood and learned the trades of tanner and shoemaker. He 
worked at these until his death, which occurred in 1900. He was 
married twice, his first choice being Miss Mary Porter, a native of Ohio. 
They had ten children, but only four of them are living: Wilbur Fisk, 



744 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

the subject of these paragraphs; "Winslow, who lives in Nebraska; 
Wapie, who is a resident of California, and Willis, whose home is in 
Iowa. Their mother died in 1863, and in 1880 the father was married 
to Mariam Merritt, also of Ohio. In polities he was first a "Whig and 
afterward a Republican, and in religious connection he was a Presby- 
terian. He served four years in the Thirty-sixth Ohio Volunteer 
Infantry during the rebellion as a member of the band. 

^^'ilbur P. Morse was educated in the district schools of Wash- 
ington county, Ohio, and after leaving school learned the carpenter 
trade and worked at it until the beginning of the Civil war. In response 
to one of the early calls for volunteers to defend the Union he enlisted 
in the Eighteenth Ohio infantry for six months. At the end of that 
period he re-enlisted in the Thirty-sixth Oliio infantry, in which he 
served under Captain Palmer and Colonel Stanley until late in 1864, 
when he was mustered out at Coliunbus, the capital of his native state. 
His command was in the thick of the conflict almost continually, and 
Mr. Morse took part in the terrible battles of Antietam, Chickamauga 
and Second Bull Run, besides numerous engagements of minor im])or- 
tance. He escaped the deluge of death in which he was involved 
unhanned, and after his discharge from the army, came to Missouri 
on a prospecting tour, looking for a suitable place in which to plant his 
hopes and expend his energies in the struggle for advancement among 
men. 

He remained in this state then but one year, and at the end of that 
time went to Kansas, where he remained two years working at his 
trade as a carpenter. In 1867 he returned to Missouri and located in 
Liberty township, Macon county, where he has resided ever since. Here, 
soon after his arrival, he bought 120 acres of land as a base of oper- 
ations and the foundation of the com})etency which he had determined 
to wrest from the soil, which, though fruitful and responsive, never 
yields up its treasures without due effort on the part of him who seeks 
them. He now owns 400 acres and carries on an extensive and flourish- 
ing business in advanced general farming and raising stock, his special 
lines in the latter being jacks and jennets and sheep. All his operations 
in both his farming and stock industry are directed by intelligence and 
good judgment, and they are corrc'S])ondingly successful and ]irofitable. 
He is regaided as one of the leading stock men and farmers in this 
part of the state and deserves his rank. 

While pusliing his own fortunes witli assiduous and wisely directed 
industry. Mr. Morse has not neglected the interests of the townsliip 
and county in which he lives, but has given their substantial and 



HISTORY OF xMACON COUNTY 745 

endnring welfare elose and careful attention and .sou.i^ht by every 
means available to liini to foster and promote it. He has been a school 
director for a nmnber of years, and in many other ways has labored 
for the progress and development of his locality and the comfort and 
well being of its people. In politics he is a Republican, but while 
rendering his party effective service in all campaigns, he has never 
sought or desired a political oiiSce for himself. On March 20, 1873, 
he was married to Miss Lizzie Milam, a daughter of Buise H. and 
Hannah (Richardson) Milam, pioneer settlers in Macon county. Eleven 
children have been born of the union and nine of them are living : Alice, 
the wife of Darwin Salyer of this county; Mary, the wife of William 
Weise, also a resident of this county; Ansil, whose home is here also; 
"VVayne, who is at school in Fayette, Missouri; Buise, who lives at 
Billings, Montana ; and Mattie, Josephine, Lulu and Frank, all of whom 
are living at home, esteemed members of the parental family circle and 
ornaments to the society of the township. The parents are held in high 
regai'd and number their friends by the host in all pai'ts of this and 
the adjoining counties. 

^ GEORGE R. McDUFFEE. 

Born and reared on the farm whicli is now his home, and having 
passed all the years of his life on it so far, educated in this locality and 
taking an active interest in its industries from his youth until the 
present time, George R. McDuffee of Liberty township, Macon county, 
has full knowledge of the region and its people, and is familiar with 
their needs and well posted as to all that is required for their progress 
and substantial welfare. He is justly taken as a representative man 
of his township, for he is thoroughly imbued with the spirit that 
pervades it and in full sympathy with the aspirations of its people. 

Mr. McDuffee's life began on May 11, 1865. He is a son of John 
and Lucinda (Harris) McDuffee, and the youngest of their six children. 
The father was a son of Duncan and Nancy (Bine) McDuffee, a native 
of Scotland who settled in North Carolina when he came to this country, 
and in that state in Monroe county his son John was born on November 
26, 181.3. Four years later the family moved to Tennessee, where 
John jMcDuffee grew to manhood and obtained his education in connnon 
schools and Hoke College. As manhood began to "darken on his 
downy cheek," that is, in 1839, when he was twentj-six years old, he 
took his father as an exem})lar and plunged into the western wilderness 
on his own account. He came to Missouri and located in Cooper county, 
where he engaged in farming and raising live stock until 1846. In 



746 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

that year he moved to Macon county and took up his residence near 
Atlanta, but a few years later he bought the present home of his son 
George in Liberty towushiii, and on that he passed the remainder of 
his life, which ended on July 14, 1887. He was a farmer and stock 
man all of his mature life, except for a short period, during which he 
was merchandising in Tennessee, before he came to this state. 

The elder ]Mr. McDuffee was a very successful man and left the 
world imiiroved for his having lived in it. He added to its wealth and 
advancement by his industry, thrift and business capacity, accumu- 
lating a competency for himself while doing this, and he also gave 
those around him a fine example of true manliness and elevated citizen- 
ship. In 1846 he was united in marriage with Miss Lucinda Harris, 
a native of Cooper county, Missouri. She is still living at the advanced 
age of eighty-five and has her home with her son George. Seven chil- 
dren were born of their union and six of them are living : Barbara, the 
wife of J. J. McDaniel of Bloomington, this county; "Wm. F., who is 
also a resident of Macon county; Louisa M., the widow of the late 
John Taylor of the city of Macon; Cornelia, the wife of Eichard P. 
Gooding of Eandolj^h county in this state; Sarah, the wife of James 
A. Wright, who also lives in Randolph county ; and George R., whose 
home is on the family homestead in Lil)erty township. In politics the 
father was a Greenbacker, in fraternal life a Freemason and in religion 
a Presbyterian. He was devoted to all the organizations of which he 
was a member and an earnest worker in each. 

George R. McDuffee obtained his education in the public school 
at Blooming-ton, and after completing it worked on his father's farm 
and assisted the family until 1890. He then took charge of the farm 
himself and began farming and raising stock on his own account. He 
has been occupied in the same industries and on the same place ever 
since, and has been very successful. He has also taken a decided 
interest in the affairs of the townshij) and county in which he lives, 
giving the people excellent service as a school director for twelve years, 
and in many other ways contributing to the substantial good of the 
locality and the benefit of its people. 

In Ills political adherence Mr. McDuffee is a Prohibitionist and a 
warm advocate of the ]irinciples of his party. He and his wife and 
two daughters are nieml)ers of the ^letliodist Episcoi)nl church South, 
and all are active church workers. On April 4, 1889, he was married to 
Miss Rosa B. AVIiite, a daughter of "\Vel)l) and ]\Iargaret {S)iear) White, 
residents of ^lacon county and highly esteemed l>y all classes of its 
people. Four children have blessed the union, Pauline, now decea.sed, 



HISTOKY OF MxVCON COU^'TY 747 

and Euby and Eiitli (twins) now attending Macon High School, and 
Ward j\l., all of whom are still living at home with their parents. 

Mr. McDuffee inherited from his ancestry the sterling qualities of 
determined industry and frugality which distinguish the Scotch peo- 
ple, and received training in endurance and self-reliance in his resi- 
dence in the stirring AVest of this country during the stage of its 
emergence from its undeveloped state and the difficulties thrown in the 
way of its progress by the Civil war. These qualities and this train- 
ing have been largely his caj^ital in making his own progress and he 
has used them to very good advantage. He is a man of prominence 
and influence in business, in social life and in the management of the 
public affairs of the county, and in all he has shown himself worthy of 
the liigh esteem in which he is everywhere held. 

^ JAMES BROTHERS. 

One of the leading industries of Bevier township in this county, 
as everj-body in this part of the state knows, is coal mining. This 
industry has been carried on here for many years with results varying 
in amount at times, but always substantial in their profits and con- 
siderable in the volume of the output. The discovery of the coal and 
the continuous and successful development of the industry have been 
largely due to persons of Welsh nativity or ancestry, who have them- 
selves been connected with the same line of work in Wales, or their 
parents have, and who have been, therefore, well qualified for the skill- 
ful and profitable operation of the mines. The industry has been of 
great value to this portion of the state and a potent factor in its general 
progress and improvement, adding vastly to its commercial importance 
and helping to build it up in population and all the elements of modern 
civilization. 

The men who founded this industry and those who have built it 
up to its present proportions are entitled to full credit for their enter- 
l)rise and sagacity, and the state owes them a debt of gratitude which all 
its thoughtful citizens would be free to acknowledge. Among them are 
the l)rothers, David S. and Thomas James, who live on section nine 
in Bevier township and work with great vigor a rich coal mine that 
belongs to them and their mother, Mrs. Levi James, the widow of their 
father, the late Levi James. The ]iarents were born and reared in 
Wales. The father's life began in 1843 and the mother's two or three 
years later. They came to the United States in 18(50, immediately 
after their marriage, and located at once in. Bevier township, Macon 
county. The home tliey founded is the one now occupied by the family. 



748 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

The father bought sixty-three acres of land in section nine, and on this 
the family roof -tree has ever since stood. The mother's maiden name 
was Mary Evans. On their new domain, far from the scenes and asso- 
ciations of their childhood and youth, in a foreign land and amid a 
strange people, thej^ went to work to make a living for themselves and 
their oft'spring as farmers, and here he wrought diligently in the mines 
in winter and tilled lii.s soil and pushed his fanning operations in the 
summer, gaining headway all the time and making his way toward 
comfort in a worldly way and consequence among the people. 

Fortune smiled upon their industry in an unexpected way. In 1893 
the father discovered coal on his own land and at once sunk a shaft and 
began to develop} a mine. Ever since that time the mine has yielded 
regularly to its full average capacity of twenty-five tons per day. The 
father continued to work the mine progressively until his death, which 
occurred in 1901. Since then it has been worked by the two sons, David 
and Thomas in conjunction with their mother. She and her husband 
were the parents of twelve children, eleven of whom are living: Mar- 
garet, who is living at home; David and Thomas, the immediate subjects 
of this sketch; Lizzie, the wife of Iver Thomas of Bevier; Alfred, who 
resides in Livingston county, Missouri; Marian, the wife of David 
Thomas of Bevier; and Idus, Edith, Katie, Jennie and Lee, all of whom 
are still on the parental homestead. The father was a liepublican in 
politics, an Odd Fellow in fraternal life and a Baptist in religious 
connection, being a charter member of the congregation to which he 
belonged. He was a man of sterling worth and was universally 
esteemed for his manhood and the elevated character of his citizenship. 

David S. James was born in Bevier township, this county, on June 
1, 1872, and his brother Thomas in the same place on April 15, 187-1. 
They were educated at the district school in the neighborhood of their 
home, and as soon as they were able began to assist in the work on the 
home farm. After the discovery of coal on this farm they became 
interested with their father in the develo])nient of the mine, and with 
this they have been connected in a leading way ever since. They know 
their business in all its details and phases, for they have both i)ractical 
experience in it and the intelligence concerning it which tlicy have 
gained in a careful study of its jHissilMlitics and re(|uircnicnts. They 
are regarded as expert minois and they certainly are successful and 
progressive ones. 

The James Brothers are good citizens, as well as successful busi- 
ness men. They manifest an earnest interest and take an active jiart 
in whatever seems likely to be of advantage to their township and 



i 




PAUL R. TAINTER, M. U. 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 749 

county or promote the substantial and enduring welfare of their peo- 
ple. No worthy enterprise in which these are involved appeals to them 
in vain or is allowed to go without their zealous and energetic support. 
The}' perform all the duties of good citizenship with fidelity and a 
conscientious regard for what is right, knowing that in all cases what is 
right is best. The people around them regard them with high favor 
and look upon them as leading men in the community, and this opinion 
is held concerning them wherever else they are known, and that is 
throughout a large part of Missouri and the adjacent states. 

PAUL EEVERE TAINTER, M. D. 

"The labor we delight in physics pain." All human experience 
proves the truth of this assertion which Shakespeare puts into the mouth 
of one of the characters in Macbeth, and it has grown almost trite from 
frequency of use. Yet, it might well be doubted if those who quote it 
most glibly ever realize its full significance. The man or woman who 
finds delight in duty and performs it with free hand and constancy 
must be immune from overwhelming sorrows and proof against the 
serious inroads of cankering care. One of the callings in life tliat is 
always likely to furnish the strongest proof of the apothegm is that of 
the country physician, if he is devoted to his work. In this case, not 
orly does the labor physic pain in others, but in himself, which is the 
real meaning of the saying. For he becomes so absorbed in what he 
is doing that he forgets himself; and if he should happen at times to be 
recalled to recollection, the knowledge that he is ministering to the 
necessities of others who are unable to help themselves, and aiding in 
relieving the common lot of human suffering, will give him comfort 
in his own troubles, if he has any. 

An impressive illustration of all this is found in the life and pro- 
fessional services of Dr. Paul Revere Tainter, of Callao, who not only 
has plenty to do in his large and increasing practice, but finds pleasure 
in doing all he can in his chosen line of endeavor. He has been prac- 
ticing but a short time, comparatively speaking, but he has won golden 
opinions from all classes of the people for his industry and skill, and 
his reputation is on a rapid ascent toward the first rank in the pro- 
fession. 

Dr. Tainter was born on February 11, 1878, at the historic town of 
Navoo, Illinois, to which the one-time residence of the great body of the 
Mormon church there has given a glamor of romance and unusual inter- 
est. He is a son of Daniel W. and Anna (Hitter) Tainter, the father a 
native of Boston, Massachusetts, where he was born on February 22, 



750 HISTORY OF .AEACOX COUNTY 

1S38. aud the motliev of Xavoo, Illinois. They were married in 1874 
and had five children, of whom four are living: George ^Y., a prosper- 
ous farmer and stockbreeder of Lagonda, Missouri; Dr. Paul R., of 
Callao, the subject of these paragraphs, and Burrage and Flossie, who 
reside at Linn in this state. The mother died in 1888. The father is 
still living and has his home at Lagonda, Chariton county. 

The Doctor grew to manhood at Chariton county and was started 
in his educational training in the public schools of that county. He 
completed this at the North Missouri academy at Salisbury. After 
finishing the academic course he began the study of medicine, and at 
the opening of the next term matriculated at the Hospital College 
of Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky, from which he was graduated in 
1902 with the degTee of M. D. Armed with his diploma, enthusiasm in 
his profession and a determination to make the most of his powers 
aud oi)portunities, he began his practice in Osage county, this state, 
where he remained three years. In 1905 he located in Callao and here 
he has been practicing ever since. He has built up a large practice, 
which steadily increases from year to year, and by close attention 
to his duties and the skill and ability he has shown in his profession 
has won the regard and good will of all the people. The Doctor is a 
member of the following medical societies and associations: Macon 
County Medical Association, Missouri State Medical Association and 
the Tri-State and American Medical Associations. 

In connection with his practice he is also interested in the drug 
business in Callao, and he also owns and operates a large farm. To 
the drug business and his farm he gives the same careful attention aud 
unceasing industry that distinguish him in his professional work, 
and from each he reaps a similar reward for his diligence and intelli- 
gence. He was married in 1905 to Miss Ethel Summers, a native of this 
county. They have one child, their daughter, Frances "Willis. 

In politics the Doctor is an ardent Republican with an abiding inter- 
est in the welfare of his party and a constant willingness to do what he 
can to aid in promoting its success. He takes an active part in all its 
campaigns and his services in its behalf arc always effective aud highly 
appreciated. He has not, however, sought the enjojTueut of its honors 
or emoluments for himself. The only ofiSce he has ever held was that 
of postmaster for two years at Freeburg, Osage county. In fraternal 
life he is allied with the Masonic order and its adjunct, the Order of the 
Eastern Star. He also belongs to the Order of Woodmen of the World. 
Professionally he is medical examiner for the New York Life, the Pru- 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 751 

dential Life and Accident and the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance 
Companies. 

HON. W. J. OWINGS. 

Having lived in Macon county all his life to this time, which covers 
a period of fifty-three years, and during the greater i)art of the time 
been, as man and boy, a contributor to its advancement anci commercial 
importance, and for a considerable part of it a public servant of the 
people in various capacities, Hon. AV. J. Owings of Valley township 
is justly regarded as a representative man in the county and an orna- 
ment to its citizenship. He has met all the requirements of public and 
private duty in a straightforward and manly manner, and given a fine 
exami^le of industry and thrift in his business and of upriglitness, 
ability and devotion to the public welfare as an official. 

Judge Owings was born in the locality of his present home, Valley 
township, Macon county, on July 12, 1857, and is a sou of Waller C. 
and Mary Jane (Eose) Owings, the former born in Randolph county, 
Missouri, in 18.35, on October 15, and the latter a native of Macon county. 
The father moved to Macon county in 1850 and located in Valley town- 
siiip. Here he has been actively and successfully engaged in farming 
and raising live stock ever since. He now owns a fine farm of 2-40 
acres of land, which is well improved and fully supplied with the means 
of cultivation according to the most ai)proved present day methods 
of farming. His marriage occurred on December 17, 1855, and he and 
his wife became the parents of two children both of whom are living, 
the subject of these paragraphs and liis sister Alice A., who is the 
wife of W. 0. Clarkson of Macon county. In his political alliance the 
father has always been a member of the Democratic party, and in reli- 
gious connection he has long been affiliated with the Primitive Baptist 
church. He is a deacon and a very active worker in the congregation 
to which he belongs. 

His son, W. J. Owings, was educated in the public schools and at 
the Kirksville State Nonnal school. After leaving this institution he 
taught in the district schools for a few terms, then bought 100 acres of 
good land on which he located and became a farmer and stock man of 
enterprise and pi'ogressiveness. His farming and stock raising indus- 
tries have been interrupted to some extent at different times by other 
pursuits, but they have never l)een abandoned by him, and they have 
been conducted with a spirit and skill that have made them higiilj' 
successful and profitable. His farm now comprises 180 acres and is 
nearly all under cultivation, yielding good returns for the labor and 



752 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

intelligence bestowed upon it, and bountifully supporting the large 
herds and flocks to which it is mainly devoted. 

In 1902 Mr. Owings was elected county judge, and at the end of his 
first term, was re-elected, serving two full terms in all. He has also 
been township trustee and long a member of the school board. He is 
now a justice of the peace and clerk of the Yellow Creek primitive 
Baptist Association. His political faith is anchored firmly to the 
Democratic party, in which he has been a zealous and efScieut worker 
all of his mature life, and he and his wife are active working members 
of the Primitive Baj^tist church. The maiden name of the latter was 
Mary E. Goodson, and she is a daughter of Dr. John E. and Mary 
(El sea) Goodson, the fonner a native of Kentucky and the latter of 
Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Owings were married on August 8, 1878, and 
have two children: Ola B., the wife of Frank Z. "Williamson of south- 
western Oklahoma, and Grace G., the wife of AVilliam S. Bricker of 
Callao, ]\Iissouri. All the members of the family rank high in public 
esteem and are looked upon by all Avho know them as most worthy and 
estimable citizens, full of zeal for the general welfare and earnest in 
promoting it. 

• JOHN SALYEE. 

Approaching the verge of four score years of earthly existence, and 
during the last four leading a retired life, free from the cares of active 
work and securely comfortable through the competence he gained by his 
h)ng term of sedulous industry, John Salyer of Liberty township, Macon 
county, has witnessed the march of mighty events in this country, and 
has also had leisure to reflect over them and rejoice in the oi)i)ortunity 
that was given him to contribute to the advance as a jiart of the 
glorious procession. He is venerable in years and is venerated by the 
people among whom he has so long lived and labored for the uprightness 
of his life and his continued usefulness to the locality in which he has 
had his home. 

j\Ir. Salyer was born on October 2, 1830, in Fayette county. Indiana. 
He is of South Carolina ancestry, his grandfather, John Salyer, having 
been born in that state and having helped to defend it during the Revo- 
lution, and his father, James Salyer having also been native there, 
where his life began in 1797. In 1803 the adventurous spirit of the 
grandfather led him to gather his household goods about him and 
make what was then a long and dangerous journey into the western 
wilderness. The way was long and the progress necessarily slow, as 
the only means of transportation for the most of the trip was by teams 



4 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 753 

through the unbroken wilds. In much of it roads were unknown, streams 
were unbridged and every mile was beset with perils. And when the 
adventurers arrived at their destination they found almost the same 
conditions that attended them on the way. But they were of heroic 
spirit and, meeting the requirements of their frontier life with forti- 
tude, they triiunped over every difficulty by persistent industry and 
endurance. 

In that then new country James Salyer grew to manhood and 
obtained a limited country school education. At an early age he became 
a farmer on his own account and he continued his operations in this line 
of industry in Indiana until 1858, when he followed his father's example 
and took a flight into the farther West, coming to Missouri and locating 
in Macon county. Here he renewed his farming industry and kept at 
it until 1863. In that year he made a visit to Indiana, but soon after 
arriving met with an accident that resulted in his death. 

He was married on March 8, 1821, to Miss Elizabeth Arnott, a 
native of Kentucky. They had nine children but two of whom are now 
living, John and his sister Margaret, who is the wife of Samuel Jeneson 
of Fayette county, Indiana. Their mother died in 1839, and on March 
30, 1842, the father married again, being united this time with Miss 
Mary Shepard, who was also a native of Kentucky. In politics he was 
a life-long Democrat, but, while energetic in the service of his party, 
had no desire for public honors of official station for himself. 

His son, John Salyer, the immediate subject of this brief memoir, 
obtained his education in the district schools of Fayette county, 
Indiana. After completing his own scholastic training he began to 
serve the next generation in the acquirement of its mental development 
by becoming a teacher in the public schools. He taught in Fayette, 
Franklin and Wayne counties, Indiana, until 1858, then accompanied 
his parents to Missouri and found a new home in Macon county. Here 
he taught fourteen months, then abandoned the profession altogether. 
During the Civil war he was captain of a company of Missouri militia 
which volunteered its services to the Federal government in defense of 
the Union as a part of the Sixtieth Missouri regiment. The company 
served a short time and was then discharged. 

After the close of his military service Mr. Salyer engaged in farm- 
ing on a tract of eighty acres of land which he bought when he first 
came to the coimty, and he continued his operations in this line and 
on that land until 1880. During the next five years he was associated 
with John Henry Griffin in conducting a distillery. He was next in the 
internal revenue department of the government for thirteen years at 



754 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

intervals, living in Macon during a portion of this time and on his 
farm the remainder, the farm on which he now resides. It now com- 
prises eighty-one acres and is in a fine state of productiveness. Four 
years ago Mr. Salver retired from active work to pass the remainder 
of his days in a well-earned rest and the enjoyment of the worldly 
comfort his industry and thrift have brought him. 

On March 10, 1852, he was united in marriage with Miss Martha 
J. Bonham, a native of Indiana. She died in 1858, and on December 
13, 1859, he contracted a second marriage, being joined on this occasion 
with Miss America A. Smith, who was born in Franklin county, Indiana. 
They had three children and all of them are living: Charles D., who 
resides in this county ; Anna M., the wife of Charles Belsher of Clarence, 
]\lissouri, and James W., whose home is also in Macon county. The 
father has all his life adhered faithfully to the Democratic party in 
political atfairs and rendered it loyal and effective service. In 1868 
he was elected a member of the State house of representatives, the first 
Democrat elected after the Civil war, and he has also served two years 
as assessor and two as collector of the township. He was long a mem- 
ber of the school board and has belonged to the Masonic fraternity for 
fifty-two years. His day of toil and trial was stoi-my and trying, but 
its evening is calm and peaceful, and in his old age he is crowned with 
the admiring esteem of all who know him. 

^ JEFFERSON MOREOW. 

This prominent and progressive fanner and extensive stock breeder 
and dealer of Macon county, whose home is in jMorrow township, which 
was named in honor of his distinguished father, is recognized as one 
of the most upright, enterprising and successful men in the township. 
The portion of the county in which he lives is his native heath and has 
been his abiding place during the greater part of his life. It was here 
that his parents located in the early days of the region's history, giving 
the township its name and laying the foundations of its present pros- 
perity and commercial and industrial importance. A short account 
of their useful and aj^preciated lives will be found in a sketch of Mr. 
Morrow's brother, Johnson Morrow of Callao, elsewhere in this work. 
They were pioneers in this region and, like others of their class, were of 
heroic mold, all-daring and all-enduring. 

Jefferson Morrow was born in the township of his ])resent resi- 
dence, and which bears his name, on October 10, 1850. He begun his 
education in the country schools of the township and completed it at 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 75r> 

McGee College, located at College Mound, after attending for a period 
a graded school in Canton, Missouri. After leaving college he remained 
with his parents and assisted them in the work of the farm until 1872. 
He then went to California, and during the next three years was over- 
seer on ranches located in Colusa, Shasta and Tehama counties in that 
state. In 1875 he returned to the parental homestead, where he remained 
until tlie spring of 1876. He then began farming for himself on the 
place which is now his home, and has been so occupied ever since. His 
farm at this time (1910) comprises 375 acres and nearly all of it is 
under cultivation. He has been very successful as a farmer and gained 
a reputation as one of the most enterprising and progressive in the 
county. But his favorite business has been raising and feeding live 
stock for the markets, and in this his operations have been very exten- 
sive and successful. He gives his attention liriucipally to cattle and 
mules, and in the markets where they are sold extensively he is regarded 
as one of the most successful and reliable producers in this part of the 
country. For his output is always prepared for shipment with the 
utmost care from the day when the stock comes into his possession imtil 
he parts company with it forever, and it is also shipped with every 
precaution to secure proper attention and good treatment in trans- 
portation. 

Mr. Morrow is a man of great public spirit and one of the leading- 
factors in the development and progress of the township and county 
of his home. He has served as a member of the local school board for 
over twenty-five years, and as road commissioner for many. He is 
also a stockholder in the Bank of Callao. In })olitics he is a Democrat, 
and in all the relations of life a thoroughly reliable and upright man. 
In political atfairs he takes an active and serviceable interest with zeal 
in the work for the success of his party, but his devotion to it never 
blinds him to the substantial welfare of his community, which is, in all 
public affairs, the first consideration with him, whatever the exigencies 
of the party cause may be. 

He was married on February 1, 1876, to ]\Iiss Artelia Davis, a 
daughter of James and Susan (McKinney) Davis, the father a native 
of Illinois and the mother of Missouri, and both long residents of Macon 
county. Eight children have been born in the IMorrow jiousohold and six 
of them are living: Minerva Susan, the wife of AVillard Wright of 
Macon county; and Jefferson D., Mabel Gwendolyn, Tazwell F., Bertie 
"Welib and Mary Emma, who are still living at home with their parents 
and adding to the attractions of the family circle. 



756 HISTORY OF MACOX COrXTY 

^ AVILSON E. GEEEN. 

For more than seventy years this prominent and progressive 
farmer and highly successful stock man has lived in Chariton township, 
Macon county, where he was born on Februaiy 13, 184:0, and from which 
he has never wandered, being like Wordsworth's skylark, a "Type of 
the wise, who soar but never roam, true to the kindred points of Heaven 
and home." Nature endowed him with qualifications that would have 
commanded success in any environment, and he never found it neces- 
sary to wander from the place of his nativity to give them opportunity 
or work out their inevitable products — a competence for himself and 
an elevated place in the regard and good will of the people all around 
him. 

Mr. Green is a son of Louis and Nancy (Gross) Green, natives of 
Kentucky, where the father was born in 1805, in Wayne county. He 
remained in his native coimty imtil 1824, then, an asjiiring young man 
of nineteen, adventured into the wilderness of this state, as it was at 
that time, finding a new home and a new field for the development of 
his hopes in Macon county. He took his place in the hazardous and 
exacting life of the frontier and faithfully did his part to bring the 
region under the dominion of civilizing and improving forces. Taking 
up a tract of wild land, he improved it by arduous and continuous 
effort, and made it over into a good farm, on which he passed the 
remainder of his days. He succeeded admirably, according to the 
measure and methods of his time, and reared his family of nine children 
to usefulness, two dying in infancy. Six of them are still living : " Sis, " 
the widow of the late Isaac Johnson of Macon county; Isaac Eobert; 
Bun; Christiana, the wife of Grub Banning; Wilson E., and John, all 
of whom are residents of this county and esteemed as worthy members 
of its elevated and progressive citzenship. The father was a Democrat 
in politics and a member of the Christian church in religion. 

Wilson E. Green began his scholastic training in the district schools 
of Chariton township and after leaving this institution he assisted his 
father on the home farm until 1858,- when he began the battle of life for 
liimself by purchasing lifty acres of land and settling down on it as a 
base of operations and the foundation of the prosperity he had deter- 
mined to win. He has been continuously engaged in fanning ever 
since, and in addition, has carried on a very extensive and i)rofitable 
industry in raising stock for the markets. He has increased his fann 
to 167 acres and enriched it with good improvements suited to its needs, 
and also provided it with eveiything necessary for its advanced and 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 757 

successful cultivation according to the most approved modern methods, 
and it is known far and wide as one of the model farms of the region 
in which it is located. 

On December 30, 1858, he was united in marriage with Miss Eliza- 
beth Kitchen, a daughter of James and Pricilla (Vond) Kitchen, long 
esteemed residents of this county. Of the eleven children born of the 
union nine are living: Celia F., the wife of James Lucas; James L. ; 
Phronia, the wife of William Teters ; Sarah, the wife of John B. Lucas ; 
William Logan; Ella, the wife of Clement Wolber; Mary Ann, the wife 
of Isaac Eice ; Levi, who is living at home, and Etna, the wife of Wade 
Webster. They are all residents of Macon county except Mrs. Wolber, 
who lives in Carroll coimty. 

In politics Mr. Green is a Democrat and an active and effective 
worker for the success of his party and its candidates in all its cam- 
paigns, although he has been content with the honorable post of private 
citizenship and has never accepted a public office for himself, either by 
election or appointment. It is not to be inferred, however, that Mr. 
Green's life has been all passed in the pursuits of peaceful industry 
and free from strife. During the last part of the Civil war he joined 
the state militia and served for a period of three months or more under 
the command of Colonel Denny. While the company to which he 
belonged saw some active service in the closing days of the hostilities, 
he escaped without disaster. He and his wife are devoted members of 
the Christian church and take an active part in the benevolent and 
improving work in which the church is engaged, giving their aid to all 
worthy undertakings and being held in high appreciation in the 
congregation to which they belong. 

A. FRANK GIBSON. 

Descended from old North Carolina families which lived in the 
Old North state from colonial times and for many generations took 
part in the Civil government, military history and general development 
of that state, A. Frank Gibson of College ]\Iound in this county, has by 
no means lowered the tone or been wanting in the elevated charac- 
teristics of the strain to which he belongs. Long an educator and now 
a pul)lic official and merchant, his career is creditable alike to his family 
and himself, and furnishes a fine example of the best citizenship of this 
state. 

Mr. Gibson is a native of Macon and was born in Chariton town- 
ship on April 26, 1871. His grandl'atlier on his father's side, Robert 
A. Gibson, migrated from North Carolina to Missouri in his young 



758 HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 

manhood and near the dawn of civilization in this region. He located 
in Eandolph county, where his son, Robert L. Gibson, the father of A. 
Frank, was boru in 1833. "While the son was yet a small boy the family 
moved to Macon county, and here it has ever since been domesticated. 
Here Eobert L. Gibson grew to manhood and obtained his education. 
Here also he was successfully engaged in fanning until the beginning 
of the Civil war. And from here he went forth as a volunteer in the 
Federal anny in defense of the Union, enlisting under one of the early 
calls for troops as a member of Company F, Second Missouri cavalry. 

He remained in the service until the close of the momentous strug- 
and bore faithfully and heroically his full share of the hardship and 
hazard incident to the strenuous military life of that memorable period. 
When "the war drum throbbed no longer and the battle flags were 
furled," he returned to Missouri and took up his residence at College 
Mound, where he passed the remainder of his days in general merchan- 
dising. He served as postmaster of the town until his death in 1902, 
his tenure of the office covering a period of twenty-two years. As a 
merchant and contractor he furnished nearly all of the brick and sand 
used in the erection of McGee College. He was very successful in all 
his undertakings and rose to considerable prominence and influence 
during his residence at College Mound. 

In 1866, soon after his return from the anny, Mr. Gibson was 
imited in marriage with Miss Louisa F. Summers, of Macon county. 
They became the jiarents of eight children and seven of them are living: 
Eugene, of Sayre, Oklahoma ; A. Frank, who is the immediate subject 
of this review; lone, the wife of W. B. Allen, of Columbia, Missouri; 
Lola, the wife of W. C. Rice, of Boise, Idaho; Estella and Everett E., 
who live in Kansas City, Missouri, and Robert E., whose home is at Col- 
lege Mound. The father was a Rei^ublican in politics, a member of the 
Grand Army of the Reiiublic in fraternal life and was connected with 
the Christian church in religious affiliation, and was an ardent worker 
for the welfare of all the organizations in which he held membership. 

A. Frank Gibson was educated in McGee College, and after leaving 
that institution became a teacher, pursuing his vocation in the district 
schools of Macon, Chariton and Randolph counties. His engagement 
as an educator was as principal of the graded public school at College 
Mound and Leathers district, and lasted until 1904, when he turned 
merchant and started the successful mercantile career which he is still 
developing. On the death of his father in 1902 he was appointed i:iost- 
master of College Mound, and he has held the office ever since. He is 




WALTER C. GOODSON 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 759 

also a notary public and is cariying on a flourishing real estate business 
in connection with his other engagements. 

In politics he, also, is a Eepublican and in fraternal life a Free- 
mason, with membership in the auxiliary organization, the Order of the 
Eastern Star, a Knight of Pythias and a Modern Woodman. He be- 
longs in addition to the Sons of Veterans, and in religious connection is 
a member of the Christian church. On November 28, 1900, he was 
united in marriage with Miss Myra B. Cunningham, a daughter of Rob- 
ert B. and Martha A. Cunningham, prominent residents of Chariton 
county. One child has blessed the union and sanctified the family 
hearthstone, a daugliter named Dorothy Helen, who is living at home 
with her parents. 

WALTER C. GOODSON. 

A representative of one of the old and honored families of Macon 
county, which has been his home from the time of his nativity, Mr. 
Goodson is one of the able younger members of the bar of the county 
and is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in the city 
of Macon. 

Mr. Goodson was born in the village of New Cambria, Macon 
county, on the 25tli of April, 1878, and is a son of Grandison and 
Missouri (Hammaek) Goodson, who still maintain their home in New 
Cambria. Grandison Goodson was born in Carroll county, this state, on 
the 27th of May, 1848, and was reared and educated in Macon county, 
whither his parents removed when he was a child. For twenty years he 
was engaged in the drug business in New Cambria and he is now presi- 
dent of the New Cambria Bank. For a number of years past he has 
given his attention principally to agricultural pursuits, and he is the 
owner of a well improved landed estate in the vicinity of New Cambria. 
In 1876 was solemnized his marriage to Miss Missouri Hammaek, who 
was born and reared in Macon county, where her father, Anthony Ham- 
mack, was an honored pioneer settler. Of the five children of Grandi- 
son and Missouri Goodson, four are living: Walter C, who is the 
immediate subject of this review; AYilliam Hammaek, wlio is engaged 
in medical practice at Liberty, Missouri; John Virgil, who is engaged 
in the practice of law in New Caml)ria, and Grandison Anthony, who is 
associated with his father in the management of the home farm. 

AA^alter Conrad Goodson, whose name initiates this review, gained 
his preliminary educational discipline in the public schools of his native 
village, after which he continued his stu<Jtes in turn in the Normal 
school at Chillicothe, Missouri, and in the law department of the Uni- 



760 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

versity of Missouri, at Columbia, in which latter he was graduated 
as a member of the class of 1899, duly receiving his well-earned degree of 
Bachelor of Laws and being shortly afterward admitted to the bar of 
his native state. In the following year lie completed an effective post- 
graduate course in the law department of the University of Missouri, 
and in July, 1900, he initiated the active practice of his profession in 
]\Iacon, where he has proven himself a capable trial lawyer and a safe 
and conservative counsel. He has given his attention closely to the 
work of his jirofession and in the same his business, already of substan- 
tial order, shows a constantly cumulative tendency. In politics he 
accords a staunch allegiance to the Democratic party, he holds member- 
ship in the Baptist church, and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, 
the Knights of Pythias and the Modern A^'oodmen of America. 

V. JOHN W. NEEL. 

This prominent, progressive and successful farmer and stockman 
of Morrow township, Macon coimtA', who is one of the leading men in 
his lines of exertion and one of the most influential and esteemed citi- 
zens of the region in which he lives, has been actively and energetically 
engaged in tilling the soil of this state and helping to augment its live 
stock industry during all of the last thirty-two years. His grand- 
parents and great-grandparents lived in Kentucky and were extensive 
fanners and live stock breeders in that state, and also important per- 
sonages in the civil and political history of the commonwealth. In 
that state, also, his father, Thomas W. Neel, was born and reared, his 
life having begun there on June 15, 1830. In 1853, when he was twenty- 
three years old, he came to this county to secure the opportunities for 
advancement it offered and aid in its development and improvement. 

On his arrival in Macon county the elder Mr. Neel located in Mor- 
row township and bought forty acres of wild land, which he made the 
base of his operations and the foundation of his fortune. He cleared 
and improved his little tract, then bought others and repeated the 
process on them, all the time expanding his interests in the stock indus- 
try', and making steady progi'ess toward the goal of independence and 
substantial worldly comfort on which he had fixed his vision. His 
operations grew more and more extensive, until, at tlie time of his death 
on July 4, 1901, he was the owner of 280 acres of as good land as there 
was in the county, and enjoyed a well-founded reputation as one of the 
most extensive stock breeders and dealers in this part of the country. 

He was married in 1853 to Miss Elizabeth Frances Vass, also a 
native of Kentucky. They had ten children, eight of whom are living: 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 7G1 

James T., who resides in South Dakota ; John W., the direct subject of 
this brief review; Alouzo S., a prominent citizen of Macon county; 
Presley M., whose home is in Montana; and Columbus F., liobert A., 
Eeuben V. and Earl F., all of whom live in this county, and are well and 
favorably known in all parts of it. 

John AV. Neel is the second born of the living children of his par- 
ents, and came into being- in the locality of his present residence on 
April 4, 1856. He obtained his scholastic training in Morrow district 
school in the township of the same name, and after completing its course 
of instruction worked on the home farm with his father for a year or 
two. He then began farming and raising stock on his own account and 
has followed the same pursuits ever since, his work in these lines of 
endeavor covering a period of thirty-two years, as has been noted above. 
He has been steady, industrious and capable, and has made every day 
of his labor tell to his advantage. He now owns 340 acres of first rate 
land, nearlj- all of which is under advanced and productive cultivation, 
and his live stock industry is also extensive and profitable, for by his 
skill and attention to it he makes it so. 

In the public affairs of the township and county he has always 
taken a leading and very serviceable iiart, aiding in the ])romotion of 
every worthy enterprise and doing all he could to advance the best 
interests of the people. He has served them well and wisely as a school 
director, and in all matters of public import his example and his zeal 
have been potential for the general weal and the wholesome progress 
of the region in which he has his home. His political faith is firmly 
fixed in the Democratic party and he is at all times energetic and effect- 
ive in its service. His wife is a devout member of the Christian church, 
and to this religious organization he also gives his support and aid. 

On June 17, 1877, Mr. Neel was united in marriage with Miss 
Eebecca Morrow, a daughter of Jefferson Morrow, Sr., and his wife 
Minerva, whose maiden name was Minerva Summers. Thej- were early 
settlers in this portion of Macon county and the township of Morrow 
was given its name in honor of the husband, who was one of the leading, 
spirits in redeeming it from the wilderness and laying the foundation 
of its present consequence and arousing to activity all the elements 
of its advanced and advancing civilization. Mr. and I\Irs. Neel have 
had five children, all of whom are living. They are: Ernest G.. who 
resides at IMoberly, ^lissouri; "William Oscar., who has his home in the 
city of Macon: and ]\Iary ^f., Fred A. and Thomas Jefferson, who are 
still at home with their parents and adding to the brightness and cheer 
of the familv circle. 



762 HISTORY OF ilACOX COUNTY 

, CHAELES CUETIS PIEECE. 

Embracing in his ancestry distiuguislied names, both in the 
patronjTuic and the given appelhitions, and inheriting from his imme- 
diate parentage the firmness of fiber and personal heroism that char- 
acterizes the people of Kentncky at their best, Charles Curtis Pierce, 
one of the leading farmers and infinential citizens of Morrow township, 
Macon county, has well sustained the reputation and traditions of his 
family and made his record creditable alike to the state of his nativity 
and that of his adoption. 

^Ii'. Pierce was born on January 1, 1S42, in Marion coiinty, Ken- 
tucky, and is a grandson of Jacob Pierce, a native of that state and a 
man of prominence in its industrial, civil and political history. His 
son, Thomas Jefferson Pierce, the father of Charles C, was born in 
Marion county, Kentucky, in 180G, and was reared and educated in that 
county. He was also married there to Miss Martha Hart, a native of 
Mercer county, the marriage occurring in 1835. After passing a nmn- 
ber of years of his mature life in Marion county, the father moved 
what family he had left with him to Daviess county in the same state, 
and there he died in 1851, passing away at Owensboro at the earlj^ age 
of forty-five. He was a physician and farmer. He and his wife were 
the parents of three children: A son named Thomas Benton, who died; 
and Ellen, the widow of T. C. Johnson, who is now residing at Billings, 
Montana, and Charles Curtis, the immediate subject of this writing, 
who are living. 

The last named obtained a good education at a select school in 
Greenville, Muhlenberg county, Kentucky, and on completing it came to 
Missouri to make what was then the farther West his home and grow 
to greater consequence with its development. He located in Eandolph 
county and during the next four years taught school there. At the end 
of the period mentioned he moved to Macon county and became a 
farmer, but still continued to teach in the winter terms of school until 
187G, when he gave up the professional line of his activity, and since 
then he has devoted himself wholly to the industrial line. He has been 
vei-y successful in his operations in both farming and raising live stock, 
and is regarded as one of the most progressive and substantial men in 
the township of his residence. His fine farm comprises 1(50 acres of 
laud, is well improved with commodious and comfortable buildings and 
has Ijeen jn-ovided with all the appliances necessary for its progressive 
and ]irofitable cultivation. The stock industry that is carried on in 
connection with the farming operations is an active and flourishing 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 763 

one, and, as it is managed with skill and intelligence, it yields gratifying 
returns for the la])or and care bestowed upon it. 

Mr. Pierce has taken a very active and helpful part in the public 
affairs of the township in which he lives. He has served as a justice of 
the peace for upwards of sixteen years, and as a member of the school 
board equally as long. In matters affecting the progress and enduring 
welfare of the county he has been an active and effective factor. His 
church affiliation is with the sect known as Christians, while his present 
wife is a Baptist. She is a native of ^lacon county and was a widow 
when their marriage occurred in 1905, being Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth 
Epperly. 

Mr. Pierce's first marriage was with Miss Nancy L. Summers, a 
daughter of Joseph and Martha Summers, esteemed residents of ^lacon 
county, in which she was born. The3- had four children and all of them 
are living: Rosa J., the wife of "W. A. Hart, of Macon county; Lulu M., 
the wife of C. A. Dunkard, of Lewiston, Montana; Mittie, the wife of 
John Miller, of Macon county, Missouri, and Charles A., who also 
resides at Lewiston, Montana. The father is a Democrat and at all 
times zealous and effective in the service of his party. 

E. C. FEATHERSTON. 

In the history of this country the family to which E. C. Featherston, 
of Callao in this county, belongs has been active in many places and 
various lines of endeavor. Its name sparkles in the annals of four 
great states of the American union and dignifies and adorns almost 
every form of industrial energy, and social, civil, military and official 
life. It had its American origin in Virginia, employed its faculties in 
the development of Kentucky, helped to bring a portion of Missouri 
from primitive conditions to a state of advanced improvement and 
striding progressiveness, and aided in giving the mining industries of 
California a lift at the very beginning of their wonderful career. In 
all the relations of life and in every department of human energj^ the 
members of the family have borne themselves in a manner greatly to 
their own credit and the advantage of the communities in which they 
lived. 

E. C. Featherston was born in ^lonroe county, Missouri, on ^May 
.il, 1858, and is a son of Green and Anna (Broaddus) Featherston, 
natives of Kentucky and early arrivals in Missouri. The father was 
born in Jessamine county of the Blue Grass state in 1828 and remained 
there until 1846. His father. Burrell Featherston, was a native of Vir- 
ginia and belonged to families resident in that state from colonial times. 



704 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

His son Green obtained his education in the county of his nativity and 
aided in carrying on the extensive farming operations conducted by his 
father until he reached the age of eighteen. At that time he was a youth 
in years but a man in stat«re and spirit, and he determined to begin 
the battle of life for himself, and, as his father had done, in a region 
remote from family influence and in which there was opportunity yet 
to begin at the foundation of affairs and work from that to the desired 
results wholly by his own efforts. He therefore came to Missouri in 
1846 and took up his residence in Randolph county, where he remained 
until 1849. The golden harjj of California was then fairly ringing out 
its seductive music to the ravished ear of the world, and Mr. Peather- 
ston was enchanted by the insjiiring strain. He joined the "Forty- 
niners" in their dramatic and spectacular argonautic expedition across 
the trackless plains and forbidding rugged mountains to try his luck in 
the gold mines. He was one of the successful adventurers, mining 
prolitably until 1852. He then returned to this state and again located 
in Monroe county to continue the farming industry he had abandoned 
three years before. 

This one experience satisfied his longings for adventures in dis- 
tant regions, and he devoted himself wholly to his farming and stock- 
raising enterprise until 1870. In that year he moved to Moberly, which 
was in need of builders to meet the demands of its then rapid develop- 
ment, and during the next nineteen years he worked at the carpenter 
trade in that city, doing some teaming in connection with his industry 
at his trade. In 1889 he gave up active work and moved to Monroe 
county, where he made his home with his son until 1892, when he died. 
At the dawn of his manhood came the call to arms to defend the coun- 
try against the aggressions of ^lexico, and he was one of the first to 
respond. In that short but decisive contest, the Mexican war, he justi- 
fied his family name and history by his valor, taking part in nearly all 
the principal engagements and sharing in the glory that came to the 
arms of our citizen soldiery in consequence of their entire subjugation 
of our haughty neighbor of the southwestern border. 

The elder Mr. Featherston was a Democrat in i)olitical allegiance 
and energetic in the service of his party. He was allied fraternally 
with the Masonic order, and in religious relations with the Christian 
church. He was married in 1853 to Miss Anna Broaddus, of Kentucky, 
and they became the parents of three children, all of whom are living: 
Luella, the wife of R. L. Broaddus, of Madison, Missouri; and Allen G., 
a resident of Randolph county, and Eliza C, of this county. 

E. C. Featherston was educated in the district schools of his native 



1 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 7G5 

county, and after leaving school worked as liired hand on farms in the 
neighborhood of his home until 1878. In that year he started learning 
the trade of carpenter, and to this line of activity he adhered until 
1888. Agricultural pursuits at that time seemed to offer better advan- 
tages than mechanical industry, and they were more in tlu^ line of his 
tastes. He therefore turned his attention to farming and raising stock, 
which he followed with marked success until 189G, when he sold his 
farm of sixty-five acres and all its equipment and moved to Bynumville 
in Chariton county. There he passed three years in the milling busi- 
ness, and in 1899 took advantage of a better opportunity that presented 
itself for an extensive trade in grain and mill products at C'allao in this 
county, moving then to that town, where he has ever since had his home 
and the seat of his mercantile and commercial undertakings. 

In all the communities of his residence Mr. Featherston has taken 
an earnest and helpful interest, showing good qualities of leadership in 
enterprises for public improvement and of persistency in carrying them 
to successful issues. In April, 1906, he was elected mayor of Callao, 
and he filled this important and responsible office with great credit to 
himself and benefit to the town until April, 1909, when he was elected 
vice-president of the school board and made superintendent of the 
construction work in building new school houses. In politics Mr. 
Featherston is independent, holding himself free to support any policy 
or candidate he deems in line with his convictions and likely to prove 
of benefit to the people and their best interests. He is a Freemason in 
fraternal life and a member of the Christian church in religious 
allegiance, taking great interest in the welfare of and being an active 
and effective worker in both his lodge and his church. On December 27, 
1888, he was united in marriage with Miss Mattie Cunningham, a daugh- 
ter of A. J. and Sallie (Duncan) Cunningham, long residents and liiglily 
esteemed citizens of Monroe county, Missouri. All of the six children 
resulting from the union are living. They are: Ressie, Harry M., Rus- 
sell, Glenn, Chester and Lucille, all still at home with their parents and 
contril)utiug to the brightness and warmth of the family fireside. The 
family stands well in the community, its members are leaders in social, 
educational and church work, and they are all held in the highest regard 
throughout the county, and wherever else they are known. 

^ WILLIAM ALEXANDER MATHIS. 

It is the conviction of many persons of keen discrimination and 
searching powers of analysis that tlie crown of distinction among men, 
which has been sullied with infamy by so many rulers, smirched with 



7GG HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

dislionor by so many statesmen and stained with blood by so many 
warriors, should be placed where infamy has never sullied it, dishonor 
has never smirched it and blood has never stained it, on the brow of 
the successful teacher in our public schools, whose triumphs are won 
for and not over his fellow men, and whose empire is built in the realms 
of intellect and genius and not of the crushed and bleeding fragments 
)f dismembered kingdoms, subjugated states or enslaved peoples. If 
this were done that crown would find a tit resting place on the venerable 
brow of William Alexander Mathis, of Callao, now four score years of 
age, and revered as one of the patriarchs of the community and one of 
the most estimable citizens the county has ever had. 

Mr. Mathis was born in the state of Tennessee on January 23, 1829, 
and is a son of John and Elizabeth (Jackson) Mathis, natives of Vir- 
ginia and residents of both North Carolina and Tennessee before they 
came to Missouri in 1831. The paternal grandfather, Charles Mathis, 
was born and reared in England and came to this country as a young 
man, locating and passing the remainder of his days in Virginia. His 
son John, on arriving in this state with his young family, took up his 
residence in Randolph county, where he remained ten years. In 1841 
he moved the family to Macon county, and here he was actively and 
successfully engaged in raising corn and tobacco until his death, being 
eighty-four years of age. He and his wife were married in about 1824, 
and became the parents of seven children, but three of whom are living 
now: Robert, William A. and John H., all residents of Callao. The 
parents were zealous and energetic working members of the Methodist 
Ejjiscopal Church South. 

"William A. ^lathis began his education in the district schools of 
this comity and completed it, so far as immediate scholastic training 
was concerned, at McGee College at College Mound. He taught in the 
district schools of Macon county, five years before entering college, 
and after leaving college he became a teacher in the public schools of 
the state, and he adhered to this beneficent but exacting occupation with 
but little interruption until 1897, making an excellent record as a teacher 
and hel]iing along the rugged highway to scholarship many a boy who 
has since become distinguished in the chronicles of this and other states. 
From 1866 to 1874 he was also engaged in merchandising, conducting at 
Callao a general store, which had an extensive trade and which he dis- 
posed of in the year last named. In 1872 he was elected county super- 
intendent of the ])ublic schools, serving a term of two years, at the end 
of which the office was abolished and that of county commissioner of 
schools created. Some years later he was elected to this office and filled 



I 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 767 

it acceptably, as he did that of teacher and superintendent. His service 
to the county as teacher and oflHeial in connection with the cause of 
public education forms one of the bright pages in the history of this 
portion of the state, and its benefits are plainly shown in the present 
efficiency of the schools, for which he helped materially to lay the 
foundation, and to the attainment of which he contributed by his 
industry, capacity and breadth of view. 

Mr. Mathis was made a Freemason in 1853 and has ever since 
taken a deep and serviceable interest in the welfare of the oi'der. He 
has mounted its mystic ladder through the degrees of the Royal Arch 
chapter and the commandery to that of Knight Templar, adorning every 
step of his advancement by the activity of his membership and the daily 
exemplification he has given of the morality and uprightness embodied 
in the symbolic teachings of the fraternity. His political allegiance has 
always been freely given to the Democratic party, and is based on read- 
ing, observation and I'eflection that have brought him strong convic- 
tions on public questions and theories of government. He has been 
constant and ei¥ective in the service of his party and in his days of 
activity was accounted one of its wheelhorses in all local campaigns. 
In church membership and energetic church work he is allied with the 
Southern Methodists and has been from his boyhood. 

It is shown in these brief paragraphs that the life story of this good 
man is full of inspiration for the youth and of stimulus for the man of 
mature age. It is a recital of fidelity and usefulness in all the relations 
of earthly existence, crowned with the comforts, enjoyments and public 
esteem which are the legitimate results of industry, capacity and upright 
living. It shows that for singleness of purpose and watchful vigilance 
there is always op]:)ortunity for advancement in this country of bound- 
less possibilities, and that for well spent years during the period of 
energetic endeavor old age is sure to bring a benign and peaceful 
evening to the day of toil and tinge the twilight of life with all the 
glories of a serene and cloudless sunset. 

JAMES P. MASON. 

One of tlie prosperous and progressive farmers and stock l)reeders 
of Callao township, James P. Mason has reaped from the soil of IMacon 
county an abundant harvest from the seed of skill and industry he has 
sown in it and good returns for the services he has rendered the peojile 
and the elevated citizenship he has exemplified among them in their 
lasting regard and general good will. He was born in Rapjjahannock 
county, Virginia, on February 19, 1851, and is a son of Daniel and Ann 



768 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

(Heaton) ]\Jason, who also were born in that state and grew to maturity 
amid its historic scenes and richly laden traditions. The father's life 
began there in 1814, and he remained on his native heath until 1867. 
He was a son of David Mason, a native of Germany, who came to the 
United States soon after the Eevolutionary war. 

During the Civil war the family estate was wasted by the successive 
foraging expeditions from both armies, and the members of the house- 
hold felt the keen edge of the sectional strife in many ways. The low 
ebb of industrial conditions and impoverished jjrospects in the region 
which had given them life and sustenance for so many years made them 
long for better opportunities and brighter hopes in a newer section of 
the country, where they might retrieve their fortunes, win a new estate 
and escape political persecution while doing it. In 1867 they moved to 
Missouri and settled in this county, where the father followed farming 
in a general way and with considerable success until his death in 1903. 
His marriage occurred in 1835 and brought him eight children, of whom 
but two are living, James P. and his older brother, "William D., who is 
still a resident of Virginia. 

James P. Mason received but a limited education. He was but ten 
years old when the great Civil war began, and the country around him 
was seriously unsettled and disturbed for some years before the actual 
beginning of hostilities, and almost everything else was ignored by the 
people but the momentous struggle that all saw was inevitable. During 
the war the schools were almost wholly suspended, the state of the 
country and the daily shock of battle claiming everybody's attention at 
and around the center of the conflict. ^Ir. Mason therefoi-e grew to the 
age of sixteen without much opportunity to attend school, and at that 
age accomi)anied his parents to this state, where the exactions of the 
farm in a new and sparsely settled country absorbed every energy and 
took up all the time. He remained at home and assisted the family 
until 1878, when he bought 100 acres of land and began farming on his 
own account. From then until the present time (1910) he has been 
actively and successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits, including 
raising live stock. He now owns 122 acres of good laud, which he has 
rendered highly productive and improved into a comfortable and sub- 
stantial country home, equipped with all that is necessary for its full 
cultivation and the rational enjoyment of life. 

Mr. Mason farms all his land and carries on in connection with his 
husbandry an extensive industry in raising stock. This has been his 
favorite pursuit for years and he has made a pronounced success of it. 
He has been energetic and prominent in pushing the development of the 




WILLARD H, GOOCH. M. D. 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY ?69 

township and securing for its people every convenience available under 
the circumstances. In politics he is a Democrat and in religion a mem- 
ber of the Christian church. On December 2, 1877, he was married to 
Miss Margaret Alice AVright, wht)se parents, Claiborne and Martha 
(Trimble) Wright, have long been residents of this county. Four chil- 
dren came of the union, two of whom are living: Dr. L. 0. Mason, of 
Bevier, and Jennie 0., the wife of Joseph Summers, of Callao. No 
family is more highly respected throughout the county, and none has 
a higher claim on the esteem of the whole people. 

^ WILLAED HENRY GOOCH, M. D. 

In spite of all the advances made by the medical profession through 
the countless minds and other searching agencies constantly turned 
upon its requirements, developments and manifestations, the human 
race is still subject to sickness, disease and death, and this is the imiver- 
sal condition throughout the world. The need of good physicians is 
therefore always and everywhere felt, and, be it said to the credit of the 
profession, their services are always and everywhere appreciated by 
those who have the benefit of them. The life of the country doctor is 
one of self-sacritice and privation. He is and has to be at the call of 
everybody when needed, and no conditions of weather or temptations to 
personal comfort can be allowed to have weight against the stern and 
unrelenting demands of duty. It is meet and proper, therefore, that 
the man who is everybody's helper and friend should have everybody's 
esteem and be universallj^ appreciated. 

Dr. William H. Gooch, of Elmer, in this county, is one of the pro- 
fessional men in this part of the state who enjoys this universal esteem 
and appreciation, and he has won it by his capacity as a physician and 
surgeon and the fidelity with which he devotes his time and attain- 
)nents to the service of the peoi^lc. He made thorough preparation for 
his professional work and entered upon it well qualified for all its 
probable exactions. Then he has been studious, observant and reflective 
during his practice, always alert for the reception and assimilation of 
any hint given him by reading, ex))erience or conference with others. 
His natural aptitude for the work lie has chosen has, therefore, been 
developed and trained in the best school, the one which a mind eager 
and inquiring keeps for itself. 

Dr. Gooch was born at Browning, Linn county, Missouri, in 1871. 
His father, Henry Gooch, was born and reared in Kentucky and came 
to Missouri to live in 1856. He took up his residence on a farm he 
bought near the i^resent town of Browning, and on that he passed the 



770 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

remainder of his days, energetically and profitably engaged in farm- 
ino- and raising stock. In 1866 lie was united in marriage with ^Miss 
Helen Eobinson, who was also a native of Kentucky, where her fore- 
fathers, like those of her husband, lived for several generations. The 
union resulted in three children, all of whom are living: Loga, the 
wife of Sherman Hale, of Purdin, Missouri; May, the wife of Joseph 
Gibson, of Hillsdale, Uinta county, Wyoming, and Dr. AVillard H. The 
mother died in 1896 and the father in 1905. 

The Doctor grew to manhood in his native place, assisting his 
father on the farm and obtaining his education in the public schools and 
at Prairie Seminary. At the age of sixteen he became a school teacher, 
and after following that exacting but self-developing occupation for two 
years, turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, in which he passed 
three profitable years. While he sojourned in the realm of merchan- 
dising, in which he never intended to pass his life, he began the study of 
medicine, and when he was ready to give it his whole attention in tech- 
nical study, he quit trade and entered Barnes Medical University with 
his life work well in view and all his energies harnessed to the task 
of preparing for it. He was graduated with the degree of M. D. in 
1898, then pursued a post-graduate course at the National College of 
Electro-Therapeutics in Indianapolis, Indiana, and another at Barnes 
University. During the latter he had valuable practical experience 
as an interne at the St. Louis City hospital. 

In 1899 Dr. Gooch located at Elmer and began the practice of his 
profession. He has made his home at that town ever since and been one 
of the busiest men there. He has risen steadily in his profession, win- 
ning and holding the regard of his brethren in the same line of endeavor 
and the confidence and esteem of the whole people. His practice has 
grown to fine proportions and includes the best class of residents of the 
township and much of the surrounding country. He is active and pro- 
gressive in the affairs of the county, political, social and general, and 
takes a leading part in the fraternal life of the community. His political 
allegiance is given heartily to the Democratic party, which he serves 
faithfully and efficiently, and which has shown its appreciation of his 
services and its estimate of his worth and capacity by electing him 
coroner for four consecutive years, beginning in 1900, mayor of Elmer 
for three years, and a member of the board of village trustees, an office 
Avliich he is still filling to the general satisfaction of the people of 
the town. 

Fraternally the Doctor belongs to the Odd Fellows, the Woodmen 
of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Yeomen and the 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY in 

Eoyal Neighbors. He is also an active aiad valued member of the 
Missouri, Iowa and Illinois State ^ledical Associations. In 1892 he was 
married to Miss Lena Childress, who was born and reared in this 
state. They have two children, their daughters, Pearl and Bernice. 
Ten years of active practice have given Dr. Gooch prominence in his 
profession and an exalted place in the estimation of the people of ]\Iacou 
county. Yet it may properly be said that his career is only fairly begun. 
And as he is a progressive man, and keeps abreast with the most 
advanced thought in all departments of activity, and has high charac- 
ter and ability as the mainsprings of his aspirations, it is inevitable 
that his jjrogress will steadily continue and that he is destined to be one 
of the most useful and eminent citizens of the state. 

CHARLES A. MILLER. 

The life of Charles A. Miller, one of the enterprising and successful 
farmers and stockmen of Morrow township, Macon county, is not an 
eventful one in the eyes of the world at large, but it has showp many 
lights and shades to him, and his career is wholly the work of his own 
energy, capacity and persistent industrj'. He was born on November 8, 
1882, in Coshocton county, Ohio, and within the same year his father 
died at the early age of twenty-four, leaving his young wife with two 
infants to rear and provide for. The struggles of the family were 
arduous and continued, but pluck was not lacking in the mother, and 
when the children grew to years of accountability they gave abundant 
evidence of the same spirit. They all worked their way forward and 
upward, holding all the ground they gained in the effort for advance- 
ment, and at length reached a position of comfort and independence 
in a worldly way and of consequence and importance in the esteem of 
the ]")eople around them. 

The ]:)aterual grandfather, Levi Miller, was born and reared in 
Pennsylvania, and in his early manhood moved to Stark county, Ohio. 
There he took his place in the industries of the locality, devoting his 
life mainly to farming. There also his son Charles A., the father of 
the subject of those paragraphs, was born, reared and educated, his life 
beginning in 1858. After leaving school he learned the trade of a 
miller and tlie remainder of his short life was passed in zealous atten- 
tion to its demands. He was married in 1879 to Elizabeth Mizer, of 
Ohio, who is now living with her son Charles. They had two children, 
both of whom" are living, their daughter Kate, who is now the wife of 
Dr. Allen, of Cairo, Missouri, and their son Charles A. The father 
died, as has been stated, in 1882. 



;r2 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

Charles A. Miller was brought by his grandfather, AVilliam !Mizer, 
to Missouri at the age of six years and grew to manhood in this county. 
He attended the district schools of Morrow township in his boyhood 
and youth, assisting in the work on his grandfather's farm while doing 
so and for some years after leaving school. AVhen he reached his major- 
ity, or soon afterward, he set up for himself as a farmer, and in this line 
of action, coupled with raising live-stock, he has ever since been profit- 
ably engaged. He began practically with nothing and now owns 160 
acres of excellent land, all of which is under cultivation and yielding 
abundantly in response to his faith as a husbandman and the energetic 
and skillful labor he bestows upon it. He is young in years, but the 
lessons of experience have ripened in him early and he is wise beyond 
his age. For he studies his business with a view to securing the best 
results from his efforts, and is enjoying the fruits of his enterprise in a 
substantial and increasing prosperity and the general regard and good 
will of the community around him, in which he is universally looked 
upon as a first rate farmer, an excellent citizen and a thoroughly 
representative man. 

In reference to public improvements and the multiplication of all 
good agencies and the comforts and conveniences of life for the people 
in general he is eminently progressive, broad-minded and energetic, 
conferring with his neighbors and friends for the public advantage and 
doing his full share in the work of promoting it. His political faith is 
grounded in the principles and governmental theories of the Demo- 
cratic party, and his political activity is exi^ended in its behalf. Fra- 
ternally he is a Knight of Pythias and a Modern Woodmen of America. 
On Marcli 3, 1909, he was married to Miss Chlora "Wright, a daughter 
of George Wright, of this county. She is a prominent member of the 
Christian church. 

V DAVID W. JONES. 

Having come with his parents to Macon county when lie was but 
five years old and lived within its borders ever since, David W. Jones, 
of Lingo township, is practically a product of its resources and insti- 
tutions, and except what is due to inherited race and family charac- 
teristics, all that is involved in his personality and record is American 
and Missourian. He was born in South Wales on March 3, 1851, and in 
1856 accompanied his father and the rest of the household from the 
land of his birth, when the parents were looking up a prospect for the 
family in the New World. Mr. Jones is therefore fifty-eight years old 
and has lived in this county more than half a century. He obtained his 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 773 

education in the public schools of Callao township, learned his efficiency 
in the duties that have occupied him nearly all of his life so far in tilling 
the fertile and responsive soil of this region, and formed his friendships 
and associations almost wholly with its people. Knowledge of his 
native land is with him merely matters of dim and distant memory, 
tradition, family narrative and general reading, and in sympathy, 
devotion and interest he is altogether American. 

Mr. Jones is a son of "William and Jane (Eees) Jones, wjio were 
born, reared, educated and married in Wales. When they arrived in 
this country they located for a short time on Yellow creek, in Ohio, then 
came on to Missouri and took up their residence in Macon county. Here 
the father passed several years working in the coal mines, an occupa- 
tion he had followed in his own country, but devoted the later years of 
his life to farming. His arrival in this part of the state was an event 
of far greater importance to it than he supposed when he came. For 
it was to him and Hopkin Evans that the region was indebted for the 
discovery of coal here, and all the development and results of the mining 
industry in this section that have come since are due largely to their 
intelligence and sagacity, although like many other discoverers and 
inventors, they never reaped their proper share of the harvest they 
made possible. The discovery would doubtless have been made later, 
but the early years of the mining work in the region, and all that they 
embodied, were the immediate results of tlie special knowledge and 
capacity possessed by these men. 

At the time of his death the father owned and farmed ninetj'-four 
acres of land, and had it all in a good state of productiveness and well 
improved with good buildings and other structures. He was married in 
1848 to Miss Jane Rees, in association with whom he had grown fi'om 
childhood to manhood. They became the parents of nine children, seven 
of whom are living: David W., of Lingo township; Elizabeth, the 
widow of the late Daniel T. Evans, of this county ; Thomas R., who lives 
in Bevier; Jennie, the wife of F. D. Jones, also of Bevier; Susan, the 
wife of David Davis, of Oklahoma; William T., who resides at Callao; 
and Evan, whose home is at Bevier. In political allegiance the father 
was a Republican and in religious affiliation a member of the Presby- 
terian church. 

After leaving school David W. Jones worked in the mines near 
Bevier and on his father's farm, assisting the family until 1873. He 
then started on a laborious but successful career for himself, working 
in the mines in winter and farming in simimer for a period of twelve 
years. In 1885 he gave up mining and since then has devoted his whole 



774 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

attention to farming and raising stock. He has flourished in all his 
undertakings and now owns 160 acres of productive, well cultivated and 
highly improved land. His farming operations are extensive and he 
knows how to make them profitable. His practical knowledge of the 
science of agriculture, gained in years of studious experience and from 
careful reading and reflection, together with his skill in applying it, has 
won him a wide and well established reputation as one of the leading 
farmers of the township, and his close and intelligent attention to every 
feature of his stock industry has brought him success and good esteem 
in that line of endeavor also. 

In politics Mr. Jones is a Republican of firm convictions and great 
activity. He is always energetic in the service of his party and his 
services to it are highly appreciated. In local affairs he is zealous for 
the continued welfare of the community and sedulous and effective in 
Ills efforts to promote it. His wife is a devoted and earnest member 
of the Methodist church, taking great interest in its work and held in 
high esteem by its other adhereuts. Her maiden name was Tirza 
Morgan and she is a daughter of Thomas J. and Tabitha (Evans) Mor- 
gan, natives of "Wales but long respected residents of this county. 
She was married to Mr. Jones on April 10, 1873, and they have had two 
children, both li^^ng, their sons, "William T. and Ralph, both residents 
of Macon county. 

"^ JOHN THOMPSON. 

Descended from old English families, whose history runs back into 
the deep shadows of a distant past in the mother country, and himself 
born and reared in one of the most progressive and influential states 
of what was once the West, John Thompson brought to Missouri when 
he was twelve years old sterling traits of character inherited from his 
forefathers, which were broadened in scope and intensified in action by 
the stirring impulses and great wealth of opportunity, amid which he 
grew from childhood to man's estate in new sections of this country, 
different in many particulars but alike in their striding progress 
toward high development and improvement. 

Mr. Thompson is a native of Meigs county, Ohio, where he was 
born on December 29, 1856. His parents, James and Jane (Graham) 
Thompson, were natives of England, the father born in 1821 and the 
mother two or three years before. Their ancestral homes were near 
historic Newcastle-on-Tyne, which always enlists the interest and 
admiration of the traveler and retains the love of its people, but which 
did not offer to any but the privileged classes in and around it the 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 775 

opportunities for advancement and the promise of material, political 
and social consequence held out to all classes by the open hand of the 
Xew "World. Moved by this fact, and eager to secure for his offspring 
the best chance that was attainable, Mr. Thompson brought his family 
to the United States in 1856 and located near Middleport, in Meigs 
county, Ohio, where he continued his operations as a miner, which he 
had l)egun and followed for a number of years in his native land. The 
family remained in Ohio twelve years, then sought even better oppor- 
tunities in life by coming to this state in 1868 and locating in Macon 
county. Here the father bought land which he farmed energetically and 
profitably until ten years ago, when he retired from active business on 
account of advancing years. He now makes his home with his son 
John. 

In 1846 the father was married to Miss Jane Graham, and they 
became the parents of four children, one of whom has died. Those 
living are : Jane, the wife of W. B. AVillis, of Emporia, Kansas ; Thomas, 
who resides in this county; and John, the immediate subject of this 
brief review. The father has belonged to the Bepublican party fi'om 
its birth, and during the active years of his life, both in this state and 
Ohio, he was very energetic in its service. He always took an earnest 
interest in the welfare of the community around him and did what he 
could to promote that and the lasting good of its people. He is now 
generally esteemed as one of the patriarchs of Macon county, and his 
record of profitable service to its people is cherished for the advantages 
to them it has brought and the elevated and stimulatiug citizenship it 
exemplifies. 

John Thompson, whose name is a household word in Lingo town- 
ship, this county, where he has jiassed more than forty years of his 
industrious and productive life, was prepared for the strenuous duties 
that awaited his coming to this part of the country by his experiences 
in Ohio as a boy destined to depend on his own exertions for advance- 
ment in the world. He became a resident of ^Macon county when he was 
twelve years of age, and completed in the district schools in the neigh- 
borhood of his present home the education he had begun in those of 
^Feigs county, Ohio. He remained at home and assisted the family 
until 1879, when he began the struggle for the improvement of his for- 
tunes on his own account. In that year he bought forty acres of land, 
and ever since then he has been actively and successfully occujiied in 
farming and raising superior live stock. He now owns and cultivates 
270 acres, which he has acquired through his enterpi'ise, thrift and 
good management, and makes a specialty of shorthorn cattle, running 



77G HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

seventy-five to oue hundred head ou an average every year. His fore- 
sight and enterj^rise in this resi^ect have done considerable to raise the 
standard of cattle in the township and many other localities, and his 
name is well known as one of the most progi-essive and successful stock 
breeders in this part of the state. In fact, Mr. Thompson is one of the 
most prominent and influential men in the township, which has the 
honor of his citizenship and the benefit of his progressiveness and 
breadth of view. 

For, while he gives his own interests close, careful and intelligent 
attention, he is not oblivious of the claims of the community on him, and 
he responds to them liberally and with all the ardor and energy of his 
nature. He is foremost in every good work undertaken for the benefit 
of the township and its people, and his excellent judgment is much 
relied on for wise counsel as his energj^ and activity are for the accom- 
plishment of practical results. He has served as school director with 
great acceptability and is now president of District No. 4 in the town- 
ship. His political affiliation is with the Kepublican party, for which 
he is a zealous worker, and in which his services are highly appreciated. 
On October 24, 1879, he was united in marriage with Miss Harriet 
Fletcher, whose father, James Fletcher, was born in England but now 
lives in this county. All of the eight childi'en boi-n of this union are 
living. They are : Elizabeth, who is living at home ; James, whose resi- 
dence is at Fargo, Oklahoma ; Margaret, the wife of AY. ^I. Fessler, who 
is living in that town also; Roy, of Texhoma, Oklahoma; and Daisy, 
WilUam, Nellie and Bertie, all of whom are still under the family roof. 
The whole family is held in high esteem and all its members deserve 
the regard bestowed upon them. 

OWEN W. JONES. 

For forty-three years, or thereabout, this venerable citizen of New 
Cambria has been a resident of Macon county, and the work of his long 
record of usefulness among its people stands forth in enduring phrase 
and conspicuous memorials to his credit. He located in this region 
when it was still largely an unbroken waste, or so sparsely settled that 
the few homesteads in its midst only emphasized and intensified the far 
surroimding loneliness and primeval conditions of wildness. He stuck 
his stake in this wilderness, however, and through his labors, and those 
of others like him, it has been transformed to its present state of high 
development and continuous and substantial progress. Mr. Jones may 
literally be called the father of the progressive town in wliicli lu> now 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 777 

has his home. He was one of its founders, laying out its streets, plot- 
ting its ground into building lots, and building within its present limits 
the first hotel and the first general store erected in this portion of the 
county. From the germ he planted it has grown to material conse- 
quence, social distinction, municipal imi)ortance and commercial influ- 
ence. And in the substantial character of its people and its institutions 
it shows that its foundations were well and broadly laid and its future 
was wisely provided for. 

Mr. Jones is of AVelsh ancestry, his parents, Owen W. and Mar- 
garet (Evans) Jones, having been born, reared, educated and married 
in North Wales, where their forefathers lived and labored for many 
generations. The father was born in 1790 and brought his family to 
this country about 1830. He located in the village of Floyd, Oneida 
county, New York, where he was engaged extensively and prosperously 
in farming and raising stock Until his death in 1866. He and his wife 
were the parents of ten children, but three of whom are living, Owen W. 
and his brothers, John 0. and Watkins C, all of them residents of New 
Cambria. 

Owen W. Jones was born at Floyd, Oneida county. New York, on 
January 15, 1833. He obtained his education in the {uiblic schools of 
that village and at Whitestown Seminary, being graduated from the lat- 
ter with a certificate of qualification as a teacher in the public schools. 
He followed the occupation of teacher for a number of years in his 
native county, then came with his brother, W. C. Jones, to Iowa, where 
they passed several summers together. In 1864 Owen, still possessed 
of the western fever, and deeming the frontier the most desirable local- 
ity for the exercise of his powers and the realization of his hopes, moved 
into Missouri and took up his residence in this county, where he has 
lived ever since. 

Mr. Jones was a progressive man and thoroughly imbued with the 
possibilities of the region in which he cast his lot. To his imagination 
it opened in vistas of growth and development, and he saw its future 
rich in the fruits and fragrant with the blossoms of civilized life, the 
home of an industrious, enterprising and prosperous people making 
the most of their material resources and cultivating in time all the 
higher powers of mental and moral greatness. And he at once, or soon 
after his arrival, began to work to make his vision a reality. As has 
l)een noted above, he laid ojit a town and ])repared it for settlement. 
The I'esult has justified his most ardent hopes, for although his munici- 
pal offspring is now but fairly started in its career of advancement, 
it is already one of the rising and promising towns of this part of the 



778 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

state. As a nucleus for the thriving settlement he felt must follow his 
efforts, he built a hotel and put up a general store building, and in the 
latter opened a merchandising enterprise Vliich he conducted success- 
fully, as he also did the hotel, until 1891. In that year he sold all his 
interests in these undertakings and retired from active business, but he 
had made an enduring record in both and in other lines of endeavor 
which can never be effaced from the history of the locality. He served 
twelve years as railroad land agent and twenty-two as postmaster at the 
town he founded; and as he was eminently successful in the manage- 
ment of his private affairs during his activity, so was he also in con- 
ducting the interests of the railroad company to profitable results and 
the affairs of the postoffice with great credit to himself and satisfaction 
to the people who patronized it, and to the government. 

In political relations Mr. Jones has been a EejDublican from the 
birth of the party, and in his younger years he was a very earnest and 
effective worker for the success of his organization. For many years 
he has been an earnest working member of the Presbyterian church, 
the edifice in which the congregation to which he belongs having been 
built by him. He was married on October 8, 1866, to Miss Libby J. 
Cole, who was born and reared in the same community as himself. Six 
of the eight children they had are living : Delia E., the wife of Arthur 
Boone, of La Belle, Missouri ; Clara C, the wife of AVilliam Grant, of 
the same town; George W., whose home is in St. Joseph, this state; 
Ada M., the wife of John T. Evans, of Pierre, South Dakota ; Vernon 
L., who is living at home; and J. Burton, who also dwells in New 
Cambria. The name of the family stands high in ]\racon county, and 
every member of it is esteemed in the community of his or her home. 
For all are most worthy and estimable citizens. 

V JOHN W. LUNDAY. 

Tried by many tests of his fidelity to duty, including work on the 
farm and at the forge, the perils of the battlefield in terrible civil war- 
fare, the exactions of business, the blandishments of social life and the 
temptations of official station, John ^^\ Lunday, an eminent citizen of 
New Cambria, in this county, has been proven sterling in all and alto- 
gether worthy of the high esteem in which he is universally held. He 
was born in this coimty, in the town of Winchester, on October 19, 1838, 
and lias passed all of his subsequent years within its borders. There 
is. tiierefore, nothing taken for granted or speculative in his record, for 
it has been an open book among this ])oople, and is well known to 
them all. 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 779 

Mr. Lundaj- is a son of Gabriel and Ellen ("Windle) Lunday, natives 
of Virginia and pioneers of Macon county. His grandfather, James 
Lunday, was also a A'irgiuian and came to this county very early in its 
history. The father was born in Montgomery county, in the Old Domin- 
ion, in 1805, and became a resident of Macon county, Missouri, in 1836, 
locating in Winchester, Libertj' township, where he took uji a home- 
stead from the government. He- was actively and prolitably engaged in 
fanning this land and raising live stock on an extensive scale until 1870, 
when he retired from active pursuits and sold his property, having by 
that time acquired the ownership of 300 acres of land in Russell town- 
ship, whose high state of develoj^ment and productiveness and valuable 
improvements represented in large measure the labors of his years of 
strenuous endeavor in this state. He did not, however, live long to 
enjoy the rest he promised himself, but died in 1872 in Chariton county, 
just outside of Macon, in a new home he had established there. His 
marriage occurred in 1832 and resulted in the birth of nine children 
in his family, six of whom are living: John W., Temple F. and James 
"W., residents of this county; Rachel Ann, wife of J. W. Braley, of Hor- 
ton, Kansas; George T., who lives in New Cambria; and Philip R., who 
is a citizen of Chariton county. In his eai'ly manhood the father was a 
Whig and remained loyal and true to his party until it passed out of 
action into history, giving place to the Republican party. From then 
to the end of his life he was a member of that organization and stood by 
it with the same loyalty and devotion he had bestowed on his first choice 
in political relations. He belonged to the Methodist Episcoi)al church 
and was an active worker in its ranks. 

John W. Lunday was literally a child of the frontier and grew to 
manhood under the weight of its exacting labors and amid the experi- 
ences of its rugged, hazardous and spectacular life. He obtained the 
little education available to him in the primitive country schools of his 
boyhood in this locality, where, at that time, nature was the source of 
inspiration and experience the principal schoolmaster. He worked 
hard on the parental acres, as all boys of the period situated as he was 
were obliged to do, remaining at home and assisting the family in the 
farm work and the necessary toil of a blacksmith shop on the home- 
stead, until the beginning of the Civil war. Having been brought up 
with reverence for the Union, and looking upon its dismemberment as 
the worst of evils, at the beginning of hostilities he promptly joined a 
company organized as a part of the state militia, of which he remained 
a member until 1864. He then enlisted in the regular federal service as 
a member of Com]5any K, Forty-second Missouri infantry, under com- 



780 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

mand of Colonel Forbes. The regiment was stationed on the border 
most of the time during the. rest of the war and only saw actual fighting 
in skirmishes. But it was a valuable aid in subduing the border war- 
fare and protecting the lives and property of the people from bands of 
predatory marauders. , 

Mr. Lunday was mustered out of the service at Nashville, Tennes- 
see, in 1865, and returned then to his Macon county home. He soon 
afterward started a blacksmithing enterprise at New Cambria, devoted 
to general smithing and repairing and the sale of farming implements. 
He was in charge of this industrial and mercantile undertaking until 
1898, when he determined to retire from business and sold his estab- 
lishment. He is still living in New Cambria and is regarded as an 
important factor in the commercial, official and social life of the town. 
He has served several terms as a member of the town board and is a 
charter member and director of the New Cambria State Bank. He is 
also prominent and energetic in all movements undertaken for the 
improvement of the town and the welfare of its people, being as enter- 
prising, far-seeing and progressive in reference to such matters as he 
was in his successful private business career. 

On March 4, 1869, Mr. Lunday was united in marriage with Miss 
Mary A. Wilson, a native of Ohio and daughter of Moses and Jane (Mc- 
Coy) Wilson, the former born in New Jersey and the latter in Ohio. 
Three children were born in the Lunday household, but only one is liv- 
ing, a son named Charles G., whose residence is at the town of Hope in 
Arkansas. The father is a Republican in politics and zealous in the 
service of his party. He belongs fraternally to the Grand Army of the 
Republic, and in religious inclination he favors the Methodist Episcopal 
church, of which his wife is a leading and hard-working member. New 
Cambria has no citizens who are more highly respected than Mr. and 
Mrs. Lunday, and none more worthy of universal esteem and 
admiration. 

• MARCUS B. LEIST. 

Marcus B. Leist, of Callao township, whose transactions as a 
breeder and handler of superior strains of horses are so extensive 
that they have attracted the attention of dealers in the noblest animal 
we have throughout the country, and even made him a name and rejm- 
tation in foreign lands, has a history in himself and his ancestors that 
is full of interest. He is descended from families of the hardy woods- 
men of Pennsylvania who helped to open up that great domain to 
civilization and \a\ the foundations of its ]irospority. and who were 




MARCUS B. LEIST 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 781 

as valiant in defending it as they were courageous and resolute in brav- 
ing the perils of its wild and savage condition as an unbroken and track- 
less expanse of wooded mountain, dense forest and virgin plain. Some 
of them fought with Washington at Fort Du Quesue and aided in 
clearing the way for the advance of his army toward that hapless and 
tragical conflict. In the following days of the American Revolution 
many of them stood shoulder to shoulder with the gi'eat commander 
and helped greatly to win his final triumph. Later, their descendants 
invaded the farther wilderness and began the conquest of what is now 
the state of Ohio and its transformation into a civilized and productive 
region, fragrant with all the flowers and rich in all the fruits of culti- 
vated life. 

Among the early settlers in Ohio were some of the forebears of 
Marcus B. Leist, of this countj', wlio is the immediate subject of this 
review, and it was in Pickaway county, in that state, that he was born, 
his life beginning on December 23, 1846. He is a son of Cornelius B. 
and Isabel (Wann) Leist, both born and reared in Ohio, as their par- 
ents were. They had eight children, four of whom are living: Marcus 
B. ; Emma, the wife of Wilson Stout, of 'Ohio; John P., who lives in 
Indiana, and Laura, the wife of Charles Cook. The mother died in 
1897 and the father in 1901. 

Their son, Marcus B., has shown the military spirit of his ancestors 
and been a fighter, too, but only in the army of peaceful conquest and 
the contests among men for the advancement of their several fortunes 
and the gratification of their various ambitions. His father was a 
farmer, and after obtaining a limited education in the district schools 
of his native county, the son became one also. He began farming for 
himself soon after leaving school and has continued his operations in 
this line ever since. In connection with them he has made a specialty 
of raising fine cattle and horses, and, as has been intimated, has con- 
ducted the business and is still conducting it on a scale of great mag- 
nitude, his conquests in this line being as great in their way as were 
the achievements of his forefathers in theirs. 

In 1904 Mr. Leist came to Missouri and located in Callao town- 
ship, this county, where he now lives. He immediately began farm- 
ing and specializing in raising cattle and horses. Ho has rapidly 
expanded his business in this latter industry until he has become the 
most extensive breeder of horses in ^lissouri and has the largest stable 
of Percheron and other imported stallions in the state. His products 
in the cattle industry are also of superior quality, and within the short 
period of his residence in Macon county he has probably done more 



-Si HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

tlian any other man to raise the standard of stock, generally, through- 
out the state. His farm comprises 6-iO acres of choice land, and is 
])articularly well adapted to the purposes for which he rented it. It 
affords fine grazing grounds for his stock and also yields abundantly 
for the maintenance of his lierds in the elements of other food for them 
besides producing in plentiful supply the output of general farming. 

Mr. Leist has applied to the development and improvement of 
the county in general the same energy, capacity and progressiveness 
that he has employed so successfully in bringing about the higher 
standard of stock in this region and in building up his own interests. 
He has been one of the main promoters and is now one of the principal 
stockholders and the vice-ijresident of the Callao Fair Association, 
which is known far and wide for the excellence of its management, the 
enlightened and progressive spirit that distinguishes it and the high 
character of its displays, exhibits and entertainments. He has also been 
very active and potential in securing a vast improvement in the roads 
in the county, and in awakening a spirit of enterprise in the way of a 
general movement for good roads in all parts of the state. 

In political faith he is a pronounced Kepublican, with an ardent 
interest in the welfare of his party and great energy in serving it. But 
he has been steadfast in his determination to keep out of public office 
and has resisted all the importunities of his friends and the leaders 
of his party to become a candidate, accept a nomination or take a 
political position by appointment. Fraternally he is connected with 
the order of Odd Fellows. In 1868 he was married to Miss ]\Iary Eliza- 
beth Peter, a native of Ohio. They have eight children, their sons, 
Edward and Charles 'M., and their daughtei-s, Mary Alice, Sarah E., 
Margaret B., Carrie, Florence and Lela. Although but six years a resi- 
dent of Missouri, Mr. Leist has risen to the first rank among its citizens 
and is an acknowledged leader in some of its lines of public improve- 
ment. In all respects he is regarded as one of the most progressive, 
estimable and useful men in the state. No one stands higher in public 
esteem or is more worthy of regard and good will from all classes. 

^ THOMAS L. JENKINS. 

It seemed something like the irony of fate that the interesting 
subject of this brief review, after being reared in the pursuits of peace- 
ful industry in a foreign land, and crossing the swelling ocean to tind a 
better home, brighter prospects and ampler opportunities in this land 
of promise, should laud on the battlclicld soon after his arrival and dis- 
cover that he was in the very center of a maelstrom of civil war, but 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 783 

such ■«-as his experience. He was born in South Wales on February 16, 
1830, and is a sou of Thomas and Mary (Lewis) Jenkins, natives and 
Ufe-long residents of that countrj-, and now the only one living of their 
three children. They also have been dead many years, and Thomas is 
altogether alone in the world, except for the ties he has made and the 
hosts of friends he has gained in this country. 

Mr. Jenkins grew to manhood and obtained a limited counnon 
school education in his native land, being able to attend for only a few 
terms, and very irregularly, at a school of low grade in whose course 
of instruction nothing was included but the rudimentary branches. He 
remained in the land of his birth until he reached the age of twenty- 
eight, then came to this country, arriving in 1858 and stopping for a 
short time in Pennsylvania. But the West was his chosen destination, 
and he soon made his way toward it, moving to Ohio, and in that state 
working for farmers and doing some farming for himself until the 
beginning of the Civil war. 

By the time that terrible storm burst upon the country Mr. Jenkins 
had become attached to the principles of our government and our insti- 
tutions, and was firmly in favor of the perpetuation of the Union. He 
volunteered at once as a member of the Home Guards, and took his 
place in the discipline and other work of the organization. But he soon 
grew tired of inactivity in military service, and enlisted in Company E, 
Sixty-sixth Ohio infantry, which was soon placed under the command 
of General Slocum and some time afterward under that of General 
Hooker. Mr. Jenkins remained in the service until the close of the war 
and was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, in June, 1865. He found that 
the contest in which he had volunteered to take an active part was not 
play but real and terrible war, involving constant vigilance and exer- 
tion, great hardshijis and privations in camp and on the march, and 
deadly strife to the last extremity on the battlefield. But he never 
faltered in his duty, or shirked a peril or any part of the burden of his 
service. Among the battles in which he took part were those of Buz- 
zard's Eoost and Resaca, Georgia, Peach Tree creek in the same state, 
Kenesaw ]\Iountain, and others in the same part of the country. And 
as his command belonged to a fighting division of the army, the 
skirmishes and other small encounters with the enemy became so numer- 
ous that they were, in a little while, of almost daily occurrence and 
considered as scarcely worthy of note. 

After his return from the army Mr. Jenkins remained in Ohio three 
years, following the same pursuits as before the war. In 1868 he came 
to Missouri and took up his residence in this county, making his home 



784 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

in Lingo township, where he has ever since dwelt. From that time to 
the present (1909) he has been energetically and continuously engaged 
in farming and raising stock on an ascending scale of magnitude and 
profit, but since 1904 has been acting only as superintendent of his 
large interests and not doing any onerous work. He now owns 221 
acres of good land and has the greater part of it under cultivation, 
while the buildings and other improvements on the farm are modern, 
commodious and valuable, his farm being a model country home. 

The welfare of the community around him has engaged the atten- 
tion of Mr. Jenkins and enlisted his interest and assistance at all times. 
He has been enterprising and progressive in regard to the development 
and improvement of the township and county, and has never hesitated 
to do his full share in the work of promoting it. His political princi])le.<5 
are those of the Eepublican party and he is one of its most zealous 
and effective supporters, doing all he can to win success in its cam- 
paigns and, by his counsel and example, aiding materially in keeping it 
true to itself and its professions. His fraternal relations are with the 
Grand Army of the Eepublic. Of this organization, which is now fast 
fading from the sight of men, he is an enthusiastic member, and at its 
periodical campfires lives over again with his companions the scenes 
and incidents of the war without the danger of deadl)' bullet, destructive 
sabre or lacerating bayonet, and, be it said too, without the bitterness 
of feeling or warmth of passion evolved in actual warfare. He was 
married in 18G0 to Miss Jane Edwards, of Ohio, and by the union 
became the fatlier of ten children, three of whom have died. Those 
living are: Hannah, the wife of Thomas Vantine; Joseph and Benja- 
min, all residents of this covmty; Lizzie, the wife of Charles Thiehoff, 
of Marceline, in Linn county; Thomas, who is living at home with Ms 
parents ; Catherine, the wife of George Owers, who also lives at Marce- 
line; and Missouri, the wife of E. S. Jones, whose home is in New 
Cambria. The father is an earnest working member of the Congre- 
gational church. 

^ LOGAN S. BLEW. 

Born, reared, educated and married in Lingo township, Macon 
county, and having expended all his energies up to the present time in 
helping to push forward its progress and development, Logan S. Blew, 
one of its enterprising, progressive and successful farmers, is wholly a 
product of the township and a rein-esentative man among its people. 
His life began in their midst on August 7, 1864, and he is a son of 
Willis and Margaret (Lingo) Blew, natives of Kentucky but long resi- 



HISTORY OF .^rACOX COUNTY 785 

dents of this ooiiiity. The father came here as a young man and found 
the country youiiii' in settlement and development also. He took up a 
tract of wild laud in Lingo townsiiip and passed the remainder of his 
days in developing and improving it. Success crowned his efforts. He 
made his untamed domain over into a good, well improved and highly 
2)roduetive farm, and won for himself standing and respect among 
all classes of the population. 

His marriage with Miss Margaret Lingo, of Kentucky, occurred in 
184-7 and resulted in the hirth of eleven children to them, eight of wliom 
are living : Sarah, the wife of P. R. Ellis, of Des Moines, Iowa ; John S., 
a resident of this county; James F., who also lives in this coi;nty; 
Margaret, the wife of Wilson Swearingin, of Chariton county ; Ira M., 
whose home is at Nashville, Oklahoma ; Logan S., and Mary H., the wife 
of John Bidel, who lives in Colorado. Four states have the benefit of 
their progressive and useful citizenship and the fidelity with which they 
meet every obligation in life. 

Logan S. Blew had no other facilities for education than those fur- 
nished by the district schools of his native township, and he was imable 
to attend even them with regularity or for any great length of time. 
His services were needed on his father's farm, and he gave them to the 
requirements of the family, both while he was attending school and 
after he stopped going, until 1885, when he began the struggle for 
advancement among men on his own account, buying a tract of land, 
small but promising to start with, and working out of it profits that 
enabled him to buy more from time to time, until he now owns 119 
acres, nearly all of which he cultivates and which he has improved with 
good, comfortable farm buildings and other structures, making it one 
of the substantial, productive and valuable country homes of the county. 

Mr. Blew has been active and progressive in respect to the atfairs 
of the township as well as in his private business. During the last 
eight years he has rendered excellent service to the peo])le as clerk of 
the district school board, using his prominence and influence, which ai'o 
considerable, greatly to the advantage of the schools, the improvement 
of those who attend them and the satisfaction of people most directly 
interested, the parents of the ))upils. In other respects also he has been 
potential for good in the locality, aiding by his wise counsel and his 
material assistance every worthy undertaking for tlie benefit of the sec- 
tion, leading in all enterprises and rendering yeoman service in bring- 
ing them to a successful conclusion. He takes a prominent part in the 
councils of the Democratic party, of which he is a zealous member, and 
does effective work in all its campaigns. On May 10, 1899, he was mar- 



786 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

ried to Mrs. Carrie B. Lingo, a daughter of George aud Ann Tarr, who 
came from England to this county many years ago. Mr. and Mrs. 
Blew have had two children, Claude M. and Opal D., both of whom are 
living and abide with their parents. The latter stand well in the regard 
and good will of the people all over the county. 

WILLIAM W. ANSTINE. 

Three of the great states of the American L'nion have contributed 
to the progress and had the benefit of the services of William W. 
Anstine, who is now a prominent farmer and leading, public-spirited 
and representative citizen of Lingo township in this county, where he 
has lived and flourished during the last forty years. He was born in 
York county, Pennsylvania, on August 24, 1837, aud lived and labored 
there on his father's farm until 1863. He then moved to Hancock 
county, Ohio, where he passed six years diligently employed on farms 
which he rented. In 1869 he came to Macon countj^, Missouri, and 
since then he has been an element of value among the productive 
agencies of this region. 

Mr. Anstine is a son of Jacob and Eve (Sherry) Anstine, natives of 
Pennsylvania, where the father was born in 1812, married in 1836 and 
died in 1887, and his wife died there in 1903. Five of the ten children 
born of their union are living: William W., the oldest, being the only 
one who resides in Missouri. The others are: Emanuel, who lives in 
Pennsylvania; Catherine, the wife of Frank Hess, whose home is in 
Pennsylvania; Jacob L., who is in business in Baltimore, Maryland; 
and John, who also has his home in Pennsylvania. The father was a 
stonemason and wrought diligently at his trade throughout all his 
mature life. He also farmed extensively and was successful and 
prosperous. 

William W. Anstine was prepared for the battle of life in the dis- 
trict schools of his native county and by the lessons and examples given 
him at the parental fireside and in his labors on the family homestead. 
He remained at home until he reached the age of twenty-six, then 
turned his face westward, determined to follow the course of empire in 
that direction. He moved to Hancock county, Ohio, and there, during 
the next six years, farmed land he rented, as has been stated, not earing 
to purchase any, as he still felt that the voice of destiny was calling him 
to a region farther west. In 1869 he obeyed this impulse and came to 
Missouri, locating in Lingo township, this county, where he still lives, 
and which has seemed to satisfy all his longings. Ever since his arrival 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 7Sr 

in this locality he has been energetically and profitably engaged in 
fanning- and raising stock for the markets, carrj-ing on liotli industries 
on an ascending scale of magnitude and success. His farm now com- 
prises IL'O acres of land, is well improved and has become one of the 
model country homes of the township in which it is located. He has 
farmed it vigorously, but with intelligence and good judgment, and it 
has never failed in responsiveness to the labor he has bestowed upon 
it and the skill with which he has cultivated it. 

Feeling that he had at length reached his permanent abiding place, 
Mr. Anstine began to take an active part in the political, civil and social 
life of the township soon after his arrival among its jjeople. He has 
served them well and wisely as township assessor for two years and as 
school clerk and director for a long time. To all projects for the 
advancement of the region in mental, moral or material power, or in the 
enlargement of the comforts and conveniences of its people, he has 
given direct, effective and practical aid, his services stamping him as a 
far-seeing and broad-minded man full of energy and capacity for 
promoting the public good. 

On August 18, 1861, Mr. Anstine united in marriage with Miss Eliza 
Hershey, who was born and reared in Pennsylvania, where the marriage 
occurred, and is a daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Akins) Hershey, 
who belonged to families long resident in that state. Five children 
were born in the Anstine household, all of whom are living. Their 
homes are widely scattered, but in their several localities they are 
exemplifying in their daily lives the admonitions and examples given 
them under the parental roof and contributing their portion to the 
substantial merit and sterling worth of elevated American citizenship. 
These children are: AVilliam Henry, who lives in Howell county, Mis- 
souri ; j\Iary Jane, the wife of William Teter, whose home is in Trinidad, 
Colorado ; Sylvester, who is a citizen of La Junta, Colorado ; Alice, the 
wife of Mert Milleron, a resident of Macon county ; and Sarah, the wife 
of Clape Cupp, who is in Howell county, Missouri. Mr. Anstine is an 
earnest worker in political contests and his services are highly appreci- 
ated by the leaders of his party. He adheres to the principles and 
policies of the Republican organization, and as he believes in them 
finnly, he does all he can to give them supremacy in the councils of the 
county, the state and the nation. In local affairs the good of the com- 
munity has his first consideration, party interests coming afterward. 
The people of Macon county, among whom so large a jiortion of his life 
has been passed, know him well and esteem him highlj'. 



788 HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

WILLIAM T. JONES. 

It is a far step from the mountains and mines of Wales to tlie wild 
prairies, boundless fruitfulness and rapid progress of the great West 
in this country, and involves a wonderful change of scene, associations, 
surroundings and possibilities. But it is a step that William T. Jones, 
one of the enterprising and successful farmers of Valley township, in 
this county, has taken greatly to his own advantage and the benefit of 
the locality in which his work of construction and development has been 
done. His experiences in this respect form a large part of his education 
and have contributed essentially and extensively toward bringing him 
to the wide knowledge of men and affairs which he possesses and the 
development of the faculties of self-reliance and resourcefulness for 
which he is distinguished. 

Mr. Jones was born in Brecknouckshire, in the southern part of 
Wales, on July 31, 1837, and is a son of Joseph and Mary (Williams) 
Jones, of the same nativity as himself. The parents brought their fam- 
ily to this country in 1854, when the father was forty-four years old 
aud his son William between sixteen and seventeen. The father, who 
was born in 1810, was a shoemaker and worked at his trade both in the 
land of his nativity and that of his adoption. On the arrival of the 
family in this country it found a new home in Kane county, Illinois, 
where the father bought eighty-eight acres of land. He farmed his land 
and worked at his trade in that county until his death in 1858. By his 
marriage in 1835 to Miss Mary Williams, the daughter of a neighbor in 
Wales, he became the father of five children, all of whom have died 
except William T. 

William T. Jones obtained a limited common school educatiou in 
his native land, and after his arrival in this country gave himself up 
wholly to the exacting service required of him on his father's farm, 
in the management and ojieratiou of which he was the main depend- 
ence. The land was fertile and responsive and he was industrious and 
skillful. The family prospered and enjoyed comforts and consequences 
in this counti'y it would never have attained in that of its origin. The 
son worked for other farmers in additi(.)n to what lie did at home, and 
all his earnings were devoted to the support and advancement of the 
household. On the deatli of his father he became the owner of the 
farm, and he continued to carrv on its work and imju-ovement until 
1864. 

In that year he determined to gratify a longing he had felt for 
some time for a home in a newer part of the country, and, selling his 



fl 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 789 

interests in Illinois, he moved to Missouri and located in Macon county. 
In connection with his mother he bought 240 acres of land in Valley 
township, which he has since increased by the purchase of twenty 
additional acres, and on this land he has lived and flourished until the 
present time. He has been very energetic and progressive in his under- 
takings and has made them all minister to his ])rosperity and advance- 
ment. In addition to extensive general farming, he has, from the l)egin- 
ning of his operations in this county, conducted a considerable and 
active industry in raising live stock, running on an average about sixty 
to seventy-five cattle a year. He has all his land under cultivation but 
about thirty-five acres, which are devoted to grazing and furnish a fine 
range for his cattle. 

Very soon after becoming a resident of this county Mr. Jones 
began to take an active interest and helpful jiart in local imblic affairs 
and everything involving the enduring welfare and continued progress 
of the township. He served four terms as school director with great 
credit to himself, benefit to the schools and acceptability to the people, 
and has been influential in other lines of public duty. All matters of 
public improvement projected for the good of the locality have his 
earnest and intelligent support, and the general affairs of the county, 
state and nation enlist his warm and serviceable interest. His political 
affiliation is with the Kepublican party, to which he adheres through 
approval of its pi'inciples, and its service he is energetic and effective. 
He cast his first vote for Lincoln in 1860. He and his wife are devoted 
and zealous working memliers of the Congregational church, and are 
esteemed in the congregation to which they belong as among its most 
effective forces for good. 

Mr. Jones was married on December 7, 1869, to Miss Margaret 
Havard, a daughter of Henry and Catherine (Edmunds) Havard, 
natives of Wales and prominent residents of Macon county for a long 
time. Her life began on September 15, 18-15. Nine children were born 
of the union and eight of them are living: Heniy J., of Cimarron 
county, Oklahoma ; Walter S., of Montpelier, Idaho ; Catherine and Fred 
J., who are still living with their parents; Edward, who also lives in 
Cimarron county, Oklahoma; and Arthur B., at home, and Ii-ene, nuir- 
ried December 29, 1909, to Oakley Antree, of Caldwell, Kansas. All 
in their several localities and lines of endeavor are c()ntril)iitiiig to the 
progress, wealth and power of our country and adorning its elevated 
citizenship. The voice of History is unbroken in attestation that the 
most progressive, influential and ])owerful nations are those that ai'e 
liberal in naturalization. The greatness and the rajjid advance of the 



790 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

United States are due in large measure to their immigrant population, 
which has been wai'mly welcomed hither from all parts of the civilized 
world from the beginning of our history. 

JOHX DAVIS. 

Euteri)rising, successful and progressive as a farmer, broad- 
minded, patriotic and upright as a citizen, clean, capable and far-seeing 
as a public official, and an ornament to the social and religious life of 
the community in which he lives, John Davis, of Valley township, Macon 
coimty, is one of the representative men in this part of Missouri and 
embodies in himself and his career much of what is best in its citizenship 
and history. 

Mr. Davis is a native of that great commonwealth which is giving 
Virginia a close nm for the retention of her oldtime title of "Mother 
of Presidents," and has a very potential influence in the public life of 
our country. He was born in Ohio in 1863, and is a son of Thomas and 
Jane (Griffith) Davis, natives of Wales, who came to this coimtry soon 
after reaching their maturity. The father was born in 1825 and became 
a resident of the United States in 1850. On his arrival in this country 
he located in Ohio, where he worked in a grist mill and the coal and 
iron mines for fifteen years. In that state, also, he met with and was 
married to ]Miss Jane Griffith, who was born and reared in the same 
country as himself, and who was moved by the same impulse that 
brought him to this country — the hope of finding better opportunities 
for advancement than her own land afforded her. In 1865 they brought 
their family to Missouri and took up their residence in Russell town- 
ship, this county. Here the father homesteaded eighty acres of govern- 
ment land and bought eighty in addition. The Civil war had stopped 
the progress and development of the state and paralyzed all its indus- 
tries. It had also laid waste and devastated the fair domain and left 
the scars of its searing passage on many a fruitful field and in many a 
village, town and city. The Davis family arrived at a time when there 
was great need of recuperating forces, and great progress and develop- 
ment, with their attendant benefits of material wealth and i)ersonal 
comfort, awaited enterprise, industry and thrift. The father of the 
family settled down on his farm of unbroken land and began the work 
of developing and im])roving it. He fanned it vigorously in the smn- 
mers and worked in the mines during the winters, leaving the care of 
the land to his sons while he was absent, but superintending their work 
and taking care that it was well and wisely done. 

This energetic and enterprising man continued his dual occupation 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 791 

for a number of years, and his farming and stock raising operations 
until 1901, when he retired from all active pursuits, and since then he 
has made his home with his children. Success followed all his eifoi'ts, 
and when he sold his property in the year last named he owned 213 
acres of line land, a considerable amount in live stock and farm equip- 
ment and possessions of value in other kinds of acquisitions. He and 
his wife became the parents of eight children, all of whom are living: 
Elizabeth, the wife of Eev. H. E. ^Villiams, now living in Oklahoma 
City; David "W., a resident also of the young but enterprising state of 
Oklahoma, with his home at Edmond; Margaret, the wife of J. B. 
Meudanhall, of Brooktield, Missouri; James T. ; John, of this county; 
Thomas, of New Cambria ; Mar)', the wife of Edward Chambers, of 
Whitewater, Colorado ; and Stephen L., whose home is in Kansas City, 
Missouri. In politics the father is a Eepublican and in religion a 
Presbyterian. He is active in the service of both his party and his 
church, and is highly esteemed as a valuable adjunct in the work of 
each, as he is as a man by the citizens generally in all the relations of 
life. 

John Davis had no advantages in the way of education except 
such as were atforded by the district schools of Eussell township in his 
boyhood and youth. He was brought to this county by his parents 
when he was but two years old, and all of his subsequent years have been 
jiassed within its borders and in the promotion of its advancement. He 
learned usefulness and the value and dignity of labor on his father's 
farm, and by his continual communion with nature in her various mani- 
festations received as many lessons in the way of self-development and 
self-reliance as he did in other things at the primitive public school of 
the neighborhood. He remained at home and assisted the family until 
1891, when he bought 160 acres of land upon which he at once went to 
work to make a home and develo)) a career for himself. He l)roke up 
and improved his land, adding to its extent as he prospered until he 
now has 433 acres, the greater part of which is cultivated, and also gave 
scope to his ardent love of animal life by raising stock on a large scale. 
Stock raising has, in fact, been his chief industry, and he has been very 
successful in the pursuit of it. 

Mr. Davis has also given considerable attention to local public 
affairs, serving for a number of years as school director and aiding in 
the promotion of every enterprise he deemed of value to the township 
or its people. He is a Eepublican in polities and he and his wife are 
zealous members of the Congregational church, in the work of which 
tliey take a leading and very serviceable part. Her maiden name was 



792 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

jMary J. Morris, and she is a daughter of John and Jane (Evans) Mor- 
ris, natives of Wales but residents of jMaoou county for many years. 
Mr. and ]^Irs. Davis were married on February 18, 1891. Tiie two chil- 
dren born to them are both living and still at home. They are a daugh- 
ter named Essie Jane and a son named Leslie Morris The parents have 
hosts of friends in the county and the respect of all who know them. 

^ THOMAS A. ROWLAND. 

jNIr. Rowland was incumbent of the office of mayor of his native 
town of Bevier, Macon county, and is one of its best known and most 
highly esteemed citizens, as is evident from the fact that he has been 
called upon to serve as chief executive of its municipal government. 

Mr. Rowland was born in Bevier on the 3rd of October, 1868, and is 
a son of Ephraim and Margaret (Dee) Rowland, the former a native 
of Wales and the latter of England, in which latter country their mar- 
riage was solemnized in the year 1850. Ephraim Rowland was born 
in the year 182-1 and was reared and educated in his native land. In 
1855 he immigrated to America and thereafter was located in Utah 
until 1867, when he came to Missouri and turned his attention to mining, 
with which line of industi-y he was identified for many years, during 
the major portion of which he maintained his home in Bevier, where 
he was held in high regard as a man of honesty and integrity. He died 
in 1905 and his wife passed away in December, 1907, both having been 
members of the Church of Jesus Chi-ist of Latter Day Saints. They 
became the parents of seven cbildi-en, of whom live are living, namely, 
Edward, who is a resident of Spokane, Washington; John, who resides 
in Ogden, Utah ; Mary, who is a resident of Bevier ; Thomas A., who is 
the immediate subject of this review; and James, who is a resident of 
Salt Lake City. The father eventually became a successful real estate 
dealer, having handled large tracts of farm lands as well as city and 
village property. He was a Republican in politics, but never sought or 
iK'Jd ])iiblic office. 

Tliomas A. Rowland, whose name initiates tiiis article, was reared 
to maturity in Bevier, to whose public schools he is indebted for his 
early educational training. After leaving school he found employment 
in the local office of the Burlington railroad, and there learned the art of 
telegra))l)y, in Avhich coniiection he was eventually made operator at 
the Bevier station. In 1888 he engaged in the train service of the same 
railroad and was employed in this capacity for three years. Since tliat 
time he has been identilied with various lines of business ent(>rpi'is(', 




THOMAS A. ROWLAND 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 793 

and at the present he is a newsdealer, besides being correspondent for 
viU'ions metropolitan news])ai)ers. 

In polities Mr. Rowland has ever given an unfaltering allegiance 
to the Republican party, in whose cause he has rendered effective serv- 
ice in a localized way. In 1900 lie was chosen secretary of the Bevier 
l)oard of education, which jiosition he filled for three years. Tn 1901 
he was elected mayor of his home city, giving an able and popular 
administration and retaining the office for a term of two years, at the 
expiration of which, in 1903, he was elected justice of the peace, in 
which position he is still serving. In 1904 he was elected a member of 
the board of aldermen, serving one and one-half years, and in 1907 
his fellow-citizens further showed their confidence and appreciation 
of his eligibility by again calling him to the office of mayor, in which 
capacity he served until A])ril, 1909. He holds a deep interest in all that 
concerns the welfare of his home city, and as mayor he ]")ut forth 
every effort to conserve its progress and prosperity, the while insisting 
u]>on judicious economy in the municipal government and the pro- 
tection of the interests of the people in every way. His popularity has 
ample foundation and he has the good will and high esteem of the 
community in which he has maintained his home during practically his 
entire life thus far. 

^ JOHN J. WILLIAMS. 

Although himself a native of this country and of the state of Mis- 
souri and, therefore, reared altogether under the influence of American 
institutions, and with their spirit and tendencies constantly before his 
mind, John J. Williams, of Valley township, this county, is but one gen- 
eration removed from the mother country, and must have had his child- 
hood and youth filled with the suggestions born of its history, its tradi- 
tions, its customs and the genius and trend of its public affairs. His 
parents, William W. and Winifred (Edwards) Williams, M'ere born in 
Wales, and, although they came to the United States while they were 
yet children, they never wholly forgot their native land or lost their 
reverence for it, notwithstanding they were at all times loyal and true 
to the land of their adoption. 

The father was born in Wales on September .'JO, 1S27, at a town 
called Tyngwnd^\Ti Blanperal, and was brought to America by iiis par- 
ents in 1840. The family located in Jackson county, Ohio, on a farm 
in the neighborhood of Oak Hill, where William grew to manhood and 
was educated in the country schools. He worked on his father's farm 
as bov and man until ISHT, when he moved to Missouri and I'duiid a 



794 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

new home in Valley township, !Macon county, where he has passed the 
subsequent years of his life, accumulating a competence and gaining 
the esteem and confidence of the whole people. 

On his arrival in this coimty Mr. Williams bought eighty acres of 
land and at once began an energetic industry in farming and raising 
live-stock, which he continued to prosecute vigorously and successfully 
until 1893. He was then sixty-six years of age and had become the 
owner of about 1,000 acres of good land, the greater part of which was 
imder systematic and skilful cultivation. He felt the weight of advanc- 
ing years and deemed it his right to retire from active pursuits and 
live in ease and freedom from arduous toil for the remainder of his 
days. He still owns his vast landed estate and devotes to it the atten- 
tion of an overseer, but leaves to others the labor of cultivating it and 
keeping it in order. 

Mr. Williams, the father of John J., was married in 1851 to Miss 
"Winifred Edwards, like himself, a native of Wales. They had twelve 
children, of whom six are living: Jane, the wife of Morgan Thomas, 
of Valley township; David E., whose home is in the same locality; 
Benjamin E., who lives at Ethel, in this county; Margai'et, the widow 
of the late J. H. Jones, of Macon county ; John J., the interesting sub- 
ject of this sketch, and Annie, the wife of G. L. Owen, of Skidmore, 
Missouri. The father has been a Republican in national politics from 
the birth of the party, and has been zealous in the service of the organi- 
zation. His wife died July 20, 1892. His church affiliation is with the 
Presbyterians. 

John J. Williams was born in the township in which he now lives on 
April 14, 1868. He began his education at the White Oak district school 
near his home and completed it at the college in Brooklield, Missouri. 
After his return from college he continued to work on his father's 
farm under parental supervision until 1893, when he assumed the man- 
agement of all its interests. He has ever since l)eeu actively, intelli- 
gently and successfuUj' occupied in farming and raising stock on the 
home place, 520 acres of which now belong to him and show in their 
highly improved condition and great productiveness how skilful and 
energetic and progressive he has been as a husbancbuan. He, also, is a 
Republican in ])olitics, and deeply interested in the welfare of his party. 
In fraternal life he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and 
tlie Yeoman of the world. In religion he is allied witli the Presbyterian 
church. In his political parly, his lodges and his church he takes an 
active interest and to all he renders valuable and effective service. 

^fr. Williams was married on Novemlici- li. 1895, to Miss Anna C. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 795 

"Williams, a native of "Wales, born in 1868, and a (lani^-litor of W. 1). 
and Margaret (Jones) "^'illinms, who were born and reared in AVales 
and died in Macon county. Mr. and Mrs. "Williams have had one child, 
their dang-hter, "Winifred, who is still living with them and helping 
to brighten and popularize their home. The father is a very progress- 
ive, enterprising and public-spirited man. He is loyal to his townshi]") 
and county, and shows liis interest in their welfare by earnest aid in 
every worthy project for the promotion of their advancement and the 
good of their i3eople. He has no fondness for public life and never 
seeks official honors or emoluments, but he gives practical and helpful 
attention to local public atTairs, looking upon every phase of the civii. 
life of the community with the same careful scrutiny and working; for 
all with the same zeal and energy that he bestows on his personal inter- 
ests and iirivate business. The people of the county know his value as 
a citizen and esteem him accordingly. 

"^ DAVID E. WILLIAMS. 

Prominent in the public and social life of his township, enterjjrising 
and successful in business, active and zealous in jDromoting the welfare 
of the community in which he lives and has labored from boyhood, it 
is not surprising that David E. "Williams, of "\"alley township, this 
county, is regarded with universal esteem and accounted one of the. 
highly useful and truly representative citizens of the county. In every 
relation of life he has shown himself to be a man in the true and elevated 
sense of the word, and the good o])inion of his friends, neighl)ors and 
acquaintances, which he so fully enjoys, is the logical result of modest 
merit, which has found expression in acts and registered itself in endur- 
ing results. 

Mr. "Williams is a native of Jackson county, Ohio, where he was 
horn on September 17, 1855. His parents, an account of whose lives will 
be found in a sketch of his brother, John J. "Williams, in this work, 
were "William W. and "Winifred (Edwards) "Williams, natives of "Wales 
and residents of Macon county for many years. They brought to the 
land of their adoption the sterling traits of character they had inher- 
ited from thrifty and Ujiright ancestors and the habits of industry 
and frugality they had formed in the land of their nativity. These char- 
acteristics sustained them well in this country and brought them a 
.'^ubstantial fortune in material wealth and won for Ihcni a high place 
in the regard of the peo))le of this county. 

David E. Williams ol)tained his education in the White O.-ik district 
school in Valley township, filling his place and doing his full i)art as a 



79G HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

liand on his father's farm while attending school and for a number of 
years after he quit going. He remained at home, in fact, until 1892, 
and then began a career as a farmer and stock breeder on his own 
account that has continued to the present time (1909) and is still in 
active progress. He has been very enterprising and very successful, 
acquiring by his own efforts and business capacity the ownership of 640 
acres of first-rate land and developing it to a high state of improve- 
ment and productiveness by his care, intelligence and persevering dili- 
gence as a farmer. 

In the commercial, political, fraternal, social and religious life of 
the community, Mr. Williams has taken a very active and helpful inter- 
est and a leading part. Wherever the good of the townshi]i or county 
or the welfare of the people is concerned he is found among the first 
and most energetic volunteers for service, and continues to the accom- 
l)li8lnnent of the undertaking one of the most intelligent advisers and 
stimulating influences connected with it. He is a stockholder and direc- 
tor of the Farmers and Merchants' Bank, of New Cambria, and con- 
nected with other financial and commercial institutions in the county. 
For ten years he served the people wisely, effectively and acceptably 
as road supervisor and also as a member of the school board. He is 
a Kepublican in politics and always a zealous worker for the success 
of his party. As a member of the Order of Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
ica, he has contributed materially to building up and elevating that 
fraternit}', and as devout and faithful communicants in the Pi'esbyterian 
church, he and his wife have been of great benefit to the moral agencies 
at work in the community. Tliey are active workers for the church 
and ranked among its most progressive and serviceable members. Mr. 
A\'illiams was married on June L'9, 1892, to Miss Elizabeth Jones, a 
daughter of Benjamin and Hanna (Thomas) Jones, natives of Wales, 
but for years residents of this county. Of the four children born of this 
union only one is living, a son named Benjamin, who is still at home, the 
light and life of the household. 

JOHN RKES. 

Enterprising and successful in his l)usiness, and public-spirited 
and progressive in reference to local i)ublic affairs, John Rees, one of 
the prominent and influential farmers of this county, living in Valley 
townshi]), is well worthy of the good oi)inion the peojjle have of him 
and the universal esteem and consideration they bestow ujjon him. He 
came to the county in 18(56, a 1)oy seven years of age, and has lived in 
tlie fownshi]) of his j)resent residence ever since. His I'ecord is. there- 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 797 

fore, well kuown among the residents of the county, and is conceded to 
be altogether to his credit and their advantage in many ways. 

My. Rees is a native of Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, where he 
was bo]-n on June 3, 1859. He is descended from old Welch ancestry 
and has exhibited in every field of endeavor that has engaged liis atten- 
tion the salient characteristics of industry, frugality and strict integrity 
which distinguish the race from wliieh he sprang. His parents were 
John and Mary (Williams) Rees, natives of Wales, where the father 
was horn in 1817. He came to the United States about 1850 and found 
a home in the New World of hope and promise, whose persuasive voice 
had reached him in his distant ancestral habitation, and in the vigorous 
and judicious use of the opportunities it gave him, he amassed a com- 
petence and rose to general respect and considerable influence wherever 
he lived. The busy East won his admiration and satisfied his longings 
at first. He located in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, soon after his 
arrival in this country, and there he lived for a period of sixteen years. 
Being a capable and skilful carpenter, he soon found employment on 
construction work in the coal mines, a source of industry and wealth 
with which he was also familiar. He did his work well and stuck to it 
faithfully, notwithstanding it involved many unpleasant experiences, 
and all the time was steadily forging ahead towai'd substantial comfort 
for himself and his family, and gratifying consequences among the 
ajipreciative people living around and associating with him. 

But as time passed he heard another strain of inspiring American 
music. This was the pleading of the great West for volunteers in her 
army of conquest and civilization, and, in 18G6, he determined to yield 
to the plea and join this army. He came to Missouri that year and 
took u]i his residence in this county, near New (fimbria, where he bought 
land and turned his attention to cultivating and improving it. He did 
not, however, abandon his trade, Imt in connection with his farming 
and stock-raising industries he did considerable building, erecting many 
dwellings and schoolhouses in the county and some other localities. He 
prospered in both lines of work, accumulating a good landed estate and 
gaining the respect of all the joeople. 

Mr. Rees, the elder, was married, in about 1840, to Miss Mnvy 
Williams, like himself, a native of Wales, and a person of resolute cour- 
age and persistent application. They became the parents of ten chil- 
dren, three of whom have died. Those living are: Josei)h, a resident 
of Bucklin, in Linn county; Ilaimah, the wife of Thomas R. Evans, who 
lives at New Cambria; Mary the wife of Thomas R. IMiillips, whose home 
is in Pennsylvania ; Jennie, the wife of David Roberts, of New Cambi-ia ; 



798 HISTORY OF MAC'OX COUXTY 

John, the immediate subject of this sketch; Thomas H., a prosperous 
farmer of this county; and Margaret, the ■^ife of Lott Thomas, of 
New Cambria. The father gave his support to tlie Republican party 
in political affairs and belonged to the Congregational church in relig- 
ious affiliation, being loyally and servieeably attached to both. 

John Rees was brought as a boy of seven from an intensely active 
and congested region on the Atlantic slope to the open plains and sparse 
settlements of this state, as it was at the time, and reveled in the 
change. It was food for his imagination and gave him new views of the 
magnitude of this country and the manj- varieties in the conditions and 
pursuits of men, which he reflected over, even as a boy, and which were 
useful to him in enlarging the sweep of his vision and developing his 
mind. It was important to him as his means of education were limited 
to the scant curriculum of the public schools of the country districts, 
and he was not allowed to get the full benefit of them. His attendance 
upon their exercises was often interrupted by the exigencies at home, 
which compelled him to give his first consideration to the work on the 
farm and provision for the wants of the family. He was also obliged 
to leave school at an early age, and thereafter he devoted all his time 
and energy to the fann requirements for the benefit of the household 
until 1887. In that year his father died and devised to him a farm 
of 150 acres in Valley township, this county, and on this he has lived 
ever since, busily engaged in developing and improving his place and 
conducting an annually increasing business in raising cattle, horses and 
mules for sale. At this time (1910) he owns 298 acres of excellent land, 
a large part of which is devoted to cereals and other farm products and 
the rest to grazing purposes. He now has also about 100 head of stock, 
such as he favors, and is jirosperous in every deijartment of his 
enterprise. 

In the affairs of the community Mr. Rees has always taken a leading 
and helpful part. He served three years as road overseer of the town- 
shi]) and was for a long time a valued member of the school board. The 
financial and commercial interests of the county have also interested 
him in a leading way, and he has done his part to advance them along 
lines of wholesome develojnnent. He was one of the founders and a 
charter member of the directorate of the Farmers and Merchants' Bank 
of New Cam])ria, and has been its president from its organization in 
August, 1907. The institution has flourished under his management 
and is regarded as one of the best and most ])rogres.sive of the younger 
fiscal agencies in this part of the state. 

Mr. Rees was married on May 25, 1887, to Miss Margaret E. Mor- 



HISTORY OF MACO^r COUNTY 709 

ris, a daughter of John and Jane (Evans) Morris, prominent residents 
of this county. One chikl has sanctified their union and hlessed and 
brightened their home, their daughter, ^Mina L., who still abides with 
them. ^Ir. Rees is cordiaUj' interested in political affairs and gives 
expression to his convictions as a firm and loyal member of the Re]nib- 
lican party. He and his wife and daughter are members of the Con- 
gregational church and do energetic work in behalf of all its beneficent 
undertakings. 

V JOHN W. GWINNER. 

The fertile section of Macon county, known as Ten Mile township, 
has among the people who live in it and flourish on the bountiful prod- 
ucts of its fruitful soil many ex])ert and progressive farmers and stock- 
breeders, and all are entitled to great credit for the manner in which 
they compel Nature to yield up her treasures in response to their per- 
sistent and intelligent industry. None of these, however, is superior in 
enterprise and skill, in business capacity and vigor of management, 
to John W. Gwinner, who is everywhere recognized as one of the leading 
and most successful farmers and live-stock dealers in the county. 

jNIr. Gwinner is a native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where his life 
began on April 7, 1858. He is a son of John and Katharine (Buchter) 
Gwinner, natives of Germany. The father was born in the city of Rheim 
in 1820 and came to the United States in 1838. He located in ]\Iilwau- 
kee, Wisconsin, where he remained two years, then made a tour of 
inspection to and over Macon county in this state. He did not remain in 
this county, however, at that time, but returned to Milwaukee and passed 
the succeeding years of his life in that city until 1858. All the while he 
had a hankering for the farther West, and in the year last mentioned 
he satisfied this by moving to the county that had jjleased him so well. 
He bought land in Ten Mile township on which he settled down for the 
remainder of his days and devoted himself wholly to farming and rais- 
ing stock until his death in 1888. The move i)roved a fortunate one for 
him. He was successful in all his undertakings and accumulated a 
comfortable estate before he died. 

He was married to Miss Katharine Buchter, like himself, a native 
of the Fatherland, as has been stated, and they had seven children, 
six of whom are living and residents of this portion of Missouri, Eva, 
the wife of Fred Spellman, and Barbara, now dead, who was the wife 
of Charles Wisemar, lived in Chariton county; and John W., William, 
George, and Lizzie, the wife of John Poehlman, having their homes 



SOO HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

in ]\laoou oounh-. In i)olitios the father allied himself with the Kepub- 
lican party and in religion he was a Lntheran. 

John W. (.iwinner was brought to Maoon I'ounty by his parents 
iu his infauoy and grew to manhood on his father's farm. He obtained 
what education he had opportunity to get in the district schools in the 
neighborhood of his home and in a school of higher grade in Macon 
City. He remained at home assisting the family until ISS.!, when he 
bought laud and began operations as a farmer on his own account. 
Since then he has been actively, continuously and successfully engaged 
in farming and raisiiig stock, adding to his land from time to time as 
he continued to prospei*, until he now has 770 acres, nearly all of which 
is protitably tilled, and feeds about seveuty-tive head of cattle every 
year on an average. A ]H>rtion of his laud is reserved for grazing 
purposes and is well adapted to that use. 

Mr. Gwinuer has adhered steadily to his chosen pursuits, but he 
has amplitied his business, taking in other interests of a character 
that would not divert him from his main purpose. He is a stockholder 
and president of the Bank of Atlanta and connected with other linau- 
cial, industrial or commercial institutions. He has also taken an active 
part in local and }niblic affairs, filling several townsliij) offices with credit 
to hunself and advantage and acceptability to the jieople, among them 
those of township collector and constable. In both official and private 
life he has shown himself to be progressive and enterprising, deev>ly 
and intelligently interested in the welfare of the community and willing 
at all times to do all in his power to advance its pros}UMity, promote 
its development and enlarge the comfort, convenience and happiness 
of its people. 

Mr. Gwinuer was married in 1883 to Miss Anna ZoUmau of this 
county. Their offspring number live and all are living and dwell iu 
this county. They are : John H. and Fred E., who have homes of their 
own. the latter living in Macon City, and TIarry, Kdward and Clara, 
who are still at home with their parents. The mother of these children 
lost her life in the AVabash railroad wreck at Moberly. in 1904, and 
two years later the father married a second wife, Mrs. Jannie (^tcXess) 
A'arnes. widow of Sanford A'arnes and daughter of William and Lydia 
^IcXess. The father is allied with the Kcpublican party in national 
politics and renders it loyal and devoted service in all its contests. In 
fraternal relations he is connected with the IndejuMident Order of Odd 
Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, and is warmly interested 
iu the success and yirosperity of both orders. His religious allegiance 
is given to the Lutheran church, while his wife is a member of the 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 801 

Methodist Episcojml sect. Botli are active workers in church interests, 
giving tiieir countenance and aid to all worthy undertakings no matter 
where they originate, or whether or not they have any direct bearing 
on the congregations to whicli they themselves belong. Mr. Gwinner's 
success in business is not liis only gauge of merit. He has the record of 
an upright and useful life, also, to his credit, and square dealing with 
all his fellow-men, and it is upon these features of his career that the 
universal esteem in which he is held among all classes of the jieople 
around him is based. He is regarded as a good man and an excellent 
citizen in every sense. 

^ georgp: w. eiley. 

The history of the family to which George "\V. Riley, one of the 
most successful and prominent fanners now living in Jackson town- 
ship, Macon county, belongs, runs like a thread of gold through the 
chronicles of three of the great commonwealths of the American union, 
dignifying and adorning the life of all and fruitful in usefulness to 
each. The grandfather of the present generation of the branch under 
consideration was born and reared in New Jersey. He became a min- 
ister of the gospel and in later years, after his removal to Ohio, was 
an intimate associate of Rev. Peter Cartwright, the renowned evangelist, 
who set the prairies of what was then the West on fire with his eloquence 
and zeal. Early in the thirties this good man moved his family from its 
ancestral home to Allen county, Ohio, where he took up government 
land, which he farmed in connection with his evangelical work and other 
duties of the Christian ministry. 

His son, Leslie V. Riley, the father of the subject of these para- 
graphs, was also born in New Jersey, coming into being on October 
27, 1827, and was brought to Ohio by his parents in his childhood. He 
began his education in the country schools near his home and completed 
it at the high school in Lima, Ohio, from which he was graduated and 
received a first grade certificate as a teacher for the public schools. 
He thereupon taught school for sixteen consecutive terms, two of them 
in this county, where he located in 1866. Soon after his arrival in this 
part of the country he bought 160 acres of land, which he farmed in 
connection with his educational work, carrying on extensive agricultural 
operations and raising live-stock for |;he markets on a large scale, his 
specialties in the live-stock line being fancy horses and sheep, some 
of which were prize winners at numerous county and state fairs, where 
they were exhibited with pride and viewed with admiration, the result 



802 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

being a decided elevation in the standard of stock tbrougliout all tlie 
surrouudiug coiinti y. 

The elder Mr. Kiley, who won local renown in Ohio as a captain in 
the state militia, was married on October 22, 1848, to Miss Catherine 
Cupp, a native of Eockingham county, ^"irginia. They became the 
parents of nine children, five of whom are living: George W. ; Mary, 
the wife of Stephen Hopper, of Stiirges, Missouri; Charles, who lives 
at Decatur City, Iowa; James, a resident of Lamed, Kansas; and 
Edward, whose home is in Macon City. In politics the father was 
an active working Republican, giving earnest and effective attention 
to the needs of his party on all occasions, and contributing his support of 
its candidates in wise counsel and energetic personal influence. He and 
his wife were zealous members of the IMethodist Episcopal church, in 
which the latter was a teacher in the Sunday-schools and a determined 
worker. They both died in Macon county, the father September 2, 
1897, and the mother January 21, 1901. 

George "VV. Riley was educated in the district schools of this 
county after a short attendance in those of Allen county, Ohio. He 
was fourteen years old when the family moved to Missouri, and his 
oyjportunities for scliooling were limited both before and after the 
change of residence. He remained at home, assisting on the farm 
and I'olied on as the main-stay of the household, until 1875, when he 
bought forty acres of land and began operations on his own account. 
Since then he has been continuously and successfully engaged in farm- 
ing and raising stock, increasing his possessions until he now owns 
280 acres and has the whole tract under cultivation. 

In connection with his farming and live-stock industries, he was 
also extensively and profitably engaged in general merchandising from 
1883 to 1898, and during that i)eriod hold three conmiissions as ))ost- 
master from presidents of tlie two leading political parties, his admin- 
istration of the office being so vigorous and satisfactory that there was 
no opposition to him. In all his efforts to raise the i-ank of the office 
he was firmly sustained by the people of the community and county, and 
by strenuous endeavors he elevated it from a little country station, with 
a weekly mail, to a busy and i)rogrossive iwstoffico, with daily service 
and greatly increased facilities, inchiding a money order dei)artment. 

Mr. Riley was married on December 21, 1873, to Miss Maria E. Gil- 
lespey, a native of Ohio, who bore him five children who are living and 
one who died. Those who are alive and contributing to the ])rogress 
and development of the country are : Louisa, the wife of Charles Green, 
of Wisconsin; Getta, the wife of Virgil Grayott, of Kansas City, Mis- 




JOHN F. LEFFLER 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 80;! 

«ouri; lioy, who lives iu Moutaua, and Joseph and Floyd, residents of 
Cameron, Missouri. Their mother died on April 4, 1906, and on Decem- 
ber 18, 1907, the father married again, being united on this occasion 
with ]\liss Jennie M. Chandler, a daughter of Captain Taylor Chandler, 
a native of Kentucky autl a resident of Palmyra, in this state. 

Mr. Riley takes a warm and practical interest in public affairs, 
local, state and national. He is a zealous working member of the Repul)- 
lican party, and omits no effort possible to him to advance its welfare 
and bring success to its candidates. His services are highly appreciated 
by the jiarty leaders and also by the militant hosts who follow them, for 
he gives them freely and without stint and they are skilful and effective. 
The life story here briefly narrated is one that should inspire the young 
to emulate the example it gives them, for it shows how industry, f]-u- 
gality and upright living bring success in this land of boundless oppor- 
tunity, winning not only worldly si:bstance, but also general esteem 
and good will from all who know of them. 

^ JOHN F. LEFFLER. 

John F. Leffler, who is one of the most successful and representa- 
tive farmers of Callao township, in this county, is now a little less thai 
fifty-one years old, and the whole of his life to this time has been passec 
in Missouri and all but about sixteen years of it in Macon county. Ir 
his useful and inspiring career here he has been actively and serviceably 
connected with the ])roductive industries of the county in both an intel 
lectual and a material way. He was an efficient and popular teacher 
in the public schools of the county for more than ten years, and since 
he quit that occupation, which, although trying and nerve-racking to 
the teacher, is uplifting for the people, he has been prominently, profit- 
ably and successfully engaged in farming on an extensive scale and with 
commendable skill. 

Mr. Leffler was born in Boone county, this state, on February 3, 
1859. He is a sou of J. 1. Leffler. who is also a native of Boone county 
and was born there on August 10, 18.36. He grew to manhood in that 
county and followed farming among its ])eople until 1875, when he 
moved his family to Macon county, and here he continued his operations 
as an agriculturist, and also his course of usefulness as a public school 
teacher, having engaged in this work from the dawn of his manhood, 
in connection with his farming and stock-raising .enterprise for more 
than twenty-five years. He was married in 1858 to Miss Susan F. 
Green, also a native of Missouri. They became the parents of ten 
children, eight of whom are living. They are scattered far and wide 



80i HISTORY OF MACOX COITXTY 

at this time, but in their several localities they are all useful citizens 
and doing- their full share to help in building \\p the country and mag- 
nifying its industrial, commercial and intellectual, moral and political 
l)OWfcr. The children living are : John F., the immediate subject of this 
writing; Ada, the wife of Allen Burnett, of Los Angeles, California; 
"William E., who lives in Bozeman, Montana ; Emily, the wife of James 
Wolsey, of Pasadena, California; Elizabeth, who is living at home; 
Sarah A., the wife of George A. Perry, of Callao ; Susan, the wife of 
Charles Allen, of Callao, and Jethro J., who also lives at Callao. The 
father and mother are both living also, and, although well advanced in 
years, are still vigorous and active, and have an abiding interest in all 
the affairs of the township in which they live and the county, state and 
nation, besides. 

John F. Leffler grew to the age of sixteen in his native county, 
attending the district schools in the vicinity of his home, and preparing 
himself for usefulness in life by every means at Ms command. He 
completed his scholastic training at St. James Academy in Macon 
and at once began teaching in the public schools of this county. He 
taught about ten years and then turned his attention to farming, in 
which he has been diligently and extensively engaged ever since. In 
addition to this industrj- he raises considerable nimibers of fine cattle 
for the market and carries on a flourishing business of large propor- 
tions in dairying. He is one of the most extensive breeders of registered 
Jersey cattle in this part of the state, in which he takes great pride. 

Mr. Leffler was married in 1888 to Miss Mallie Cooper, of New 
Cambria. They became the parents of two childi'en, their sons, Law- 
rence and Leonard, both of whom are still living with their father. 
Their mother died in 1893, while they were yet of tender ages, and they 
were reared under the direct supervision of their father and his sister. 
Elizabeth. In political faith he is a Democrat, but he has never been 
an active partisan, and acts independently in reference to local affairs, 
preferring to do what he thinks best for the welfare of the townshiji and 
county without regard to partisan claims or any other consideration. 
He has never sought or wished for public office of any kind, but, in obedi- 
ence to public demands and for the general good, he waived his aversion 
to official life and served on the scliool board for many years, looking 
after the intei'ests of the schools with zealous attention and an insight 
into their needs acquired in his experience as a teacher. Fraternally 
lie is prominently connected with, the Knights of Pythias and the Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America. In the affairs of these orders he takes an 
active interest and bears his full share of tiie labor and care of pro- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 805 

moting their welfare in everj' way. In reference to all other interests 
which require general attention in tlie township he is one of the fore- 
most citizens in encouragement and assistance for what is good and in 
opposition to what is hurtful or of doubtful propriety. The people of 
the county esteem him highly as one of their wisest, most useful and 
most representative citizens. 

EGBERT KARL SHEETZ. 

Contributing to the comfort and convenience of the public of Red- 
man and the surrounding country as a general merchant in that town 
and its postmaster, Robert Karl Sheetz is serviceably ministering 
to the wants of the people among whom he was reared and has passed 
almost the whole of his life to this time. He knows their habits, tastes 
and needs, and is, therefore, able to provide for them with judgment, 
and, as his interests are identical with theirs, he renders his services in 
a way that is benefieial to the community and all its wants in general. 

Mr. Sheetz is a native of Ten ]\Iile township, where he was born 
on June '24-, 1877. He began his education in the district schools of 
that township and completed it at Centenary College, which is located 
at Palmyra, in Marion county. AYlien he finished his college course of 
instruction he gratified a longing he had felt for years, making a toiir 
through parts of the farther West and passing a year at Billings, Mon- 
tana. The regions he visited and the city in which he passed the greater 
part of his time while absent from his native state interested him 
greatly, but they did not win him from his allegiance to Missouri. In 
1900 he returned to his native heath and soon afterward entered the 
business world as a general merchant at Redman, first in association 
with his father and later as a partner of 0. Meader. During the last 
four years he has conducted the business alone, and in the manage- 
ment of it has been veiy successful, building up a large trade and lay- 
ing a considerable extent of the surrounding country under trilnite to 
his enterprise and making himself popular throughout the territory in 
which his patrons live. 

Mr. Sheetz carries in stock about $5,000 worth of goods, comprising 
everything required for his trade, which he liotli su]i])lies and leads 
to higher development. His store is a central rallying place for all 
the country around it, all classes of persons visiting it to get the news 
of the day, local and general, and in behalf of all the multiform inter- 
ests which concern the dwellers in the country who have no other facili- 
ties for such purposes. In addition to its interest and importance 
in this respect, the postofiSce of the town is located in it, and Mr. Sheetz 



806 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

is the postmaster. He was appointed on June 24, 1901, and has been 
the incumbent of tlie office ever since, rendering satisfactory service 
to the patrons of the office and retaining a firm hold on their regard 
and good will. 

Mr. Sheetz has prospered in his business and is still prospering. 
He owns business property in the town and desirable building lots, 
besides his connnodious and attractive residence. He was married on 
October 8, 1905, to Miss Lena M. Fetter, a daughter of John and Berkley 
(Yutz) Fetter, long established and popular residents of this county. 
He and his wife have one child, their son, Richard Latrelle, who is liv- 
ing at home. Always an adherent and advocate of the Democratic 
])rinciples and theories of government, the father has been effectively 
serviceable to his political jjarty in many campaigns, conducting his 
]iartisan operations in a manner to make them useful but witliout 
offensive activity or bitterness in speech or deeds. In fraternal life 
he is an Odd Fellow and a Modern Woodman of America. To the local 
organization of both orders he gives a fair share of his time and atten- 
tion, making his membersliip in tliem valuable and useful. In Inisiness, 
in public affairs, and in social and fraternal life he stands in the front 
rank in the community and well deserves his eminence. 

^ HENRY C. SHEETZ. 

All of the sixty years of the earthly life so far vouchsafed to Henry 
C. Sheetz, one of the prominent and successful farmers of Ten Mile 
township, in this county, have been passed in Northeastern Missouri, 
and all of them from his youth have been fruitful in good to this sec- 
tion of the state. For he has lost no time, and all his occupations have 
involved direct benefits for the people around him. It is pleasing to 
note, also, that his services and career have been appreciated, and 
that he is universally regarded as one of the most worthy and estimable 
citizens of Macon county. 

Mr. Sheetz was born in Shelby county, this state, on May 4, 1849, 
and is a son of Henry Thomas and Rebecca (Vandiver) Sheetz. natives 
of Virginia and early settlers in Shelliy county. The father was born 
on April 2, 1813, in Hampshire county, which is now a part of the 
Old Dominion that was torn from the mother state in the violence of 
the Civil war and is known as West Virginia. Ho remained at home with 
liis parents until he came of age and married, then set out for the dis- 
tant West, as it was at that time, willing to do all and dare all in the 
effort to found a home for his family and a name for himself in the 
fast growing emi>iro Iioyond the ^Iississi])])i from his ancestral home. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 807 

In 18.34 he came to Missouri and located in Shelby county. That jiortion 
of the state was then a veritable wilderness of the far frontier, and 
those who braved its perils and hardships were called upon to display 
heroic qualities if they wished to remain. Mr. Sheetz and his young 
wife were made of the projier stuff for the ordeal and tliey endured its 
trials with fortitude and bore its burdens with fidelity and patience, 
serene in their self-contidence and consciousness of strength and capac- 
ity. The father took up a tract of government land whose stiib])orn 
glebe the all conquering plow had never turned as yet. He broke up 
and improved this land, transforming it into a comfortable home and 
winning increasing prosperity from its returns for Ids industry and 
skill. He farmed it well and vigorously until 1862, and made it locally 
famous as a desirable stopi)ing place for the farmers from other parts 
of the state on their way to Hannibal with their cattle. x\ll who came 
that way spent the night at his hospitable home and were comfortably 
entertained, the arrangement being a great convenience to his guests 
and a source of considerable revenue to him. 

In 1862 the father sold his farm and moved to the rising village of 
Shelliina, where he devoted his time and energies to general mercliandis- 
ing until his death in 1868. He was married to Miss Eebecca Vaudiver, 
a native of what is now West Virginia, and they became the parents 
of seven children, five of whom are living: Thomas "Walter, whose 
home is in Montana; Susan, the wife of James Edelen, of Shelbyville, 
Missouri; Laura, the wife of Jacob Lauous, of Marion county, this 
state ; Henry C, and Julia, the wife of Charles Chapman, of Brookfield, 
Linn county, Missouri. The father was a pronounced Democrat in polit- 
ical affiliation and a member of the Presbyterian church in religious 
allegiance. 

Henry C. Sheetz obtained a limited education in the country schools 
of Shelby county and the graded school in Shelbyville. He remained 
at home 'and worked on his father's farm near Shelbyville until 1868, 
when his father died. He then moved to another farm in the same 
county, which he managed with success and profit for two years. At 
the end of that i)eriod he gave U]) farming for a time and formed a i^art- 
nership with James Edelen for the pui'pose of acquiring and cai-rying on 
a general merchandising enterprise. Together they bought a store in 
Shelbyville, in the management of which they were associated three 
years. Mr. Sheetz then sold his interest in the concern to his part- 
ner and moved to this county, where he has ever since had his home. 
Here he returned to the vocation of the old patriarchs, tilling the soil 
and raising flocks and herds. His operations in this county have been 



808 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

extensive and profitable, and he is accounted one of the most substan- 
tial and successful men in his township. He now owns 194 acres of 
excellent laud and has nearlj' all of it under cultivation. His stock 
industry is also considerable and is managed with the same care and 
good judgment that he applies to everything else he puts his hands to. 
In the public life of the community Mr. Sheetz has long been ]:)romi- 
nent and influential. He has served as township collector and treasurer 
and in various other positions of importance and responsibility, giving 
tlie people good ser\dce and guarding their interests with jealous care. 
On December 8, 1872, he was married to Miss Lillie Huston, a d;iughter 
of Erastus and Mary Huston, old settlers and for a long time residents 
of Macon county. Five cliildren have sprung from this union, four 
of whom are living: Eobert Karl, of Redman, a brief sketch of whom 
will be found in this work; Leta Pearl, the wife of Orville Meador, who 
lives in Wyoming; Edith, the widow of Arthur Eichardson, who is now 
living with her parents ; and Ruby Grace, the wife of Allen McOuray, 
whose home is in Canada. The father is a Democrat in his political 
relations and an active worker in the interest of his party. In fraternal 
life he is an Odd Fellow and a Woodmen of the World, and in religious 
affiliation an active working member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
South. 

GEORGE E. i\IAPES. 

This valued and progressive citizen of Macon county, who is one of 
the leading farmers of Ten Mile township, has been serviceable to this 
portion of the state in many ways. He has given a good example of 
intelligent and progressive farming, and has also thrown much light 
on that subject and others with his keen, critical and busy pen. For 
many years he has been a writer of luminous articles for the Macon 
Democrat and Macon Republican, and some also for the Herald and 
Independent, which are published at ('allao. In addition, he was, for 
a short time, the local correspondent for the Associated Press, but, 
finding his literary labors interfering too much with his farming opera- 
tions and other interests, he was obliged to curtail the former, and 
dropped his work for the Associated Press. 

Mr. ^lapes was born in St. Croix county, AVisconsin, on Alay 22, 
1856, and is a son of Walter B. and Catherine (Scott) Mapes, the story 
of whose lives is told in a sketch of their other son, Walter S. ]\[n]U's, 
which will be found elsewhere in this volume. Geoi-ge came to i\Iissoui'i 
with his parents in 18G7, and comiileted in the public schools in the 
vicinitv of his home and in Callao the education he liad begun in those 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 809 

of liis native county. He remained at borne with his parents, working on 
the farm and cultivating his literary powers until 1877, then bought land 
and started an enterprise in fanning on bis own account, and raising 
live-stock in connection with that. He has adhered to these interesting 
and profitable industries ever since and carried them on with success, 
now owning eighty acres of good land, well improved and vigorously 
and scientitically cultivated. 

Mr. Mapes has never married, Init has devoted his energies to the 
care of his mother since the death of his father, and his sister, who is 
still living with him and has charge of his household affairs. Their 
mother died on March 16, 1906, and her remains were laid to rest with 
every demonstration of esteem and affection from the people among 
whom so many years of her upright and useful life were passed. Mr. 
Mapes has also taken an unusually active and hel]iful part in public 
affairs and all undertakings in which the substantial and enduring wel- 
fare of the conununity has been involved. He has aided every com- 
mendable enterprise with active work and material assistance, and has 
also promoted and defended all in his highly appreciated articles in 
the papers, being for the good of the people both a champion in the 
field and an advocate of potency in the press. He is a Democrat in 
jDolitics, a Modern Woodman of America in fraternal life and a member 
of the Methodist EiDiscojDal church. North, in religious affiliation. To 
his party, his lodge and his church he is faithful and serviceable, and 
his membership in each is liighly valued and warmly appreciated. 

In commanding the favors of Fortune the stylus is for most men 
less imperative than the plow. Happily for the subject of this brief 
memoir, he has been able to assail her citadel with both weapons, and 
she has capitulated to the combined assault with a considerable measure 
of bounty, bestowing upon her persistent besieger both the substantial 
favor of a worldly competence and the laurels of high repute. Mr. 
Mapes has been successful in his business undertakings and has won 
a wide and well deserved approval in tlie literarj^ circles of this part 
of the country. He bears his honors modestly, howevei', and is in all 
respects a high-toned gentleman and an upright, progressive and serv- 
iceable citizen, I'epresenting in his characler and his achievements the 
best elements of the county's wide-awake and progressive i)opuIation. 

A\'ALTER S. MAPES. 

Brought by his i)areiits to this county in his infancy, and having 
passed all his su])sequent years within its borders, devoting those of 
his youth and manhood to the cultivation of its responsive and fruitful 



810 HISTORY OF ilACOX COUNTY 

soil, "Walter S. ^lapes, of Ten ]\Iile towiishii), has been closely con- 
nected with the growth and development of this portion of the state 
and intimately associated with its people. He has served them faith- 
fully in helping to build up and strengthen their political, educational 
and industrial institutions and elevate the standard of living among 
them by his exami)le and influence. 

Mr. ^lapes was born in St. Croix county, ^'isconsin, on December 
30, 1866. He is a grandson of Barnabas Mapes, a native of New York 
state, and a son of Walter B. and Catherine (Scott) Mapes, the former 
born in New York in 1824, and the latter a native of Pennsylvania. The 
father remained on the home farm in the state of New York, assisting 
his parents until he attained his majority, then followed the course of 
empire westward, locating in St. Croix county, "Wisconsin, where he 
farmed and operated a threshing outfit until the beginning of the Mex- 
ican war. He volunteered for service in that short, sharp and decisive 
conflict which vastly increased our public domain and the luster of our 
arms, being engaged in some of its most sanguinary battles, but escaped 
from the deluge of death unharmed. He was with General Scott when 
that hero of three wars unfurled the United States flag over the ancient 
capital of the Montezimias, and remained throughout the subsequent 
occupation of the city of Mexico imtil the terms of i)eace were settled 
and the army marched out again. 

After the close of the war the patriot returned to his AVisconsin 
home, and there resumed his farming operations and other industries, 
pursuing them in quiet and contentment until the more momentous 
and bloody war cloud of 1861 burst with all its fury over our unhap])y 
country. He did not, however, join in the sectional strife, but ke])t 
on farming in AVisconsin until 1867. He then sold his property in 
that state and moved his family to Missouri, which, released by the 
result of the civil strife from the erstwhile disturbing factors of sec- 
tional feeling and predatory border warfare, gave ]n'omise of the j^ower, 
'wealth and consequence to which the state has since attained. On his 
arrival in this state Mr. Mapes bought land in Macon county which 
he occujiied and inqirovod, and on which he conducted a thriving indus- 
try in faiining and raising stock until his death in 1879. He was mar- 
ried in 1854 to Miss Catherine Scott, a native of Pennsylvania, and by 
this union became the father of six children, "Walter S. being the young- 
est of the four now living, who are: George E., a resident of this 
county; Nellie, the wife of William Jenkins; Elmer I., who also lives 
in Macon county, and AValter S. In politics the father was an ardent 
Democrat, firmly grounded in the jirinciples of his party and devoted to 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 811 

its welfare. He was active in its service and esteemed liy botli its 
leaders and its rank and file, as he was by all classes of the people among 
whom he lived and labored. 

Walter S. Mapes shared the destiny of other boys reared like him 
in this part of the country when he grew to manhood, working on his 
father's farm in Ten ^lile township and, when he had opj^ortunity, 
attending the district school most convenient to his home. He remained 
with his parents, assisting in the work on the farm and heljiing to 
increase their prosperitj' until 1885. He was then nineteen years of 
age, but had a man's spirit of determination and a Irue American's 
courage. He therefore decided to take up the burden of life for himself, 
and to this end bought forty acres of land on time, on which he at once 
began the career as a farmer and lireeder of superior live-stock whicli 
has given him conseciuence in a material way and reputation and high 
standing in the community around him as a citizen. He started with 
nothing but his personal qualifications and the spirit of unyielding 
persistency which he has always shown, and now owns and profitably 
cultivates 140 acres of land, whicli, with its improvements, constitutes 
one of the best farms in the township. On this farm, which resjionds 
readily to his skilful treatment, he also raises numbers of fine cattle 
and hogs, feeding for the Eastern markets about sixty head of cattle 
everj'- year and a proportionate number of hogs. 

Mr. ^lapes was married on Christmas day, 1885, to Miss ^[argaret 
A. Sharp, a daughter of William P. and Mary A. ((Irisham) Sharp, 
prominent residents of this county. One child has blessed the union, 
a daugliter named Jennie, whose presence still heli)s to brighten and 
warm the family hearthstone. The father takes an active part in polit- 
ical affairs as a Democrat, rendering his party valued service in all 
its contests and seeking by all the means at his command to promote 
its enduring welfare. He is also prominent and energetic in the fra- 
ternal life of the communitj^ as a member of the Order of Modern 
AVoodmen of America and the Order of Royal Neighbors. His religious 
connection is with the Methodist Episcopal church, and his wife's with 
the liaptist organization. Botli stand well in the regard of the people 
and richly deserve the general esteem bestowed upon them. 

•^ JOSEPH ALBERT HIBLER. 

While it cannot be said that the lines of life for Jose))h Albert 
Hibler, of Ten Mile township, in this county, have been very severe, 
or that his discipline has been one of adversity and disaster, it cannot bo 
denied that he has performed well his part in every relation with his 



813 HISTOKY OF MACON COTJXTY 

fellow-men and employed his time and energies industriously and protit- 
ably. He is still on the sunny side of fifty and has risen by his merit and 
sterling traits of character to a position of influence among the people 
of his township, and by his skill and progressiveness in farming and 
raising good live-stock has reached the front rank among the agri- 
culturists and stock-breeders of the county which has been the seat 
of his operations. 

Mr. Ilibler was boi-n at Tolona, Lewis county, Missouri, on Sep- 
tember 18, 186(5. He is a grandson of Samuel Hibler, a native of Penn- 
sylvania, and a son of Allen and Susan E. (Weatherly) Hibler, natives 
of Missouri, the fonuer born in St. Louis in 1839, and the latter in 
Lewis county. The father grew to manhood and was educated in his 
native city. On coming of age in 1860 he moved to ]\racon county and 
took up his residence in Ten Mile townsliip. Here he bought land 
on which he lived and carried on a flourishing farming industry until 
the beginning of the Civil war. "Wai-mly devoted to the Union and 
eager for its preservation, he enlisted early in the federal army under 
Captain Warner, of Macon City, in whose command he served to the 
close of the momentous conflict. After the war he located in Lewis 
county, and there he was energetically and profitably engaged in farm- 
ing and raising stock until 1895, when he sold his possessions in that 
county and thereafter made his home with his son Joseph, living a 
retired life until his death on February l-t, 1905. 

The father was married in 1860 to Miss Susan E. Weatherly, of 
Lewis county, and they became the parents of six children, three of 
whom are living, Joseph Albert and his brothers, Henry L., of Macon 
county, and (leorge A., of Minneapolis. In politics their father was 
an active working Democrat and in religious allegiance a member of the 
Baptist church. His beliefs on all vital subjects were based on exten- 
sive reading, observation and reflection, and he held to them as with 
the tug of gravitation. His life was busy, useful and upright, and 
he had the high respect of everj'body who knew him or his record. 

Josej)h A. Hibler obtained his education in the public schools of 
his native i)lace and the high school at Maywood, in Lewis county, 
being graduated from that institution in 1887. After his graduation 
his father i;ave him eighty acres of land in Ten Mile townshiji, this 
county, and he at once took up his residence hero, giving his whole 
energy to cultivating and improving his farm and increasing his trade 
in cattle and other live-stock. To these industries he has steadily 
adhered with augmenting profits ever since, adding to his domain as 
the years iiassed and he Hourishod. He now has 'Jlll'io acres of good 




JESSE M. MILLER 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 813 

laud, the greater part of which is under cultivation. In association 
with William AVhite he is also interested in breeding high class jacks, 
in which their operations are extensive and profitable. Four years 
ago they bought the prize jack at the St. Joseph fair, which enabled 
them to keep up and even raise the high standard of their product. 
Mr. Hibler was married on August 29, 1899, to Miss Ore N. McNess, 
a daughter of Samuel P. and Lydia L. (Cox) McNess, prominent resi- 
dents of tliis county. Of the two children born of this marriage only 
one, a daughter named Grace, is living. Her father is active in the 
public, social and fraternal life of the community, and one of its 
most popular and influential men. He is a Democrat in i)oIitics. hold- 
ing firm faith in the principles of his party and serving it loyally and 
effectively in all its campaigns, local, state and national. He served 
as secretary of the county Democratic committee under Hon. Benjamin 
Franklin, who was for many years a leading member of the United 
State House of Eepresentatives. Fraternally he belongs to the Order 
of Elks, the Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America and the 
Order of Royal Neighbors. His wife is a devoted and serviceable 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Successful in business, 
prominent in social circles, influential in i)ublic affairs, and meeting the 
requirements of every relation in a manly, straightforward and accept- 
able manner, it is no wonder that Mr. Hibler is taken as a representative 
man of the county and has the universal regard and good will of its 
citizens of all classes. 

^ JESSE MARION MILLER. 

Although a native of Randolph county, in this state, Jesse M. Mil- 
ler, of Bevier township, has passed almost the whole of his life to this 
time in Macon county and been connected with its industrial, mercan- 
tile, social and public life for many years. He was born on February 
16, 1835, and the next year came with his parents to this couuty. in 
which he has had his home ever since. His parents were born in Wayne 
county, Kentucky, the father in 1812, and the mother a year or two 
later. They came to Missouri in the early day with their parents, and 
as they grew to maturity became i^arts of the conquering and civilizing 
force that was redeeming the wilderness from the waste and making it 
fragrant with the flowers and rich in the fruits of systenuitic cultivation. 

Mr. Miller is a son of John and Malinda (Mundle) Miller, and a 
grandson of Jesse Miller, all Kentuckians by birth and inherited traits 
of character. The father was brought to Missouri by his parents a lit- 
tle before reaching manhood, and at once took his place in the arduous 



814 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

struggle for existence incident to frontier life. The family located in 
Randolph county, near Huntsville, where the father took up laud and 
devoted all the energies available to him to farming and raising live- 
stock. In 1836 he moved to Macon county, and, securing a good tract 
of laud here, he passed the remainder of his life on it, jnirsuiug the 
same industries that had engaged his attention from his boyhood, 
dying on August 18, 1874, universally esteemed and leaving a comfort- 
able estate as the result of his enterprise and business capacity. He 
■R-as prominent in the early life of the county, bearing his full share of 
the burden of founding and establishing its political institutions and 
occupying a leading place in social circles and the regard of the people. 

The parents of Jesse M. ^liller were married in 183-4 and had 
eight children, all of whom are living but two. Those living are : Jesse 
M., the first born; Lucinda, the widow of John Gates, who lives in 
Macon City; and Martin, James P., John "W., and David A., all resi- 
dents of this county. The father was a Democrat in politics and a mem- 
ber of 'the Christian church in religious affiliation. He was zealous 
in the service of both his party and his church, and attentive to every 
duty in life. In business he showed a strong combination of industry, 
thrift and ability, and the inevitable results of such a combination under 
ordinary circmnstances, beginning his struggle with almost nothing 
and accumulating a good estate. And as a citizen he had all the pro- 
gressiveness and energy the times- required, and used his faculties to 
their limit for the good of all the people. 

Jesse M. Miller obtained his education in the country schools of his 
boyhood and youth, with tlieir log houses, slab benches, limited curricu- 
lum and other primitive conditions. "While attending school he was 
obliged, as soon as he was old and strong enough, to take his j^lace 
among the workmen on the farm, and after he reached the end of his 
course of study he still remained at home and assisted the family until 
1856. He was then of age and desired to set up in a productive industry 
for himself. His father gave him eighty aci'es of land, and on that 
he founded a home and made it a nucleus of his present holdings of 260 
acres. His farm is now well improved and has long responded liber- 
ally to the persuasive hand of systematic husbandry, and he has used 
his profits to advantage, becoming one of the substantial and loading 
farmers in the township. At one time he owned and cultivated 500 
acres, but he has recently divided a portion of his land among his 
children. He also, for many years, engaged extensively in raising 
stock, being one of the leading shippers in the township, and command- 
ing high prices for his output because of the excellent condition in which 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 81.-, 

it was delivered to the dealers, owing to tlie care aud good judgment 
with which it was tended on his fann. During this period his principal 
interest centered in cattle, but at this time he deals only in mules. 

Mr. i\Iiller's marriage occurred on May 28, 1856, when he was 
united with Casseudany Summers, a daughter of Nineveh and Jane 
(Gilstrop) Summers, natives of Wayne county, Kentucky, and early 
settlers in Missouri and ^Macon county. Three of the five children born 
of this union are living and all are residents of this county. They are 
Rufus B., an enterprising and prosperous farmer; Minnie, the wife 
of A. S. Neal, of College Mound, and Irving, whose home is at Callao. 

In political affairs Mr. Miller trains with the Democratic party 
and is no laggard in his devotion to its welfare or his work in its 
behalf. He is always to be counted on for all he can do to bring suc- 
cess to its candidates, although he has never sought any of the honors 
or emolmnents of })olitieal office for himself. He belongs to the Chris- 
tian church aud is now one of tiie elders of the congregation in which he 
holds his membership. His wife iias been a member of this sect and an 
active worker in its service for more than fiftj' years. Both have 
passed the limit of human life as fixed by the sacred writer, yet they 
are hale and vigorous, and enjoying the sunset of their long day of toil 
and trial, secure against adversity and resting firmly on the respect 
and regard of all the peoi)le among whom they have passed nearly all 
their years, by whom their good works are highly appreciated. 

V JAMES E. WARNER. 

The live-stock industry of this country, which employs an immense 
number of persons, and ministci's to a universal want at home and 
abroad, secured a firm foothold in northeastern Missouri at an early 
day and has never lost its imiwrtance there. xUl the farmers in that 
section of the state are engaged in it, according to their resources 
and facilities, and it has l)een a great element in the industrial, mer- 
cantile and commerical life of the people. Among the farmers of Macon 
county who are largely and successfully engaged in this industry, none 
is more renowned for the quality of his productions or carries on his 
business on a loftier plane than James E. Warner, of Round Grove 
township. 

'Sh-. Warner was born in Ten Mile township, this county, on Novem- 
ber 21, 1866. He is a son of Nicholas B. and a grandson of Henry 
Warner, the former a native of Montgomery county, Ohio, and the lat- 
ter of Pemisylvania. The grandfather transplanted in the wilder- 
ness of Ohio the habits of industry and thrift he had acquired in his 



816 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

native state, where every craft known among men is in operation, and 
they grew and flourished there in rich returns for their every exer- 
cise. "Wliile he was yet a young man he moved into St. Joseph county, 
Indiana, and there he passed the residue of his life actively and profit- 
ably engaged in farming. 

Nicholas B. Warner, the father of James E., came into being on 
October 14, 1826, and, while he was yet a boy, took part in one move 
of the family in the wake of the setting sun. He attended the coun- 
try schools near his Indiana home, remaining with his parents until 
he came of age, ■«'hen he, too, took a flight westward with the course 
of empire, locating in Missouri in 1847, and taking uj) his residence in 
Macon count}'. He secured a tract of govermnent land, and, breaking 
lip this basis of his prosperity and developing it into a comfortable 
home as the years passed, he dwelt on it energeticallj' occupied in till- 
ing the soil and raising cattle until 1902, when the weight of years 
induced him to retire from active work and sell his farm. He had 
increased it to 320 acres, and brought' the whole tract to an advanced 
state of development and high improvement. "When he retired as a 
farmer he moved to Macon City, where he has ever since maintained 
his home. 

The elder INIr. "Warner was married to Miss Eliza Jane Garwood, 
of Indiana, and they became the parents of ten children, seven of whom 
are living; Mary A., the wife of John Grissom, of ^lacon City; Charles 
W., a resident of this county; Ella May, the wife of E. I. Hagan, of 
Macon City; Elmer E., who lives in California; Frank W., a prosperous 
citizen of the new state of Oklahoma ; James E., of Bound Grove town- 
ship, this county; and Alvah N., whose home is in New Mexico. The 
Republican party meets all the father's requirements in political affairs 
and he supports it warmly. In religious affiliation he is connected with 
the Methodist Episcopal church and one of the zealous working mem- 
bers of the congregation to which he belongs. His wife died in Feb- 
ruary, 1902. 

James E. Warner's experience as a boy and youth was like that of 
thousands of others in the great West. He grew to manhood on his 
father's farm, attended the country schools in the neighborhood of his 
home, and when he quit going to school, gave his whole attention to the 
farm work, as he had previously done between the terms of his teach- 
ing. He has passed the whole of his life so far in this county and 
has never veered from the i)ursuits of his ancestors. Starting in life 
as a farmer, when he took up its burdens for himself, he has adhered to 
the vocation of his first choice and has found it profitable. For he 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY SIT 

has followed it with imlnstry, skill and excellent judginent, keeping 
himself in touch with its progress and conducting his operations accord- 
ing to the spirit of the times. He farms extensively and also raises 
superior breeds of driving horses and high grade mules, which are 
his special delight. He is also famous for the fine quality of Poland- 
China hogs which he produces in large numbers. 

Mr. Warner was married on March 4, 1891, to Miss Alice C. Cross- 
ing, a daughter of John and Margaret (Dillon) Crossing, well known 
residents of this county for many years. They were natives of Scotland 
and Ireland, respectively. He is a Republican in politics, and, as his 
con^dctions are based on study and reflection, he holds to them firmly 
and seeks to enforce them in the government of the state and nation 
by aiding in every way he can the cause of his party. Fraternally he 
belongs to the Order of Modern AVoodmen of America, and in church 
relations he is an Ejiiscopal Methodist. Mr. "Warner and his wife 
stand high in the townshi]! and county and are worthy of the general 
esteem in which they are held. 

GEORGE A. WENDT. 

The interesting subject of this brief memoir, George A. "VVendt, 
of Keota, has been so faithful in the performance of every duty, and 
has shown such superior intelligence and business capacity, that, 
although he is but twenty-five years of age, he has risen to a position of 
great responsibility and importance in the employ of one of the leading 
industrial institutions in this part of the state. He has filled this 
position during the last three years, and his record in it is altogether 
to his credit, showing that he has met its requirements in a masterly 
way and greatly to the advantage of the interests he has in charge. 

Mr. Wendt is of German ancestry, his grandfather, Adolpli Wendt, 
having been born and reared in the Fatherland, whence he came to this 
country in his early manhood. He found a home in the New World at 
Bunker Hill, Illinois, and there his son Otto was born in 1858. The 
son grew to manhood in tlic place of his liirth, obtaining a slender 
education in the public schools and beginning operations for himself 
at an early age in the mines of the neighborhood. In 1880 he was 
joined in marriage with Miss Frederica Klein, who lived near Bunker 
Hill, and they became the parents of three children, George A., his 
brother Walter and his sister Cordelia, all living now in this county. 
In 1891 the family moved to Missouri and located at Keota. The father 
continued to work in the mines at that place and Ardmore until 1907, 
when he retired from active pursuits. In i^olitics he is a Republican, 



818 HISTORY OF :\IACOX COUNTY 

firmly grounded in the principles of his party and loyal in his support 
of it at all times. 

George A. Wendt is also a native of Buulier Hill, Illinois, where 
he was born on April 17, 188-1. He came with his parents to this county 
when he was a lad of seven years. He attended the i)ublic schools in 
Bevier when he had opportunity and made good use of his time and 
facilities, mastering all that was taught in the schools he went to and 
acquiring a good fimd of general information from reading and reflec- 
tion besides. When he left school he secured a position as clerk in the 
office of the Murlon Coal Company of Bevier, which he filled acceptably 
until 1906. In that year he was appointed agent at Keota for the 
Central Coal and Coke Company, being selected for this important 
position on account of the ability and fidelity he had exhibited in his 
other place. 

During his occu^jancy of the latter position, which is one of great 
exactions and responsibility, he has done everything in his power to 
justify the confidence which led to his appointment to it, and it is need- 
less to say that in this effort he has fully succeeded. The interests of 
the company in this part of the state have been carefully looked after 
and i)romoted by him, nothing being overlooked or neglected that could 
minister to its advantage or increase its prosperity and reputation. The 
business world all around him esteems him highly and the people gen- 
erally hold him in the greatest respect. He is a young man of fine 
progi'essiveness and considerable breadth of view, and feeling an abid- 
ing interest in the welfare of the comniunity in which he lives, he has 
been potential in helping to build u]) and further its development 
and improvement. On September 8, 1908, he was married to Miss 
Jennie Davis, a daughter of John J. Davis, one of the leading citizens 
of Bevier. In political affairs Mr. "Wendt renders allegiance to the 
Eepublican party and takes an active interest in its campaigns. 
Fraternally he is allied with the Order of Elks and the Modern 
Woodmen of America. 

^ CHARLES WHITE. 

In all the nniltitude of occupations oi)en to men in this land of 
great opportunity and boundless variety of industry, Charles White of 
Keota chose wisely in his j-outh by selecting one of construction, and he 
has been wise, also, in sticking to it and making the most of the chances 
it has brought him. His occupation has been in the line of his taste 
and his special capacity, and he has been very successful in it, rising 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 810 

to lii^li rank amoug builders and acquiring a mastery of many kinds of 
work incident to bis trade. 

Mr. "Wbite was born in Oswego county, New York, on June 30, 
1861. He is a son of Daniel and Betsy Ann (Corkins) Wbite, tbe 
former a native of England and tlie latter of Oneida coimty. New York. 
Tbe fatlier came to tins country a young man, and after tarrying for a 
sbort time iu Ontario, Canada, located in Oswego county, New York. 
There he met with and married Miss Betsy Ann Corkins, and they 
became the parents of eleven children, three of whom have died. Those 
living are : Harriet, tbe wife of Julius Cottel of Oswego county, New 
York ; C. H., who lives in Schenectady, New York ; Loring, a resident of 
Eome, New Yorlv; Charles, tbe principal subject of this review; Cora, 
tbe wife of Henry Rheil of New York state ; Isabelle, tbe wife of utiles 
Bryant of Syracuse, New York ; George, who is a citizen of Schenectady, 
like his brother C. H. ; and Herbert, whose home is in Rome, New York. 
Charles "White obtained his education in the district schools of liis 
native county, attending only until be reached the age of eleven years. 
For the circumstances of tbe family were such as to necessitate his 
doing something for himself as soon as be was able to work. His 
father was a farmer all his life, which ended in 1899, but adversities 
came his way and forced bis children to forego the advantages of exten- 
sive schooling and go to work at tlie earliest possible age. Charles, 
boy though be was, worked on farms in the summer and at lumbering 
in the winter until 18S3. He then came west and located in Mitchell 
county, Kansas, where one of his mother's brothers was living and tbe 
senior member of tbe firm of Corkins and Morris, contractors and 
builders. Under the direction of this firm Charles learned the trade 
of a carpenter and builder, remaining witli tbe firm four years. By 
that time he had mastered every branch of the trade its members could 
teach him, and in 1887 be moved to Marceline, Linn county, just when it 
was beginning to develop into a town and required a great deal of enter- 
prise and facility in the way of building. There Mr. White found 
abundant opjiortunity for tbe employment of his mechanical judgment 
and ability, and he remained in the budding little municipal as])irant for 
enlarged power and quickened activities two years, jjutting up most of 
the new buildings required and aiding considerably in the development 
and growth of the place. In 1889 be moved to Brookfield in the same 
county, where he remained about one year. 

Destiny had marked out for Mr. White a different career from that 
of a mere strolling builder and carpenter. Nature had fitted him for 
definite and specific work of a higher order, and she steered him into the 



«20 HISTORY OP MACOX COUX.TY 

channel that led to his appointed task. In 1890 he located at Bevier 
in this county and began working for the Kansas and Texas Coal Com- 
pany, which is now the Central Coal and Coke Company, and in the 
sei'vice of that enterprising corporation he has passed all his subsequent 
years, meeting all requirements with ability and rising on merit to the 
position of general foreman of construction for the company. In this 
capacity he is obliged to superintend the construction of all kinds of 
work needed in the equii:)ment of mines, building pits, shafts, scales, 
machinery, and all other structures that can be made of wood. He has 
shown great skill and ingenuity in his work and gained the reputation 
of being one of the most competent men engaged in it in this part of the 
country. AVhen a new i)iece of construction work is required, he 
studies the problem with intelligent insight into all its details and finds 
a waj^ to provide for the need, however complex and intricate the 
requirements may be. And as the operations of the company are very 
extensive, employing a great many men and providing for the wants 
of hosts of people, his services to the industrial and domestic life of this 
and other states are considerable and of an elevated character. It is 
pleasing to note that they are appreciated, too, by all classes of the 
people who have benefit from them. 

On April 24, 1887, Mr. "White was united in marriage with Miss 
Fannie M. Johnson, a daughter of AVilliam P. and Alice 
Johnson, natives of Ohio, but for years residents of Macon county. Ten 
children have been born to Mr, and Mrs. AVliite, and all of them are 
living and still abide with their i)arents. They are Elmer, Bonnie. 
Edna, Frances, Ivis, Otto, Fern, Fay, Harold and Helena. In politics 
the father is affiliated firmly with the Democratic party, and is an 
earnest and effective worker for its success. Fraternally he is allied 
with the Masonic Order, of which he is an itelligent, zealous and valued 
member. In religious thought and action he favors the Baptist church, 
to which liis wife has long belonged and in which she is an active 
worker. Wherever Mr. White has lived or is known he is esteemed 
as a first-class mechanic, a worthy man and an excellent citizen. In 
his present home he has the regard and good will of everybody and hosts 
of friends who admire him cordially and stand by him firmly. 

" JOHN B. RICHARDSON. 

This well known and highly respected farmer, live stock dealer and 
general merchant of ^Nfacon county, who, although he is but thirty-one 
j'ears of age, is a leader in the business, social and public life of the 
county, was born in Ten Mile township, where he now resides, and has 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 831 

devoted all his years and energies to the productive indnstries of that 
township, which he has greatly assisted in pushing forward to its pres- 
ent high state of development. His life began on November 4, 1878, and 
he is a son of the late John B. and Mary E. (White) Ricliai'dson, 
pioneer residents of the county and numbered among its best and most 
useful citizens. A sketch of their lives will be found elsewhere in this 
volume. 

Their son John B. was reared on the parental homestead and 
remained at home until 1900. He attended the district schools when he 
had opportunity, and completed his preparation for his life work by 
a special course of training at the Gem City Business College in Quincy, 
Illinois, from which he was graduated in 1898. Two years later he 
was married and set up a home of his own, buying eighty acres of land 
as a basis of operations, and devoting himself to its improvement and 
cultivation with the spirit of industry he had inherited from his parents 
and developed in his own experience. In connection with his farming 
industry he became an extensive buyer and shipper of mules, sending for 
years large numbers to Marjdand and Deleware, and many to other 
parts of the country. He is still engaged in this traffic and has at 
the time of this writing (1909) seventy-five good mules ready for the 
trade. He is not, however, farming as extensively as he did formerly. 
On November 20, 1908, he exchanged a farm for the general store which 
he conducted for some time at Ten Mile. 

In politics Mr. Richardson is a pronounced Democrat, firm in his 
convictions and loyal to his party. He is not offensive in his partisan- 
ship, and finds no fault with those who have opinions different from his 
own. But as his views are based on reading and reflection, he adheres 
to them and does what he can in a quiet way to bring about their 
supremacy in the goverment of the county, state and nation. His 
fraternal connections are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
and the Modern Woodmen of America, and the sociability of his nature 
finds exi)ression in the hospitality of his home and his free and agree- 
able intercourse with all classes of the people. He is a man of enter- 
prise and progressiveness, both as to his own affairs and those of 
public concern, giving his voluntary and effective support to every 
commendable move for the advancement of the township and the 
enlargement of every power for good to its people at work in their 
midst. 

On September 26, 1900, Mr. Richardson married Miss Esther 
Tovey, a daughter of William B. and Emily (Ladd) Tovey, natives of 
England Init for many years i-esidents of Macon county. Two children 



822 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

have blessed the union and still brighten the family fireside, a son 
named Barrett and a daughter named Grace. No citizen of the county 
is more highly esteemed than Mr. Richardson, and none is more 
deserving of good will and regard. 

^ , JOHN B. RICHAEDSON. 

(Deceased.) 

Having been brought to Macon county in 1841, when he was seven 
year old, by his parents, and dying here in 1897, the late John B. 
Richardson of Ten Mile township, one of the most enterprising and 
successful farmers in the couuty, passed fifty-six years of his useful 
life among oui- people, contributing to the development of this section 
of the state and helping to build up and fructify all its forces for. good. 
His trials were numerous and heavy in early life, but in the long run 
were far overborne by the triumphs he won, and his memory is revered 
by the people who knew him because 'of the services he rendered, the 
example he gave and the upright life he lived, which was as an open 
book, read and known by all observers. 

Mr. Richardson was born on December 29, 1834, in Pulaski county, 
Kentucky, and was a son of English and Sarah (Griffin) Richardson, 
also natives of Kentucky. They came with their young family to Mis- 
souri in 183G and located in Ralls county, where they remained until 
1841, when they moved to Macon county. Here the father engaged in 
farmingand also operated one of the first stage lines in the county. While 
he was successful in providing for the immediate wants of his family 
and making some progress toward independence and a competency, his 
opportunities were not such as to enable him to accumulate a great deal 
of this world's goods, for everything was costly and hard to get on the 
frontier. His offspring had, therefore to look out for themselves, each 
one taking up the battle of life and fighting it for liimself, as he was 
obliged to do in his day and generation. 

His son, John B. Richardson, obtained a very limited education 
in a brief and irregular atendance at the country school near his home. 
His services were always required on the farm and in aid of the family, 
when there was anything to do at home, and his chances of attending 
school came only in the intervals between the exacting calls of duty 
in other directions. He remained at home until 1859. By that time 
the voice of Pike's Peak had grown with him from persuasion to com- 
mand, and lie joined one of the 11,000 wagon trains that crossed the 
lilains to that historic elevation in one summer, filled with high hoi)es 
of coming fortune and ready to dare any danger and undergo any 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 823 

hardship to secure it. He passed oue year in pursuit of his goldeu 
dream, then returned home to face a trial of a ditTereut kind in which 
the gage of battle was the preservation of the Amei'ican Union. At 
the very beginning of the Civil war he enlisted in the Southern army 
imder the call of Governor Jackson for volunteers, and spent six months 
in the service. At the expiration of liis terra of enlistment he abandoned 
the sectional conflict and once more turned his attention to mining, 
going to Montana, Idaho and the territory of Washington, as it was 
then. In that far northwestern localitj' he remained seven years, 
l)acking his goods and chattels from place to place and prospecting and 
mining with success. 

Before leaving Missouri Mr. Richardson had accjuired the owner- 
ship of a tract of land, and in 1869 he retui-ned to this and settled down 
for the remainder of his days, devoting his energies and his earnings 
to the development and improvement of liis farm. . He farmed exten- 
sively and raised and fed large numbers of cattle and horses for the 
market, and was successful in every feature of his business. At his 
death he owned 440 acres of first rate land, the greater part of which 
was under cultivation, with good buildings and other improvements 
suitable to an attractive and comfortable home in this part of the 
country. 

On June 22, 1870, ^Mr. Richardson was united in marriage with 
Miss Mary E. White, a daughter of ]\rark and Serilda (Wright) White, 
pioneers and leading citizens of this county. Nine children resulted 
from the union and all but one of them are living and residents of 
^lacon county. They are: George W., the first born, who lives in St. 
Louis; Mattie, the wife of R. A. Wright; John B. ; Grace, the wife 
of James Huntsberry ; Earnest ; Deeima, the wife of Lee Norton ; and 
Cleo, Carlisle and Serilda, who are still at home with their mother. She 
is residing on the homestead and the children at home manage its 
operations under her direction. She was born in this county on June 
10, 1852, and has passed the whole of her life so far within its borders, 
always engaged in useful lal)oi- and doing well her ])art in every I'elatio'u 
of life. AVhen death struck down their natural guardian and i)rovider 
she became at once the sole reliance of the children who were still living 
with her, and to their welfare and the service of the connnunity around 
her she gave herself with entire devotion and excellent results. The 
townshij) looks ui)on her as one of its best types of women and respects 
her accordingly. In political relations ]i(>r husband was an ardent and 
hard woi'king Democrat, and in fraternal life he was a devoted member 
of the Masonic Order. 



824 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

^ LEE 0. MASON, ]il. I). 

One of the able and essentially representative physicians and 
surgeons of Macon county, which has been his home from the time of 
his nativity, is Dr. Lee Otho Mason, who is engaged in the successful 
practice of his profession in the thriving little city of Bevier, where he 
is held in high regard, both as a physician and as a progressive and 
loyal citizen. 

Dr. Mason was born on the homestead farm of his parents, in 
Callao township, Macon county, Missouri, on the 13th of December, 
1878, and is a son of James P. and Alice (Wright) Mason, the former 
of whom is a native of Virginia and the latter of whom was born and 
reared in Macon county, being a representative of one of its old and 
honored families. The marriage of the parents was solemnized in the 
year 1876, and of their four children two are living, the doctor being 
the elder, and the daughter, Jennie, being now the wife of Joseph 
Summers, of Callao, Macon county, Missouri. 

James P. Mason was reared and educated in the Old Dominion 
commonwealth, and there he continued to be identified with agricultural 
pursuits until 1866, when he came to Missouri, being a young man at the 
time. He took up his residence in Macon county, and here he has risen 
to prominence and influence as a substantial farmer and stock-grower 
and as a citizen of substantial worth of character. He and his wife 
reside in the village of Callao and he gives his attention to the super- 
vision of his fine landed interests and general farming operations. He 
also does a very considerable business in the extending of financial loan 
on approved real estate security. In politics he is a staunch adherent 
of the Democratic party, and for the past several years he has served 
as road overseer of his township. He and his wife hold membership 
in the Christian church, and are active in its work and support. 

Dr. Lee 0. Mason reverts to the old home farai in the matter of 
childhood experiences and early training, and his preliminary educa- 
tional disci])line was secured in the district schools, after which he 
attended the high school in tlie city of Macon. In 1897 he entered 
the Missouri State NormaL School at Kirksville, where he continued 
his studies for nearly two years. In the same city he finally entered 
the American School of Osteopathy, in which i)arent institution of this 
school of practice he completed the prescribed course and was graduated 
as a member of the class of 1901, duly receiving his degree of Doctor 
of Osteopathy. He had a desire, however, to prej^are himself for 
professional work somewhat outside the circumscribed field of osteop- 




LEE 0. MASON, M. D. 



A^ '.■y^-ifK — />^- ' 



HISTORY OF ilACON COUNTY Sio 

athy, and in 1902 lie was matriculated in the Birmingham Medical Col- 
lege, at Birmingham, Alabama, in whicli well ordered institution he was 
graduated in 1904, with the well-earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. 

Upon his return to his native state he passed a thorough and 
satisfactory examination before the state board of medical examiners, 
and upon receiving his license he established himself in the practice 
of his profession in Bevier, where his success has been of unequivocal 
order and where he has built up a substantial and representative pro- 
fessional business. His knowledge of osteopathy proves an eifectivc 
sui)plemeut to his thorough training as a physician and surgeon, and he 
has recourse to the same in such cases as his judgment dictates. The 
doctor continues a close and appreciative student of the best staudara 
and periodical literature of his profession, and is identified with the 
American Medical Association, the Missouri State Medical Society and 
the Macon County Medical Society. He is local medical examiner of 
the National Life Insurance Company of St. Louis, Missouri, and also 
for the National Life Insurance Company of Montpelier, Vermont. 

In politics Dr. Mason is found arrayed as a loyal and zealous sup- 
porter of the cause of the Eepublican party, but the only office of which 
he has been incumbent is that of county coroner, to which he was 
elected in 1904, and in which he served two years. He is affiliated 
with the Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the 
Independent Order of Foresters. 

On the 21st of August, 1904, Dr. Mason was united in marriage to 
Miss Anna Elizabeth Williams, who was born in Canton, Illinois, a 
daughter of John T. Williams, now deceased. Dr. and Mrs. Mason 
occupy a prominent place in connection with the social activities of 
their home city and their popularity is of the most unequivocal order. 

v^ GEORGE WELLS. 

Until recently one of the successful and prosperous farmers of 
Round Grove township, and in his occupation making every day count to 
his advantage, George Wells came to his present state of worldly comfort 
and consequence through a variety of experiences, all of which have 
been valual)le to him in the self-knowledge and knowledge of others 
they gave him, but many of which were sometimes unpleasant when he 
went through them. He is a native of this state, born in Lincoln county 
on March 29, 1833, and the son of Hayden and Courtney (Briscoe) 
Wells, who were born and reared in Nelson county, Kentucky. They 
were married there in 182S and came to Missouri in 1S33, locatinu' in 



826 IIISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Lincoln county, wliere they passed all their remaining years of earthly 
life. They were farmers in Kentucky and continued in the same pur- 
suit in this state, making a success of the business here as they had 
done in their native state. Seven children were born to them, but two 
of whom are living now, George and his brother John C, who is still 
a resident of Lincoln county. In j^olitics the father was a "VMiig and in 
religion a member of the Primitive Baptist churcli. 

George Wells was educated in the district and subscription schools 
of Lincoln county, wliere he passed his early days working on his 
father's 'farm and assisting the family. He remained at home until 
1859, then became a traveling daguerreotypist and photographer, going 
from place to place all over Southeastern Missouri. In 1863 he opened 
a photograph gallery in Macon City, the first one there, and during 
the next eleven years carried on a flourishing business in the art pre- 
servative, wliicli photography has come to be, usurping to some extent 
the place so long held by the printing trade, yet not displacing it or 
taking awaj' its title to the same distinction. 

In 1874 he wearied of his art and turned his attention to fanning, 
taking charge of his fatlier-in-law's farm, and from that time until 
1908 managing its large interests with vigor and skill, and making his 
o])eration8 jn-ofitable to all the parties concerned in them. In con- 
nection with his farming he raised live stock extensively and became a 
shipper of considerable importance in the magnitude and quality of his 
shipments. In 1908 he disposed of the farm of 500 acres, of which he 
had become the owner, and everything belonging to it, and since then 
has been living a j-etired life, passing the evening of his long day of 
exaction and toil, of trial and triumph, in jieaceful rest and the 
enjoyment of the fruits of his industry and capacity. 

Mr. AVells was married on December 27, 1866, to ]\Iiss Susan Smith, 
a daughter of J. D. and Ruth Smith, who were for many 
years prominent residents of Macon county, and regarded as among its 
leading citizens. The offspring of this union nmnbered three, liut only 
two are living: Lutie Mae, the wife of E. S. Williams of Alarshall, Mis- 
souri, and Stephen, who lives in Macon county. In political faith and 
action the father has been a Democrat throughout his mature life, 
believing firmly in his party and sedulous in his efforts to helji it to 
victory on all occasions. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic Oixler. 
in which he also takes an active interest, and in religion he is allied 
with the Methodist Fji)isc()pnl church South, whose conmiendable activ- 
ities command his attention and enlist his energetic aid. 

For forty-six years Mr. Wells has been a resident of and active 



HISTOKY OF .MACON COUNTY 827 

worker in Macoii county. He is laiown throughout it.s extent and liis 
record is everj^where accounted highly creditable to him and the county. 
All classes of the people respect him as a type of their best citizenship 
and one of their most representative men, vrorthy to be taken as an 
example and revered as a patriarch. 

ALEXANDER. S. KALE. 

With his youth darkened by the terrible shadow of the Civil war, 
in which his father laid his life on the altar of his country, and in which 
the son also participated, and from which he returned at the dawn of 
his manhood with almost nothing wherewith to begin life's endeavor 
for advancement in the lierce competition among men, Alexander. S. 
Kale, one of the now prosperous and prominent farmers of Round Grove 
township, Macon county, has made his own way in the world without the 
aid of fortune's favors or outside help of any kind. 

Mr. Kale was born in Randolph county, Indiana, on ]\fay 14, 1843, 
and is a son and the only surviving child of James M. and Elizabeth 
(Stephens) Kale, the former born in Augusta county, Virginia, in 1804, 
and the latter a native of Ohio. The paternal grandfather, David Kale, 
was a soldier in the Revolution under Washington, being a member of 
the celebrated command of Virginia Riflemen on which the great com- 
mander relied for ex])ert service in emergencies, and was })resent at the 
surrender of Cornwallis at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, which practically 
ended the war for our independence. 

Mr. Kale's father moved with his parents to Indiana when he was 
a boy nine years old, the family locating in Randolph county of that 
state. That county is one of the state's eastern tier, bordering on 
Ohio, and is now a wealthy, well developed and highly ]irogressive 
portion of the great Hoosier commonwealth. But when the Kale family 
took up its residence there it was still on the frontier and literally a 
howling wilderness. For the wild men of the forest still roamed over 
it and the beasts of prey often made night hideous with their terrifying 
outcries. It was amid such scenes that Mr. Kale's father's life began 
and was continued until he reached the age of thirteen. Then, in 1856, 
the family moved to similar scenes and experiences in a still farther 
western state, coming to Missouri and locating in Callaway county. The 
father became possessed of a tract of land which he broke u)) and 
im]M-oved, and on which he conducted a flourishing industry in farming 
and raising stock until the beginning of the Civil war. He was fifty- 
seven years of age, and therfore too old to be even forced into military 
service, but this did not restrain bis iiatriotic love of the I'nion and 



S28 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

determination to assist in saving it from dismemberment. He promjatly 
enlisted as a lieutenant in the First Missouri cavalry, Company A, and 
his company was soon afterward assigned to the Army of the Cum- 
berland under command of General Thomas. The campaigns of this 
army were exceedingly active and brought it into some of the most 
sanguinary and celebi-ated battles of the war. Mr. Kale was with his 
comi^any through them all until he was killed at the battle of Bowling 
Green, Kentucky, in the spring of 1863. 

The stricken widow who survived him, and whose maiden name 
was Elizabeth Stephens, bore him nine children, and, as has been stated, 
her son Alexander is the only one of the nine now living. In politics 
the father was a life-long Democrat, but he took the Northern side 
of the questions at issue during and leading up to the war. He was 
also a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church South. His 
wife died in spring of 1866. 

Alexander S. Kale's only opportunity for scholastic training was 
furnished by the district schools of his native county and some little 
attendance at those of his locality in this state. His chief discipline in 
this respect came from subsequent reading and reflection, and his fund 
of general information, which is a considerable one, was derived from 
experience and observation. He wrought diligently and faithfully 
on his father's farms in Indiana and Missouri, standing devotedly by his 
mother while his father was in the field battling for his country. After 
the death of the father the slumbering fires of the son's patriotism 
broke into flame, and nothing could quench its ardor but a baptism in 
blood. He therefore enlisted in defense of the Union in Company B, 
Forty-second Missouri volunteer infantry, and was soon at the front. 
He faced death on many a well fought field, among them the battles of 
Paris, Missouri; Boonville, Glasgow, Cumberland Mountains, and 
others, and many minor engagements. His service continued to the 
end of the war, when he was mustered out at Nashville and honorably 
discharged at St. Louis. An incident following his military service 
but allied with it is well worthy of special mention and preservation in 
an enduring record. It is this: In 1865 he carried the United States 
flag over Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, making his way mostly on 
foot, and proclaiming Lee's surrender. This incident shows the 
courage of his nature, and also illustrates the rashness of youth. For, 
although the Confederacy had been overthrown, sectional feeling in the 
states he wandered over was still high, and it is somewhat remarkable 
that he did not ]iay for his boldness with his life. 

Returning to Missouri after this exploit, Mr. Kale took up his 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 829 

residence in ^Nlacon countj^ on the land he now owns, and there he has 
ever since been industriously engaged in raising cattle and cultivating 
his farm, which comprised 130 acres at the start and now embraces 
230, or did until recently, when he divided a portion of it among his 
children: Anna, the wife of D. P. Chambers of Schuyler county, Mis- 
souri ; who died March 8, 1910, Charles, who is living on the homestead ; 
and Bettie, the wife of William M. Soltman of this county. Their par- 
ents were married on November 15, 1865, and had five children, these 
two being the only ones now living. The mother's name before her mar- 
riage to their father was Mrs. Martha Shouse, she having been pre- 
viously married and being a widow when Mr. Kale wooed and won her. 
She is a daughter of John C. and Emily (Blancett) Eowland, long well 
known residents of this county. 

Mr. Kale is a Eepublican in politics and active in the service of his 
party. He is an enthusiastic member of tlie fast fading Grand Army 
of the Republic, and by his connection with it keeps alive the memories 
of his military service, keeping in evergreen recollection its racy enjoy- 
ments, thrilling adventures and its privations, now softened by time, 
and burying in oblivion the strong passions and bitter sectional feeling 
incident to the sanguinary and desolating conflict. His religious con- 
nection and that of his wife is with the Missionary Baptist church, 
but at heart they are both Hardshell Baptists. Both take a cordial 
interest and a leading part in church work. Approaching now the sun- 
set of life, this good and useful couple are comforted and gratified with 
the knowledge that the people among whom they have so long lived 
and labored respect them highly and ajjpreciate the services they have 
rendered to the community. For on all sides they are regarded as 
among the most worthy and estimable citizens of the county. Mr. 
Kale's special delight in his stock industry is in fine horses and sheep, 
and he has done a great deal toward improving the standard of these 
animals all over the county. 

ARTHUR C. SKINNER. 

This esteemed farmer and merchant of Narrows township, Alacon 
county, represents the third generation of his family born and reared 
in Missouri. His grandfather, John Skinner, and his father. Rev. 
"William R. Skinner, were born in Randol])li county, and he is himself 
a native of Bevier in Macon county, where his life began on Septembei- 
24, 1875. His father who is now the pastor of Missionary church just 
north of Bevier, was born in 1846, and during his boyhood and youth 
worked on his father's farm in Randoljih county. He obtained a com- 



830 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

mon school education and supplemented it with extensive reading, 
especially in theologj', for he determined early in his manhood to enter 
tlie Christian ministry. This he did in 1867 in Macon county, which 
has ever since been the ])rinci]ial field of his labors, although he is 
often called to preach and render other ministerial services in other 
communities than the one in which he lives. His present home is in 
IMacon City, and as has been stated, he is the revered pastor of the 
Baptist church north of the city of Bevier. 

Rev. Mr. Skinner was married in 1867 to Miss Sarah Sneed, a 
native of this county. They have had ten children, nine of whom are 
living: Arthur C, the subject of this writing; Albert, who lives in 
Bevier; L. Nora, the wife of James L. Vansickle of Macon City; Eli, 
whose home is in Huntsville, Randolph county; Theodosia, the wife 
of H. P. Goodale, a resident of Texas; Omer, who lives at Bevier; and 
Lizzie. Clara and Ruby, all of whom have their home in Macon City. 
The father is still hale and hearty, and as energetic in his work as when 
he first entered upon it. His services to the church are highly 
appreciated and he occupies an elevated jwsition in the regard of the 
leaders and governing bodies of the sect and section for which he 
officiates. 

Arthur C. Skinner obtained his early edu^'atiou in the district 
schools of Bevier and other ])laces in Macon county, and after leaving 
school assisted his father on the home farm until 1884, when he rented 
land and engaged in farming on his own account, also raising stock in 
goodly numbers and making regular shipments to the markets, where 
his out]nit held a high rank because of the skill with which it had been 
fed and cared for as shown l)y its excellent condition when sliiii])ed 
and delivered. He continued his operations along these lines imtil 1900, 
when he determined to seek a change of occupation. In obedience to 
this determination he went to Macon City and entered the employment 
of the Adam Rogers Company, extensive manufacturers of brick for 
building purposes. He worked for this company two years as an 
ordinary hand and during the next three as foreman of the ]ilant. 

Bj' the end of the period specified Mr. Skinner had had his experr- 
ence in the industrial and business world, and it left him with a longing 
for the oc('U])ati()n he had abandoned, with its free and indei)endent 
life. In 15)05, therefore, he concluded to return to it, and to this end 
bought forty acres of good land in Narrows township, this county, 
which tract is a part of his present farm. He has resided on the farm 
ever since and given his time and best energies to develojung and 
improving it, cultivating the original forty acres and the additional 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 831 

forty wbifh he has since acquired with skill and jndg:inent, according 
to the most aproved modern methods, and lias had the gratitication of 
seeing his labors well rewarded and his property rapidly increasing in 
value. He has been very successful as a farmer, gathering a comjietency 
for liiniself and contributing to the progress and improvement of the 
township by his own activities and by these he had awakened and 
stimulated by his example. 

As the time passed Mr. Skinner found that his farming and stock 
raising operations were not sufficient to fully occupy his mind and 
faculties, close as was the attention he gave them. He had room and 
ability for other engagements, and on April 13, 1909, he bought the 
store and business of James Vansickle, which is known as the Narrows 
Creek store, and since then he has been engaged in general mer- 
chandising in connection with his farming and other industries. The 
store is well known throughout a large extent of the surrounding 
country and has an extensive trade. For a long time it was the only 
store and contained the only postoffice within a circuit of many miles, 
and was, therefore, not only a center of distribution but a social, busi- 
ness and i^olitical focus for this whole section of the county. The 
increase in population and the multii)lication of business houses in its 
vicinity have not robbed it of its supremacy, and it is still one of the 
leading resorts of the people in all the surrounding territory. 

On Februarj^ 24, 1884, Mr. Skiimer was united in marriage with 
Miss MoUie E. "Waller, a daughter of Richard AValler, one of the sub- 
stantial and influential citizens of Macon county. The five children 
born of this union are all living and all still members of the family 
household. They are Elmer, AVilliam, Gladys, Georgia and Theodore. 
Mr. Skinner is a Republican in jiolitics, a Modern Woodmen of America 
in fraternal relations, and a member of the Missionary Baptist church 
in religious affiliation. He and his wife, who also belongs to this church; 
are active church workers, with loyal devotion to the congregation and 
zeal for its welfare. 

V ALONZO C. THOMPSON, M. D. 

Descended from old Virginia families whose historj' has long been 
coincident with that of the Old Dominion, in which they have lived 
from colonial times, Dr. Alonzo C. Thomiison of Round Grove town- 
shi]), this count}', exhibits in his own character and career the salient 
characteristics of his ancestry and fully exemplifies them and the tradi- 
tions of the family and the state in which it grew to prominence before 
his birth. 



832 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Dr. Tliom]jsou is liiniself a native of ]\Iaeon couuty, where he was 
born on Seiatember 5, 1866. His grandfather, John Thompson, and 
his father, "William P. Thompson, were both born (the grandfather 
October 3, 1783, and the father in 1818) and reared in Louisa county, 
Virginia. There the Doctor's father, passed his early years, remaining 
until he reached maturity. In 1837, at the dawn of his manhood, he 
determined to seek a home in the west, even though it involved a sur- 
render of most of tlie comfort and all of the luxuries of life and a 
discipline of danger and endurance. He came to Missouri tliat year 
and located in Eandolph county, where he remained four years. At 
the end of that period he moved to this county, taking up his residence 
on government land in Narrows Creek township, whicli he secured as 
a homestead, and on which he passed the remainder of his life actively 
engaged in farming and raising stock. He died in 1868 leaving a well 
imi^roved and highly productive farm of 160 acres, which he had 
wrested from the wilderness and transformed into a valuable and 
attractive home. 

The Doctor's father was married in 1840 to Miss Marj^ E. Butler 
of this county, and by this marriage became the father of ten children. 
Six of these have passed away, leaving as the survivors of the family 
Susan, who is the wife of S. M. Dorety of Duncan, Oklahoma ; John H., 
who lives at Oreencastle, Indiana; "William M., who is also a resident of 
Duncan, Oklahoma; and James P., who has his home in Kansas City, 
Missouri. The mother of these children died in 1863, and in 1865 the 
father married a second wife. Miss Mary E. Moore, a native of Loudoun 
county, "\arginia. The Doctor is their only child. The father was an 
ardent Democrat in politics and belonged to the Methodist Episcopal 
church South, of which he was a devout and active working member 
for many years. The second wife died April 25, 1909 in Oregon. 

Dr. Thompson began his scholastic training in the country schools 
of this county, continued it in the graded public schools of Macon City 
and completed it at the old St. James Military Academy there. In 
3890 he entered the medical department of the State University at 
Columbia, where he completed the lirst year's course of instruction. 
In 1891 he matriculated at the Baltimore Medical College, from which 
he was graduated with the degree of M. D. on March l23, 1892. His 
next move was to take a post graduate course in the New York Poly- 
clinic institution, at which he passed four and a half months. Suffering 
when he left that institution from failing health, he made a tour of the 
South with a view to the restoi'ation of his vigor, and on his return to 
Macon county in tlie spring of 1894, he turned his attention to farming 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 833 

for the siuiie purpose. After farming for a year lie l)egaii the practice 
of his profession in Macon City in 1895. He continued to practice 
there until 1901, then retireci to his farm in Bound Grove township, and 
on this he has lived and labored ever since, giving up his practice alto- 
gether, and devoting his entire time and energy to the oi)eratious of the 
farm, which comprises 518 aci'es and is all under cultivation. 

In the local affairs of the township and county the Doctor has 
always taken an active and serviceable interest, whether they were 
professional, })olitical, mercantile or social. He served two years as 
county physician, and has long been an active and zealous member 
of the ]\lacon County ^Icdical Society, of which he was secretary in 
1896 and 1897. The genius of improvement in this section of the state 
has felt the influence of his quickening spirit and known the benefit of 
his material assistance, and all moral, mental and material agencies 
for advancement have commanded his aid in counsel and in active serv- 
ice. He was married on October -i, 1904, to Miss Margaret Stiles, a 
daughter of Elbert and Margaret (F'ullmer) Stiles, prominent resi- 
dents of Shelby county in this state. Two children have blessed the 
union and brightened the home of their pai'ents, their sons, Howard 
Alouzo and Harry Lysander. The Doctor is an active Democrat polit- 
ically, earnestly devoted to the welfare of his party and one of its most 
effective workers in all campaigns. His wife is a member of the South- 
ern Methodist church, in the work of which she takes great interest and 
an active part. Both are highly esteemed throughout the county, num- 
bering their friends by the host and firmly established in the good 
opinion of all the people. 

^ GEORGE W. GRAVES. 

One of the oldest residents of Macon county and one of the early 
arrivals in this section from the country farther east, George W. Graves 
has witnessed the growth of the section from a primeval wilderness to 
its present state of progress and high development, and has contributed 
his full share of the labor required to bring aliout the gratifying change. 
He also bore his full share of the burden of pioneer life and risked all 
the hazards of the frontier, becoming familiar with them in his boyhood, 
when they were numerous and at all times imminent, and seeing them 
gradually remoA'ed through the onward march of civilization and its 
conquest of the wilderness. 

Mr. Graves was born in Pulaski county, Kentucky, on October 12, 
1829, and came to this county with his mother in 1838, when he was 
but nine years old. He is a grandson of Robert Graves, a prominent 



834 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

citizen of the county of liis nativity, and the son of Jessie and Celia 
(Graves) Graves, and the only survivor of their eight children. His 
parents were born, reared and married in Kentucky, Pulaski count}', 
and there the father passed the whole of his life as an industrious and 
well-to-do farmer. After his death the mother brought the two sons 
she liad to Missouri and located in Macon county. Here the sons grew 
to manhood and obtained their education in the district schools, or 
rather in the subscription schools of the neighborhood, as they were 
in those early days. While attending school and after leaving the 
shrine of Cadmus George W. worked on farms and assisted his mother, 
remaining with her until 1850. In that year he took up eighty acres of 
government land, on which he has been actively and extensively engaged 
in farming and raising live stock ever since. 

Mr. Graves has given his farm his closest attention from the start 
and prospered in working it. He has increased it to 120 acres, all of 
which he cultivartes with industry and skill, getting large returns for 
liis intelligent labor and raising the value of his property by steady 
increases from year to year. He is a student of his business and applies 
with judgment and profit what he learns by reading and observation, 
keeping himself abreast of the most advanced thought in agricultural 
pursuits, and disseminating his acquisitions on the subject among 
his friends and neighbors by his example and the results of his 
experiments. 

On January 12, 1850, Mr. Graves was married to Miss Louisa J\foss, 
a native of Macon county and daughter of Carl and Mary Moss, pros- 
perous and esteemed farmers of that county. By this union they 
became the pai'ents of four children, all of whom are living and resi- 
dents of IMacon county. They are: Francis i\rarion; Martha Ann, 
the wife of John Bohannon ; John A. ; and Mary P., the wife of 
John Whiles. In politics the father has been a life-long Democrat, 
always loyal to his party and zealous in its service, firmly attached to 
its princijjles and feeling it to be his duty to do all he could to have them 
prevail in the government of the country. He is now fourscore years 
of age and over, and has passed nearly three-quarters of a century in 
Macon county. He is a venerable link connecting the dawn of the 
county's history with its present noonday si)lendor of development and 
power, and is revered by the people accordingly, as he is, also, for his 
sterling worth, his usefulness in the past in promoting the welfare of 
the township and county, and his ujiright and elevated citizenship. 
Macon county has no better man among her i)eople and none wlio is 
held in more general good will and esteem. His life is an inspiration 




J. F. SEARS 



HISTORY OF MACOX COINTV 835 

to endeavor and liis character is well worthy of miitation by all who 
strive after lofty ideals. 

^ JOSEPH F. SEARS. 

^Vlthoiigli ooiii})aratively a young man yet, Josejjli F. Sears, cash- 
ier of the Bank of Ethel, in this county, has already established himself 
firmly in the confidence and regard of the people of the county as an 
excellent business man and a first-rate citizen, ardently devoted to the 
interests of the town and county in which he lives and willing to do all 
in his ])ower to promote them and the enduring welfare of the people. 
He is a native of Macon county, born near the village of Walnut on 
September 15, 1881, and a son of James M. and Martha E. (Rice) 
(Smiley) Sears, the mother having been at the time of her marriage 
to Mr. Sears the widow of a Mr. Smiley, who was killed in one of the 
terrible battles of the Civil war. By her first marriage she became 
the mother of one daughter and one son, and by the second of a 
daughter named Myrtle, who is now the wife of C. S. Swarthout, of 
La Plata, and Joseph F., the immediate subject of this brief review. 
The father was for many years one of the leading farmers of Walnut 
township, in this coimty. He is now living retired from active pursuits, 
he and his wife making their home at La Plata. He is a Democrat in 
political faith and served for a number of years as constable in La Plata 
township. 

Joseph F. Sears has lived a rather quiet life, passing all of his 
mature years in the service of the Bank of Ethel, first as bookkeeper 
and clerk and later as cashier. He was prepared for the performance 
of duty in life by training in the public schools of La Plata and a course 
of special instruction at the Gem City Business College in Quincy, Illi- 
nois. Soon after completing his education he was appointed bookkeeper 
and clerk in the Bank of Ethel, or, rather, assistant cashier. In 1906 he 
bought some stock in the bank and was chosen a member of its board 
of dii-ectors, and in 1908 was made cashier. Since his accession to this 
position the bank has made rapid progress, enjoying a steady increase 
in its business, the number of its ])atrons and the general confidence 
and good will of the community in which it operates and to the welfai-e 
of which it contributes essentially. 

Mr. Sears is earnestly devoted to the interests of the bank and gives 
its affair? his whole attention except what is required by his family and 
the needs of the township and county. All his investments are in its 
stock, of which he now owns a considerable volume, acquired by small 
but steady and continued purchases, his holdings making him one of 



836 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

the principal owners of this valuable and i>rofitable property. He is 
a Democrat politically, but, although he is deeply interested in the suc- 
cess of his party, he has never been a very active partisan and has 
always refused to accept a political office of any kind. In fraternal 
relations he belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Modern "Woodmen 
of America, and his religious connection is with the Christian church. 
He is one of the elders of the congregation to which he belongs and 
has long been one of the most active workers in its worthy and 
commendable undertakings. 

On July 16, 1906, he was united in marriage with Miss Ethel B. 
Baity, a native of La Plata and daughter of George AV. and Margaret 
(Saunders) Baity, also natives of Macon county. Mrs. Sears was a 
teacher in the public schools of La Plata for a number of years and is 
a very accomplished lady. She and her husband have one child, their 
son Joseiih F., Jr., who is the light and life of their beautiful home, 
which is a center of social culture and refined and gracious hospitality, 
and a favorite resort for the most intellectual and cultivated people 
of the community. Mr. Sears began life with practically nothing and has 
been very successful. He and his wife are everj-where held in the 
highest esteem and are very popular. 

V JOHN TOOLEY. 

In the case of John Tooley, one of the prominent, enterprising and 
successful farmers of Middlefork township, Macon county, desire and 
duty, the positive and negative poles of our being, have worked harmon- 
iously and enabled him to pursue, in the main, the vocation he wished 
and win the results he sought. He has tried his hand at various 
occupations, but never had to be driven to any, and found enjoyment 
and profit in all. The experience has given him breadth of view and 
self knowledge, and each pursuit has helped to make him more capable 
for the next. 

Mr. Tooley is a native of this county and was born on July 7, 1860. 
He is a son of Steplien and Louisa E. (Walker) Tooley, the former born 
in Shelby county, Kentucky, and the latter in Macon county, Missouri. 
The father's life began in 1829, and he came to Missouri in the fifties, 
locating in Macon county. Here he was busily occupied in general 
farming until 1868, when he moved to Clarence in Shelby county and 
became a dealer in tobacco, buying and selling extensively, making 
large shipments to the eastern markets and supplying a considerable 
local trade. He built the first tobacco barn in Clarence and continued 
his operations in handling the staple article of merchandise of almost 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 837 

universal use which claimed his atteutiou until 1872. He then saw het- 
ter opportunities for protit and advancement in handling live stock, 
and he turned his attention to this commodity, in which he dealt 
actively until 1893. He then moved to this county, and, retiring from 
business, has made his home with his son John ever since. For a 
quarter of a century he was interested in general merchandising at 
Clarence, being for a time a member of the firm of Chinn, Tooley and 
Company and afterward of that of Tooley and Bishop. 

Mr. Tooley 's parents were married in 1856. His mother's maiden 
name was Louisa E. AValker, and she was a daughter of Isham M. 
Walker, one of the revered pioneers of Macon county, a brief account 
of whose useful life will be found elsewhere in this work. Of the seven 
children born of the union only two are living, John and his sister 
Nannie, who is the wife of Thomas Boulware of Louisville, Kentucky. 
In politics the father has always been an energetic and loyal Democrat, 
interested in the triumph of his party and on all occasions doing what 
he could to make it victorious. His business career is greatly to his 
credit and gave him high rank in mercantile circles, and his elevated 
citizenship touching all the relations of life has won him the respect and 
regard of all classes of the people. 

John Tooley 's education was limited to what he could get in the 
curriculum of the district schools in Shelby and Macon counties, except 
what he learned in the stern but thorough school of experience. When 
he finished his scholastic studies he went to California, where he 
remained until 1885, doing whatever he found to do, and doing every- 
thing as well as he could. He mined some, helped to build bridges, 
and found profitable emplojTiient in other lines of endeavor, being 
always willing to perform any labor that was at hand and nuiking the 
most he could of it. In 1885 he returned to Macon county and bought 
eighty acres of land, the nucleus of his ])resent farm of 330 acres, and 
here he has been vigorously, diligently and successfully engaged in 
farming and raising live-stock ever since. He is enterprising and pros- 
perous, and occupies a position of prominence and influence in the civil 
and social life of the township and county. He has given close and intel- 
ligent attention to the needs of the section of the state in which he 
lives, and his service in promoting its advancement are highly 
appreciated by all its people. 

Mr. Tooley was married on November 27, 1888, to Miss Catherine 
Graves, a native of Macon county and a daughter of William R. and 
Permelia (Reynolds) Graves, an account of whose lives appear on 
another page of this volume. The union has resulted in five children 



838 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

all of -whom are living and still at home with their parents. They are 
Lulu, Eiley, Marie, Eva and Isham. The father takes an active i)art 
in local politics as a Democrat firm in the faith and of unwavering 
loyalty to his party. In its behalf he exerts himself with energ>' and 
etfectiveness, and is kno-mi throughout the county as one of the men of 
influence in his township whose counsel is warmly welcomed and whose 
services are highly esteemed in the coimty organization and all the 
imdertakings of the party. He and his wife are zealous and devoted 
members of the Christian church and earnest and energetic workers 
in its behalf. 

LYSANDER LEE GRAVES. 

Born, reared, educated and married in Middlefork township. Macon 
county, in which he has expended all the energies of his life from his 
birth to the present time, Lysander Lee Graves is wholly a i^roduct of 
that township and a worthy representative of its people. He is one 
of the intelligent and energetic farmers of the county, and exhibits 
their salient characteristics of industry and thrift in his business as he 
shows their public spirit, progressiveness and breadth of view in his 
citizenship. 

Mr. Graves was born in ]\Iiddlefork township, this county, on [March 
9, 1866, and is a son of William E. and Permelia (Reynolds) Graves. He 
is a brother of Robert M. Graves of the same township, in a sketch of 
whom, elsewhere in this work, a brief history of the parents will be 
found. Lysander L. Graves has shown himself to be worthy of his 
ancestry and a fine exemplar of the sterling traits of character and 
manhood for which they were distinguished. 

Like others of his day and locality, Mr. Graves obtained his educa- 
tion in the country schools near his father's home and worked on the 
parental farm while getting it. He remained at home until 1890. assist- 
ing his father in the work of the homestead and laying up what he could 
save of his earnings as a part of his equipment for the battle of life 
when the time should come for him to take it up for himself. This he 
did in 1800, when he bought eighty acres of land and began farming on 
his own account. He has conducted his operations with great enter- 
prise and skill, fanning intelligently and progressively, and managing 
his business with shrewdness and careful attention to its every detail, 
and he has been very successful. He now owns -180 acres and has most 
of it under cultivation and yielding abundant returns for the labor and 
care he bestows upon it. 

Mr. Graves was married on Februarv 27, 1890, to Miss Tena 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 839 

Mayers, a native of this county and a danghter of A. T. TT. and Min- 
erva (Rowland) Mayers, wlio are well known and highly esteemed 
throughout the county. Six children have been born of the union, but 
only four are living. They are two sons, William A., and two daughters, 
Gertrude Beulah and Homer Lee, all of whom are still abiding with 
their parents. The head of the house is a zealous, loyal and active 
Democrat in politics, at all times eager for the success of his party 
and doing all he can to bring victory to its banners. He has also been 
active and serviceable to the community in ways not dii'ectly political, 
having served with credit to himself and benefit to the township as 
school director, and taken a cordial and effective interest in every com- 
mendable enterprise for the advancement and improvement of the coun- 
try all around him and the promotion of all its productive activities. 
He is prominent in the imblic, business and social life of the township, 
and richly deserves all the encomiums that have been passed upon him 
as a farmer and a citizen, and they are many, for he is universally 
esteemed. 

WILLIAM GREEN GRAVES. 

Among the enterjirising and successful farmers and business men 
of Middlefork township, Macon county, William Green Graves holds 
a high rank. In everything he has undertaken he has shown ability, 
intelligence and progressiveness of a high order, and has so far made 
every day of his activity count to his advantage and advancement. In 
his farming operations he has been and is eminently successful, and for 
the short period of his experience as a merchant he is able to show good 
returns both as a man of business and in the favorable impression 
he made on the business world around him and the scene of his 
enterprise. 

Mr. Graves was born in tiie township in which he now lives on 
April 3, 1864. He is a son of William K. and Permelia (Reynolds) 
Graves, a brief account of whose lives will be found in a sketch of his 
brother, Robert M. Graves, elsewhere in this work. AVilliam G. Graves 
obtained his education in the district schools of Macon county, working 
on his father's farm while attending tlicm, and pi-ei)aring himself by 
])oth study and experience in practical industry for the battle of life 
that was before him. He remained at home with his parents until 1892, 
when he and his brother, Hiram N. Graves, a sketch of whom ajipears 
on another jiage, formed a partnership and bought a general store at 
AVoodville, in which was then located the ])Ostoffice at that jilace, and 
during the next five years they conducted a flourishing and jjrofitable 



840 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

business under the firai name of Graves Brothers. They handled gen- 
eral merchandise and had a considerable trade, meeting the require- 
ments of the locality in the extent and variety of their stock and making 
a friend of every patron by the upright and scjuare manner in which 
they dealt with all comers. 

In December, 1897, after Mr. Graves had sold his interest in the 
store at AVoodville to his brother and lived for some months on the 
Hogan farm, which he rented for one year, he and his brother-in-law, 
John W. Tooley, bought out the other heirs of the William R. Graves 
estate, and on 400 acres of the land belonging to it prior to their pur- 
chase Mr. Graves settled down to fanning as a permanent occupation, 
detemiined to give his whole attention to the management, development 
and improvement of his pro]:)erty and the operations properly growing 
out of it. Since that time he has been continuously and extensively 
engaged in agi'icultural pursuits and raising live-stock for the markets 
on a large scale. He has been very enterprising and far-seeing, has 
applied intelligence and energy to his work, and has had his ej'es open 
and his faculties ready to take advantage of any opportunity he might 
find to improve his condition and accelerate his progress. Studious 
of his business and looking to all its details with sleejjless vigilance, 
he has made it prosperous in a high degree, and risen to the first rank 
among the farmers of Macon county. 

Mr. Graves has also taken an active and intelligent interest in 
local public affairs and lent liimself willingly, zealously and effectively to 
all undertakings for the improvement of the township and county and 
promoting the lasting welfare of their people. He served wisely and 
efficiently as school director, and in many other ways has given the 
people the benefit of his intelligence, progressiveness and breadth of 
view. In politics he is an active working Democrat, with good judgment 
as an adviser and indomital)le energj' as a worker in behalf of his party, 
and his services to it are highly appreciated by both its leaders and its 
rank and file. 

On March 5, 1895, Mr. Graves was united in marriage with Miss 
Eva Haley, a daughter of James and Sarah (AVedding) Hah'y, jirom- 
inent residents of Randol])h county in this state. The four children 
born of this union are all living and all still at home with their parents. 
They are Hettie, Opal, William G., Jr., and J. T., and are now seeking 
to acquire good educations and jirepare thomsolves to take their ])a rents' 
places in the general esteem and good will of the jjcople and carry the 
family name to farther conquests in business life and keep up the 
excellent reputation it has socially and in every other way. The family 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 841 

home is one of tlie pleasaut and ])0]nilar resorts for elevated social 
enjoyment in the township, and is a center of refined and gracious 
hospitality. "Wherever they are known Mr. and Mrs. Graves are held 
in the highest esteem. 

^ HIRAM M. REYNOLDS. 

This prominent and prosperous fanner and leading citizen of Mid- 
dlefork township, in this county, is a brother of Ebenezer E. Reynolds, 
a sketch of whom will be found on another page of this work, which con- 
tains the family history at some length. Mr. Reynolds was born in 
Randolph county, Missouri, on December 20, 1836, and is a son of 
George and Sarah (Skidmore) Reynolds, tlie former a native of Georgia 
and the latter of Kentucky. They came to Missouri in the very early 
days, being pioneers in the state, and passed tlie remainder of their 
days here. 

Hiram M. Reynolds obtained his education in the district schools 
of Shelby count}', where he passed his boyhood and youth. He located 
in Macon county early in the seventies and has been profitably engaged 
in farming and raising stock here ever since, with the exception of ten 
years, which he passed at Carthage, Jasper county, occupied in rail- 
roading. Farm life had, however, a potent and commanding voice for 
him, and at the end of the period mentioned he returned to Macon 
county and bought forty acres of land, on which he is still living and 
expending his powers to his own advantage and the great improvement 
of the place. He was also engaged in farming in Shelby county at the 
dawn of his manhood, and made his industry there tell in every way 
to his benefit. He farms with skill and judgment, api)lying to his work 
the information he gleans from a careful reading and study of what is 
written on the subject, as well as the lessons of experience, and is 
regarded as one of the most progressive agriculturists in the township. 

Mr. Reynolds was married in 1863 to Miss Nancy J. Crane, a native 
of Kentucky, and by the marriage became the father of four children, 
all of whom are living. They are : John ; Mattie, wife of C. E. Long ; 
George W. ; and James P., all residents of this county. The mother of 
these children died in 1876, and in September, 1880, the father married 
a second wife, being united on this occasion with Miss Catherine M. 
Hodges, who was born and reared in Macon county. The five children 
born of this marriage are all living and are: Ida, the wife of John E. 
Fredeick, of California; Albert E., who lives in this county; Frank, 
who is in business in Hannibal; and Hiram N. and Charles E., both of 
whom are living at home with their ])arents. 



842 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

In politics the father has been a life-long Democrat, warmly inter- 
ested at all times in the success of his party and doing all he can to 
bring that about. In religion he leans toward the Christian church, of 
■which his wife is a zealous and energetic working member. She and her 
husband are well esteemed, both on accoimt of their personal merit and 
their public spirit and zeal in promoting the welfare of the community 
in which they live and the comfort and convenience of its people. They 
are leaders in thought and action in all good works, and are held in high 
appreciation for the enterprise they show in both. 

^ EGBERT MADISON GRA^^ES. 

The nineteenth century was very near its meridian in time when 
Robert Madison Graves, of Middlefork township, Macon county, was 
born in the locality of his present residence on April 1, 1849. He has 
witnessed all of its subsequent splendor of development, progress and 
achievement, and in his own way and location has done his pai't towards 
all that has been accomplished, giving his aid at all times to every 
worthy undertaking for the improvement of his townshi]:), which was 
the place of his nativity and has always been his home, and doing all in 
his power to advance the interests of its people. 

Mr. Graves is of North Carolina ancestry on his father's side, 
his grandfather, Thomas Gi-aves, having been born and reared in that 
state. His father, "William R. Graves, the son of Thomas, was born in 
Pulaski county, Kentucky, on December 12, 1822, and became a resi- 
dent of ]Macon county in this state when he was a boy of sixteen, coming 
hither in 1838. He took up a tract of government land, but soon after- 
ward sold liis claim. He then bought a tract of IfiO acres, and with that 
as a nucleus he built up a plantation of 1,000 acres. True, the country 
was new and unpeopled, and the advances of the white race were still 
stubbornly resisted by the Indians. The forests and plains were still 
the roving grounds of wild beasts, which were all too willing to levy on 
the fruits of systematic industry and even human life itself for their 
subsistence. Danger lurked in every shadow and every day was fraught 
with ])eri]. The common necessaries of existence were hard to get and 
the luxuries were altogether unattainable. But Mr. Graves met all the 
conditions of his frontier life with lofty courage, cheerful endurance and 
a resolute determination to build and prosper where he had stuck hi.s 
stake. Having started farming in the wilderness, he never faltered 
in his purjiose, but kept on imi)r()ving his land and enlarging liis opera- 
tions until, as has been shown, he became one of the most extensive 
landholders in the conntv. Tie raised considerable numbers of cattle 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUXTY 843 

aud other live stock and fed a great many for the markets every year, 
and this industry was one of the principal factors in hnilding np iiis 
fortune. 

As a pioneer settler and a man of capacity, breadth of view and 
prog-ressiveness, he was called on to take an active part in the early 
government of the township and county, and liad a large share in get- 
ting them started in municipal life and laying the foundations of their 
civil institutions and their present prosperity and greatness. He rose 
to commanding influence in the county, and when he died on June 20, 
1898, was one of the most prominent citizens of northeastern Missouri. 
In 1845 he was married to Miss Permelia Reynolds, a native of Macon 
county, who died in 1869. They became the parents of thirteen children, 
three of whom have passed away. Those living are: Ursula Jane, the 
wife of J. J. Richardson ; Robert M., the interesting theme of this arti- 
cle; Mary D., the wife of R. H. Walker; Hiram N., who lives in Macon 
City; James F. ; William G. ; Sarah, the wife of William Richardson; 
Isabelle, widow of James Rowe; Catherine, the wife of John Tooley; 
and Lysander Lee. They are all residents of this count}', and in their 
several s]iberes are accounted as being among the most progressive, 
representative and useful citizens of the section of the state in which 
they live. In politics the father was a prominent and influential Demo- 
crat, and in religion a leading and hard working member of the 
Christian church. 

Robert M. Graves is literally a child of the frontier and the product 
of its conditions. He obtained his education in the district schools in 
the neighborhood of his father's farm, which he attended irregularly 
during the winter months for a few years, all the while assisting in the 
labors of the farm, which in that day fonned the first recpiirement for 
everybody. At the best his gleanings from this field of small produc- 
tion would have been slender, but he was not allowed to get all even it 
might have furnished. The Civil war broke out in the midst of his 
scliool days, and that great sectional contest so disturbed the social, 
civil and business institutions of this part of the state that almost 
everything was at a standstill during its continuance. The warfare 
waged in and around this section was of a ])rcdatory nature, and it 
required the utmost vigilance on the jiarf of the farmers to siive what 
they had from the foragers of both sides to the controversy. Mr. 
Graves remained at home, partially to helji in taking care of the prop- 
erty and carrying on the work and ]iartially because it was dangerous 
for anyone to be on the highways much of the time, ifc lived with his 
parents until 187;?, when he married and moved into a home of his own. 



844 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 



Since tlien he has been continuously and very actively engaged in farm- 
ing and raising stock, and in all his operations he has been eminently 
successful. He began with a farm of 200 acres, which he bought on 
time, and he now owns 600 acres, 500 of which are under cultivation 
and highly productive. 

Mr. Graves has not only been successful in business and in develop- 
ing and i^romoting his own welfare, but he has also taken an active and 
hcli)ful interest in the prosperity and progress of the township and 
county, and done all he could to advance their interests along lines of 
wholesome development. He has served the public well and wisely as 
constable, justice of the peace and school director officially, and by his 
example and influence has inspired and kept at work the spirit of prog- 
ress in others, stimulating them to exertion and directing their force 
to worthy and profitable results. 

On January 9, 1873, Mr. Graves was united in marriage with Miss 
Flora A. Sage, a daughter of James and Sarah (Jett) Sage, natives of 
Kentucky' and pioneers of Missouri, now living in Macon county, where 
they have long resided. Mr. and Mrs. Graves have had six children, 
three of whom have died. Those living are Philip M., a prosperous 
farmer in this county, and Grace and Emory, who are still living with 
their parents on the family homestead. The father is a very active, 
hard working Democrat, influential in his party and regarded as one of 
its wisest and most judicious leaders. He and his wife and all the 
children are members of the Christian church and are among the most 
energetic and effective workers in the congregation to which they 
belong. The family stands well socially and is regarded as one of the 
most useful, representative and estimable in the county, dignifying and 
adorning life, both public and private, official, social and religious, and 
bearing well its part in the performance of duty and in service to the 
community whatever may be the line of endeavor that requires attention 
and the force of action and example. 

V FRANCIS H. NEWTON, M. D. 

Born, i-eared, educated and trained in social life in the empire city 
of this country, and dui-ing the last seventeen years practicing medicine 
in a lural coiniinmity in the West, Dr. Francis H. Newton of Elmer 
in this county has given a striking ]ti()of of his adajitability to circum- 
stances and his readiness and capacity to meet their demands, whatever 
they may be. His record is a gratifying tribute to the versatility of 
American manhood and an evidence of the commanding sjiirit of 
indei)eudence that dominates it. 




FRANCIS H. NEWTON, M. D. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 845 

Dr. Newtou was born in New York city iu 1858, a son of Lawrence 
and Mary A. (Ettrick) Newton, natives of England and the parents of 
nine children. All the children of the household grew to maturity, the 
Doctor being the youngest of the nine. The father died in 1875 and the 
mother in 1877. The Doctor therefore became an ori)lian before he 
reached his manhood, and was left almost whollj' to his own resources 
for advancement in life, without parental assistance or even guidance 
at the beginning of his career. He obtained a good elementary educa- 
tion and something more in the way of scholastic training in the public 
schools of his native city, also attended Earlham College at Richmond, 
Indiana, and as soon as he completed their courses of instruction began 
the study of medicine. He had already chosen his life work, with the 
promptness of decision that has distinguished him always, and in his 
steady adherence to his first choice he has exemplified another charac- 
teristic of his nature. His technical training for his professional 
work was secured at the Northwestern laiiversitj', St. Joseph, Missouri, 
from which he was graduated in 1892, with the degree of M. D. from the 
medical department of that renowned and progressive institution. 

In the whole history of a man, whatever of incident or adventure, 
of trial or triumph, it may involve, there can scarcely ever be any hour 
more intensely interesting or fraught with the greater weight of vital 
significance to him than the one in which he stands on the threshold 
of the big and busy world, and anxiously contemplates his own i)art in 
its work and selects the locality iu which that shall be performed. Dr. 
Newton, no doubt, still recollects that hour in his experience with 
vividness, and recalls it even now with tlirilling interest. But he did 
not dally on the verge of his responsibility. 'His face was set in line 
with the progress of the sun and the course of empire, and he promptly 
fell in with the moving tide and came to Missouri, a yet young but 
rapidly progressing portion of the country and laden with unworn 
opportunities for skill and ability industriously applied to any useful 
occupation. 

He located at Elmer and began his jiractice. There was need for 
a man of his caliber in the town at the time and his arrival was at what 
close reasoners might call "the psychological moment." His progress 
was gratifying from the start and has been continuous and more and 
more expansive ever since. He has devoted himself almost wholly 
to the demands of his business and is reai^ing the reward of his fidelity 
in an extensive and remunerative practice and a position of commanding 
influence in the regard and good will of the people to whose benefit he 
has so essentially ministered. 



846 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

The public affairs of the township and county have deeply inter- 
ested him and their needs have closely engaged his attention. To see 
the section in which he lives prosper and progress, to have all its 
moral, educational and social forces doing their best for the wholesome 
improvement of the peoiile, and to witness its material I'esources 
pouring their stores into the world's great treasure house under the 
impulse of highly vitalized and wisely directed power, has been one of 
his leading ambitious, and in the full measure of his capacity and 
opportunties he has aided in the effort to realize it. In his professional 
work he has been of signal and continued service to the community; 
and in the domain of progress and improvement he has never withheld 
his hand from any uudertaking that he considered of value or likely 
to result in substantial good. 

In the study of his profession and the use of the means for greater 
mastery of its possibilities he has been indefatigable. He has been 
an industrious reader of the best medical journals and similar liter- 
ature, and for many years has taken an active and helpful part in the 
proceedings of the County, State and American medical associations. 
In politics he is a pronounced and zealous Eepublican, earnestly inter- 
ested in the welfare of his party and devoted in his service to it. 
Fraternally he belongs to the Odd Fellows, the Yeomen, the Modern 
Woodmen of America and the Royal Neighbors, and each of these 
estimable fraternities has his cordial support in all its worthy efforts 
for advancement toward greater usefulness. He was married in 
1895 to Miss Martha Enyeart, a native of this county, and has two 
children, his daughter Nellie Frances and his son George Lyman, both 
of whom help to brighten and warm the family hearthstone and render 
tlie home of their parents additionally attractive to their hosts of 
admiring friends, 

^ EBENEZER E. REYNOLDS. 

The oldest native born resident of Middlefork township, Macon 
county, Ebeiiezer E. Reynolds has a distinction all his own, and one 
that entitles him to and secures for him the respect and consideration 
of all its peo])le. But he is not dependent on the accident of his birth 
for the esteem in which he is universally held. He has demonstrated 
in his long and useful life among this people that he possesses qualities 
of head and heart that would win him regard and good will anywhere 
and establish him in the favorable opinion of any community. 

]\Ir. Reynolds came into being in the townshi]) of his present resi- 
dence on July 15, 1838, and is a scion of an old North Carolina family 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 847 

living in that state from early colonial times. His grandfather, James 
Eeynolds, moved from that state into Georgia as a young man, and in 
Georgia Ebenezer's father, George Reynolds, was born. lie became a 
resident of Missouri in 1819, two years before the admission of the terri- 
tory into the Union as a state. Mr. Reynolds located first in what was 
then Howard county, where he remained a number of years. Then, 
after a short residence in Randolph county, he moved to Macon county 
in 1836 and founded his home at 'Woodville, where he was prosperously 
engaged in farming until his death in 1851. He was one of the pioneers 
of this portion of the state and his memory is embalmed in the hearts 
of the people as that of one of the founders of their present civil insti- 
tutions and their substantial prosperity. He was married to Miss Sarah 
Skidmore, a native of Kentucky. They had fourteen children and two 
of them are still living: Hiram M., who is a resident of this county, 
and Ebenezer E. 

In political faith and action the father was an ardent Democrat 
throughout his mature life, and to tlie end of his days he gave loyal and 
unstinted support to the principles and candidates of his party. He 
was also influential in the early government of the township, being one 
of the wisest and most far-seeing of the first settlers and well qualified 
to lead in local public affairs. Many of the movements toward a local 
autonomy and settled form of govermneut were started and all were 
heartily supported by him. He lived to see the fruits of his labors and 
his self-sacrificing devotion to the good of the neighborhood in a well 
developed and prosperous community, full of present life and energj' 
and rich in promise for tiie future. 

Ebenezer E. Reynolds obtained what scholastic training was avail- 
able to the children of the frontier in the primitive country schools of 
his boyhood in this locality. But Nature was his main teacher, and 
free communion with her gave him breadth of view, quickness of percep- 
tion, readiness in action and unyielding self-reliance. He remained with 
his parents until 1861, then at the first call for volunteers in defense 
of his political principles, which were deemed to be seriously threat- 
ened by the controversy between the North and the South, and tlie elec- 
tion of a president of the United States on sectional issues, he enlisted 
in the State Guards, a little later transferring bis allegiance and his 
arms to the service of the Confederacy, and entering its armies in a 
company under the command of Captain Ben. Eli Guthrie. His 
military service continued to tiie end of the war. Tt was arduous, dan- 
gerous and trying, and he still bears the marks of its hardships upon 
him. He participated in many noted engagements, among them the 



8i8 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

battles at Lexington, ^Missouri; Pea Ridge, Arkansas; Corinth, Vicks- 
burg and luka, Mississippi; Franklin, Tennessee; New Hope Church 
and Lookout Mountain, Georgia, and others, besides many skinnishes 
and minor engagements. He was wounded seven times, but none of the 
wounds were so serious as to incapacitate him for service permanently. 

"When the great civil strife between the sections of the country 
ended Mr. Eeynolds was mustered out of the service at Jackson, Missis- 
sippi. He then returned to this county, where he purchased land and 
was actively engaged in farming and improving it and raising stock 
until 1894, when he retired, having won a competency and earned a rest 
for the remainder of his daj's by the intensity if not the length of his 
industry, and the trials of his years of action if not the amount of labor 
performed in them. He owns forty acres of land and has been a suc- 
cessful man, wining by worth and fidelity to duty the high place he 
o'ccupies in the esteem of his fellow men. 

In politics Mr. Eeynolds is an unwavering Democrat, and with a 
loyalty to his party that never hesitates, he is always ready for the 
march when the advance is sounded to help with all the powers at his 
command to win victory for the cause to which he is pledged. His 
services to the party are highly appreciated by its leaders, and they are 
sincere and disinterested, for he has never sought or desired any of the 
honors or emolmnents of public ofiice. His religious connection is with 
the Missionary Baptist church, in which he has long been an active 
worker. He was married on May 30, 1867, to Miss Mary J. Shoush, of 
Macon county. All of the six children born to them are living. They 
are : Robert Lee, who lives in Hannibal ; Gilla Ann, wife of Joseph 
Robey, of this county; Hesekiah, who is also a resident of Hannibal; 
George M., who lives in Joplin; Sarah Jane, wife of Perry Chimi, of 
this coimty; and Ebenezer, who is living in Hannibal. Their mother 
died on October 14, 1883, and on July 27, 1898, the father married ^Irs. 
Mary C. Keen, of Macon county. They have had three children, one of 
whom is living, their son Dennis, who is still with his parents. 

V GEORGE REYNOLDS. 

This prominent, ])ub!ic-spirited and progressive citizen and pros- 
])erous fanner of ]\liddlefork townsliiji, Macon county, was born in the 
neighboring county of Shelby on December 25, 1845, and is a son of 
Kentucky parentage, his parents and all his grandparents having been ( 
born and lived in the Blue Grass state. His ]iaternal grandfatlier, 
George Reynolds, was one of the early settlers in what is now Shelby 
county, and also lived for a number of years in Macon county. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 849 

Mr. Eeyuolds is a son of George Madison and Elizabeth (Rauey) 
Eeyuolds, who emigrated from their native state to Missouri about the 
year 1838 and located in Shelby county. The father was born in 1821. 
He was therefore but seventeen years old when he became a resident of 
this state. His school days were over when he came hither, and they 
would have been if he had not ended them before. For the exacting 
conditions of the frontier, as this portion of Missouri was then, reciuired 
that every available force be put to work in breaking up the land, 
making necessary improvements and finding a living for the household 
whose members were engaged in this arduous but promising task. Mr. 
RejTiolds was large and old enough to do a man's portion of the toil, 
and he was often forced by the exigencies of the situatian to do more. 
He gave himself resolutely to the performance of the duties before him, 
and passed the remainder of his days farming in Shelby county, first 
on his father's farm and later on his own, ending a busy and useful life 
in 1885 on the laud he had helped to redeem from the wilderness and 
make over into a comfortable home. 

In all his ventures Mr. Reynolds was successful, forging steadily 
ahead in a worldly way until he became the owner of -400 acres of highly 
fertile land with good buildings and other improvements plentifully 
bestowed upon it, and winning his way in the regard and good will of 
the i^eople around him until he was universally esteemed. He was mar- 
ried in 1843 to Miss Elizabeth Raney, a native of Pulaski county, Ken- 
tucky, as he was of Lincoln county in that state. Of the twelve chil- 
dren born to them seven are living: George, the immediate subject of 
this article; Sarah Frances, the ^vife of J. H. Hughes, of Wright 
county, Missouri; William, who lives in Randolph county; John D., 
whose home is in Macon county ; Clemency, the wife of R. G. Heron, of 
Bevier, Macon county; Eben, a prosperous citizen of the new state of 
Oklahoma ; and Elizabeth, the wife of James Heron, who is now living 
in Shelby county. The father was a life-long member of the Demo- 
cratic party in political allegiance and a Baptist in church relations. 

George Reynolds, the thii'd of the family to bear the name in direct 
and immediate descent, was educated at the Liberty school in Shelby 
county and grew to manhood in that county. He remained there until 
1876, when he attained his majority and took u]) the burden of life for 
himself. He had acquired a thorough knowledge of fanning on his 
father's farm, and he chose the occupation of his forefathers for gen- 
erations as his own. Coming to Macon county in 1876, he at once turned 
his attention to farming and raising stock, and to those lines of indus- 
try he has steadfastly adhered during all his subsequent years in spite 



850 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

of all temptations to take up and follow others which promised more 
considerable immediate retui-ns. He now owns and successfully and 
prolitably farms 135 acres of land, his farm, which is all under cultiva- 
tion, being considered one of the best and most desirable in the township 
of Middlefork. 

Mr. Reynolds has given close, constant and careful attention to his 
agricultural and live stock interests, but he has not allowed them to 
absorb the whole of his time and energ3\ He has taken an active and 
leading part in local public affairs and perfoimed his whole duty in 
the service of his township and its people. He served as a justice of 
the peace from 1882 to 1894, clerked in a general store at AVoodville 
three years, and was diligently employed as road overseer for fifteen 
years. In all these positions he was faithful and zealous, and the people 
who have had the benefit of his services in them have naught but praise 
for the manner in which he has alwaj's discharged every duty, whether 
it was in business or official station, in public or in private life. 

On April 17, 1873, he was united in marriage with Miss Ollie 
Albright, a daughter of J. M. and Ann Albright, well known and highly 
respected citizens of Macon county. Of the seven children born of this 
union three have died. The four living are: James M. and John N., 
who live in Macon county; Edgar, whose home is in Oklahoma; and 
Porter, who is a prominent business man in Hannibal, ^lissouri. The 
father has always taken a very active part in politics as a Democrat, 
rendering his party good service and helping it to win many victories 
in the county and state. In religious affiliations he is connected by 
membership with the Holiness church, in which he is also a zealous and 
effective worker. His thirty-three years of residence and useful and 
productive hibor in Macon county have not been devoid of excellent 
results. He has acquired a competency for himself and aided materially 
in building up and improving the county. In private and in public life 
he has been a stimulating example to the young, a comjianion and helj) 
to the mature and a comfort to the aged, and all alike hold him in the 
highest esteem. 

^ JAMES PORTER ROBUCK. 

Descended of a sturdy Scotch ancestry, and reju-oducing on the soil 
of the New World the traits of character and habits of industry which 
have given the race to which he belongs success in the old and renown 
throughout the whole world, with trium])hs in every field of human 
endeavor, James Porter Robuck, of Middlefork township, Macon county, 



IITSTORY OF MACON COL' XT Y 851 

fiu'nishes a gratifying- jiroof that in all inanly contests blood will tell 
in the results, other things l)eing etiual and the field being fair. 

Mr. Robuck is a native of Missouri, born on February 11, 1852, 
in Enndoljih county. His grandfather came from Scotland to the 
United States when he was a young man and located in Tennessee. 
There he grappled with the then wild conditions and wrested from 
reluctant Nature a substantial competence and achieved considerable 
prominence and influence among the early settlers. In Tennessee his 
sou, Henry Kelso Kobuck, the father of James P., was born on August 
4, 1816, and there he lived and labored on the parental frontier acres 
until 1834. He was then but eighteen years old, but the manly inde- 
pendence he inherited from his parents made him eager to begin the 
battle of life for himself and at a place remote from family influence, 
so that whatever he might accomplish would be wholly his own triumph, 
won by his own efforts and ability, without the aid of any other force. 

In 1834, therefore, he came to Missouri and entered eighty acres of 
government land in Randolph county. To the cultivation and improve- 
ment of this land he devoted himself with faithful and telling industry, 
and in time had the reward of his diligence and capacity in the owner- 
ship of 165 acres of the best farm land in the township in which he 
lived. He continued to work his farm and enjoy its products until 1892, 
when he sold all his i»roperty and moved to Macon county, making his 
home with his son until his death on December 31, 1898. He was mar- 
ried on December 7, 1837, to Miss Rhoda Jane Jenkins, of Randolph 
county, and they became the parents of eleven children, five of whom 
are living: Mary Ann, wife of Cyrus Ilalteman, of Randol]ih county; 
Albert, who lives in Shelby county; James P., the subject of this wn-it- 
ing; John, who is a resident of Moberly, Missouri; and Lee, whose home 
is in Dallas, Texas. The father was an ardent Democrat in politics and 
a member, an elder and an active woi-ker of the Ouml)erland Presby- 
terian church, giving the congregatioji to which he belonged excellent 
service for many years and standing high among its members, as he 
did in the community in general, and wherever else he was known. 

James P. Robuck was educated in the district schools of Randolph 
county. He remained with his parents, helping to brighten their home 
and assisting them on the farm until 1874. He then moved to Macon 
county and became ])Ossessed of land, in the cultivation and im))rove- 
ment of which he has ever since been sedulously and i)rofitably engaged. 
He now owns 145 aci'es of excellent land, which is all under cultivation 
and yielding rich returns for the skill and labor he bestows upon it. 
In connection with his fai-ming he carried the United States mails from 



85-3 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

1895 to 1899 on one of the star routes that were the subject of violent 
political controversy during- the administration of President Arthur. 
Like his father, James P. Eobuck has won success by his own efforts 
and ability, and his triumphs are all his own. 

Mr. Eobuck was married on January 15, 1874, to Miss Martha 
Cox, a daughter of F. M. and Sarah E. Cox, early settlers in Macon 
coimty. Five children were born of this union and three of them are 
living': A. L., one of the rising citizens of ]\[acon county, and Hattie and 
Harry, who are still under the shelter of the parental roof and add 
brightness and warmth to the family fireside. 

In his political allegiance the father became a Democrat at the 
dawn of his manhood and he still adheres to the party of his first choice. 
To this party he has always rendered effective service and both his 
counsel and his activity are highly appreciated by its leaders. He 
served as one of the road commissioners of the county three years and 
is now constable for Middlefork township, serving his second term. He 
has also served four terms on the school board, and the present elevated 
standard of the schools shows the vigor and wisdom of his administra- 
tion of the office. In fraternal relations he is connected with the order 
of American Patriots, and in religious affiliation he leans to the Pres- 
byterian church, of which his wife is an active and zealous working 
member. 

ANDREW S. COX. 

A native of Kentucky, a resident of Missouri, a sojourner in Cali- 
fornia, a farmer, a stock breeder, a manufacturer, a merchant and a 
public official for years, Andrew S. Cox, of Middlefork township. Macon 
county, has seen life in many places and a great variety of attitudes. 
A striking exception to the rule that a rolling stone gathers no moss, 
he has acquired a considerable amount of worldly wealth and risen 
steadily through all his wanderings in travel and occupation to a posi- 
tion of commanding influence in his community and is firmly established 
in the regard and good will of its people. 

Mr. Cox was born in Byron county, Kentucky, on October 11, 1836. 
He is a son of Louis A. and Caroline P. (Baird) Cox, natives, also, of 
Kentucky, but for many years residents of Missouri. The father was 
born in Byron county, Kentucky, on October 25, 1815, and located at 
Bloomington, Macon county, ^lis.souri, in 1842. During the next two 
years he followed farming at that point, then moved to Hannibal, 
where he wrought diligently and profitably as a mason, remaining six 
years. In 1850, moved by the siren voice of the California gold fields. 



HISTORY OF MACOK COUXTY 853 

be jouvueyed across the trackless plains to that distant eldoiado, making 
the trip with ox teams, and determined to remain until he acquired a 
fortune or exhausted his resources in the attempt. After an absence 
of sixteen years be returned to Macon county, and for four or tive 
years devoted bis energies to farming. At the end of the pei'iod men- 
tioned he went to New Mexico to work on a railroad, and there he died 
on May 20, 1879. 

The parents of the subject of these paragraphs were married in 
1835 and had five children, three of whom are living, himself and his 
brothers. Spruce M., now living in Oklahoma, and James K., a resident 
of "\V"ashington. The father belonged to the Democratic pai-ty politi- 
cally and throughout bis mature life gave it his cordial and unwavering 
support. 

Andrew S. Cox became a resident of Missouri when he was but six 
years old and grew to manhood amid the rugged scenes and experi- 
ences of pioneer life. He obtained his limited scholastic training in the 
primitive country schools of the day and locality, and, after leaving 
school at an early age, took bis place in the productive industries of 
Macon county by working on farms in the vicinity of bis home as a hired 
hand, assisting in the duty of supporting the family in the absence of 
the father. In 1854 he and his brothers, in connection with their mother, 
purchased 160 acres of school land to have a home of their own and 
make some headway in the struggle for advancement. This land they 
broke up and improved, and on it Andrew remained until 1866, dili- 
gently engaged in farming. By that time he had acquired some means, 
and determined to go to California in search of his father. He crossed 
the plains with teams, the only means of transportation then available, 
and after a stay of eighteen months on the Pacific slope brought his 
father back to Macon county and the home the mother and sons had 
won from the wilderness. 

Turning the farm over to the management of the father, the son 
started an enterprise in making wagons and cofiSns, which he conducted 
for a period of five years, doing some farming in connection with his 
manufacturing. But farming and raising live stock was the business 
for which be deemed himself best suited, and so, at the end of the period 
named above, he abandoned his wagon and coffin making and gave 
himself up almost wholly to the industries he preferred until 1908, 
when he retired from active i>ursuits. In the meantime, however, he 
founded the village of Cox and conducted a general store there for six 
years, also serving as postmaster, a position which be filled acceptably 
for twenty-one years. 



854 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

In the public affairs of the township and county Mr. Cox has always 
manifested a lively and intelligent interest and taken an active part. 
He served as a justice of the peace four tenns, as school director a 
number of years and in various other township offices. He has ])een 
very successful in all his ventures and made everything tell to his 
advantage, acquiring a competence for life, of which his fine farm of 
116 acres is the uu<;leus. But he has not been selfish in his advancement, 
but has freely contributed to the improvement of the township and 
county, seeking by every means at his command to keep their progress 
abreast of his own. He enjoys the regard and good will of the people 
in a marked degree, and stands forth iDrominently among them as one 
of their leading citizens, deeply interested in their welfare and zealous 
in promoting it. 

On March 9, 1869, Mr. Cox was married to Mrs. Susan M. Dunham, 
of this county. They have had seven children, three of whom are living: 
Ernest E. ; Mora O., the wife of Calvin Eobuck; and Mabel L., who is 
living at home with her parents. The others are also residents of Macon 
coimty. In polities the father has always been an energetic working 
Democrat, giving the principles and candidates of his party effective 
and appreciated support at all times, and earnestly striving for their 
success in every proper way. He and all the members of his family 
are members of the Christian church and zealous workers for its 
advancement. Mr. Cox is a charter member of the congregation to 
which he belongs, and donated to it the ground for the church edifice 
and the cemetery attached to it. 

^ ANDREW B. VANSICKLE. 

Beginning the battle of life with no armament but his natural 
endo^vment of pluck, self-reliance and determination to win, good 
health and a hopeful spirit, a limited common school education and a 
few hints from the academy of exi)erieuce, which came to him even as a 
boy, Andrew B. Vansickle, now one of the leading farmers and stock 
breeders of Narrows townshi]>, Macon county, has made his way stead- 
ily forward through difficulties and untoward conditions to consequence 
in a worldly way and general esteem among the people in the way of 
reputation. It is much to his credit, too, that his triunqjhs are all his 
own, owing notliing to favoring circumstances of the smiles of fortune. 

Mr. N'ansickle was born in Macon county, Missouri, on October 13, 
1864. He is a grandson of Louis Vansickle, a native of New York state 
and one of the first settlers in this county. He came to this region 
before there was anything in the nature of a local government or suf- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 855 

lioient peoijle living in it to makf one. A hardy adventurer, daring the 
rage of wild men and the elements, the fury of beasts of prey and other 
perils, he was engaged in hunting and trading with the Indians, and so 
became one of the pathtinders for the advance guard of the army of 
conquest and civilization tliat was to follow. 

Ilis son, Henry Vausickle, the father of Andrew, was born in Elk- 
hart county, Indiana, in 18l'S, and was brought to Missouri by his par- 
ents in 1839. The family located in Macon county seven miles and a 
half south of the present Macon City, where the father entered one of 
the first tracts of land taken up from the government in this locality. 
When the son grew to manhood he also took up a tract of government 
land and make it his pei'manent home. He fenced and l)roke up his 
land, and by continuous and well applied industry gradually ])rought 
it to fertility and gathered about him such home comforts as the frontier 
could furnish, in time making his place one of the best and most attrac- 
tive farms in this part of the county. But in addition to being a farmer, 
he was also a trader and dealer in land, buying and selling to advantage 
as the tide of immigration into the region swelled, and so became a 
man of considerable property and also one of consideralile influence 
in the locality. Some years before his death, which occurred in 1894, 
he sold all his land and retired from active work. 

The elder Vansickle was married twice. His first wife, whom he 
married in 1848, was Miss Mary Snell, of Ralls county. They had eight 
children, five of whom are living: John H., who lives iu Kansas; 
Frances, the wife of H. S. Smith, of Nebraska ; Sarah, the wife of Ed 
Butner, of Wagoner, Oklahoma; Mary Jane, the wife of S. R. Perkins, 
of this county ; and Andrew B., the subject of this memoir. Their mother 
died in 1866, and two years later the father was married to Mrs. Mary 
L. Duffy, a native of West Virginia. Of the second marriage six chil- 
dren were born and five of them are living: Brookie, the wife of H. S. 
Adkins, of Imola, Oklahoma; Ethie M., the wife of Fred Zollman, of 
Macon county, Missouri; Maud, flie wife of Albert Ilolcomb, of Michi- 
gan; Mattie, the wife of Dr. Hyatt, of Macon City; and Bai-ney, who 
lives in Oregon. In his political faith the father was an ardent sup- 
porter of the Republican party in national affairs. In local matters of 
public im))ort he gave the welfare of the county his first consideration 
and sought to promote that without regard to party or ])ersonal inter- 
ests. He was a useful citizen and did his full portion toward develop- 
ing and l)uilding up the part of the state in which he lived, and know-" 
ing his services and the integrity of his character, the people held him 
in high esteem. 



856 HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 

Andrew B. Vansickle obtained his education in the frontier schools 
of Macon county, which he was able to attend but for a short time, and 
irregularly at that, owing to the poor health of his father. This com- 
pelled him to leave school at an early age and take charge of the farm, 
of which he had the practical management until 1882. In that year he 
went to Osage county, Kansas, where he was engaged in coal mining 
for two year.s. He then returned to this county, and after mining here 
for a time he again turned his attention to farming and raising stock, 
in which he is still actively engaged. He now has 190 acres of land of 
fine quality, the most of which is under cultivation and yielding lib- 
erally to the faith and steady industry of its skillful and enterprising 
owner. 

Mr. Vansickle was married on March 7, 1886, to Miss Caroline C. 
Miller, a daughter of John "\V. and Maria C. Miller, well known resi- 
dents of this county. All of the ten children born of this union are liv- 
ing. They are : William H. and Forrest A., Thomas E., Charles, Ruth, 
Dora, Minnie, Philip, Fred, and Mary Maude, an infant, all of whom 
are still living witli their parents. The father is a jaronounced Eepub- 
lican in political relations and always gives effective support to the 
principles and candidates of his party. He is successful and prosper- 
ous in his farming and stock raising industries, carrying them on exten- 
sively and with vigor and progressiveness. He also travels extensively, 
being sales agent for the W. P. Soash Land Company, of Soash, Texas. 
Throughout Macon and the adjoining counties, and in many other 
localities, he is well known and held in the highest esteem. 

*^ BARXETT R. AVILLIAMS. 

Exhibiting in his business and professional career great versa- 
tility and adaptiveness to circumstances, with readiness to meet and 
resources to deal successfully with all conditions, Barnett R. "Williams 
of Ethel, law-student, farmer, real estate dealer, former school teacher 
and one-time merchant, has proven himself to be one of the most capable 
and representative men in Macon county, and is corresjiondingly 
esteemed by all classes of its people. He has met every requirement 
of his duty in all relations, and while pushing his own affairs to exten- 
sive and profitable develojiment, has also given due attention to every 
want of the community and fostering care and appreciated assistance 
to every undertaking designed to pi'omote its substantial jDrogress and 
the welfare of its people. 

Mr. Williams is a North Carolinian by nativity and was born at 
Yadkinville in the "Old North State" on September 13, 1871, and is 




BARNETT R. WILLIAMS 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 857 

a son of Sanford and Sarah (Mitdiell) Williams, also natives of North 
Carolina and belonging to families domesticated in that state from 
early colonial times. They moved their family to Missouri in 1881 
and located in De Kalb comity, where they engaged in farming. Their 
offspring munbered ten and all of them are living. They are: Barnett 
E., the immediate subject of this writing; Laura, the wife of George 
Stauver of Savannah, Missouri; Dora, the wife of James Ganote; Lucy, 
the wife of Mitchell Lowe; Mary Jane; Flora, the wife of Daniel Rice; 
Thomas R., Charles, Earl and Argolis. The parents are still living 
and actively engaged yet in operating their farm, near Albany, Gentry 
county Missouri. 

Their son Barnett R. grew to manhood on the parental homestead 
and secured his education at the country schools of the neighborhood 
and the Northwestern Normal School at Stanberry in this state. He 
became a teacher after leaving the latter institution and for about 
seven years dispensed to others the acquisitions in the way of scholar- 
ship he had gained, and while doing this studied law under the direction 
of Major J. L. McCully of Stanberry, and later for a short time under 
that of C. H. Goodman of Albany in Gentry county. He quit teaching 
to pursue a course of study in Christian College at Albany, and after 
completing that engaged in mercantile life from 1898 until 1902, when 
he sold his interests in the business and turned his attention to farming 
in Macon county. He is still closely connected with that industry. He 
owns and cultivates 515 acres of first rate land with diligence and skill 
and with excellent results. He is also extensively engaged in the real 
estate, mortgage, loan and insurance business, and in addition to all 
his other interests, has a nice practice as a lawyer to look after and 
attend to. While he is one of the busiest men in Ethel he is not satis- 
fied and left his home town to enter the Law Department of University 
of Missouri in February to complete his study of law. 

In political relations Mr. Williams has been a Democrat from his 
youth. He is true and loyal to his party and is at all times active and 
effective in its service, giving good advice in council and energetic work 
in the field, accomplishing good results himself and awakening ])owers 
of fruitful activity in others by his influence and example. He has 
been town attorney of Ethel two years and town collector two. He is 
also president of the local school bo;ird. Tn fraternal life he is con- 
nected with the Masonic order, the Order of Odd Fellows, the Order 
of Elks and the Order of AVoodmen, and his religious affiliation is with 
the Baptist church. For many years he has held a conimission as a 
notary i)ublic. In cluirch and lodge relations he is zealous and devoted, 



858 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

and bis membership is esteemed as of great vahie in every organization 
to which lie belongs. 

On April 5, 1896, Mr. AVilliams was united in marriage with Miss 
Myrtle M. Koss of Stanberry, this state, but of Nova Scotia parentage. 
Three children have blessed the union and brightened the family circle, 
Helen, George and Barnett R., Jr. The father is a self-made man in 
the fullest sense of the expression. He has made his own way in the 
world without the aid of Fortune's favors or adventitious circum- 
stances, and he has so conducted his progress that every step of it has 
been on solid ground and a permanent advance. He has had clearness 
of vision to see and alertness of spirit to seize his opportunities as they 
came, and has even turned adversities to his advantage and made of 
them wings and weapons for his further promotion. And all the time 
lie has made the most of everything that came his way. His career 
is a high tribute to the resourcefulness of American manhood and 
furnishes a fine illustration of what thrift, industry and capacity can 
accomiilish in this land of open opportunity and l)oundless 
productiveness. 

On February 3, 1910, ]\Ir. AVilliams moved his family to Columbia, 
Missouri, where he entered the Law De]>artment of the Missouri Univer- 
sity where he expects to remain until he finishes the course, at which 
time he will move back to Macon county and pursue the practice of his 
chosen profession that he has so long aspired to complete. 

^ ISHAM M. WALKER. 

Isham M. \Yalker, of Narrows township, Macon coimty, who is well 
and favorably known as a successful and progressive farmer and 
excellent citizen, is a native of the county and was reared and educated 
almost wholly within its borders. He was born on October 15, 1853, 
and if not himself exactly a child of the frontier, inherited from his 
parents its sturdy independence, self-reliance and capacity for any task 
that might ])roperly be laid before him. 

Wx. Walker's parents, Isham and Mahitable (Murphy) Walker, 
were dwellers in this state in its ])ioneer days and experienced all the 
hardshi))s and ])rivations and felt all the alarms of such a state of 
existence. The father was born in Kentucky in 1816, and came with his 
])arents to this state when he was a small boy. His father, Johnson 
Walker, was also a native of Kentucky and born into being there while 
it, too, was a wilderness, lie grew to manhood on or beyond the border 
of civilization and was pre]iared by his experiences there for the more 
exacting ones that awaited liiin in the new home still farther from the 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 859 

centers of cviltivated life to which, as a youug man, he brought his 
little family at a very early day iu the history of what is now the ricii, 
populous and influential state of Missouri. The family located in 
Howard county, and the son, Isham, Sr., who had come to that section 
as a child, remained at home until he reached the age of nineteen. In 
1835, taking his father's e.xample as his incitement and guide, he sought 
a new home in an undeveloped region, determined to make his own 
way in the world and build a name and rejiutation for himself without 
the aid of parental influence or family standing. He came to ]\Iacon 
county and entered land on which he determined to found a home and 
develop a citizenship of usefulness. Macon county then e.xtended all the 
way to the Iowa line and was sparsely peopled. 

On the land on which he thus l)ecame possessed the elder Mr. 
AYalker passed the remainder of his days, developing and improving 
his property and adding to it until he owned 800 acres. On this farm 
also he reared his family and rose to prominence and influence as one 
of the leading landholders of the comity and one of its most judicious, 
progressive and serviceable citizens. During the whole of his residence 
in the county he was actively engaged in extensive general farming and 
raising superior live stock, and in all his undertakings he was emi- 
nently successful. He took an active interest, also, in the i)ublic affairs 
of the comity, helping to give proper trend and enter]irise to its forces 
of development and improvement, and to guide its political and moral 
agencies along lines of wholesome and elevating potency. 

The father's death occurred in 1877. His first marriage was with 
Miss Mahitable ]\Iur))hy, of Macon county. They became the ])arents 
of seven children and five of them are living: Elizabeth, the widow of 
L. E. Hope, of Christianburg, Kentucky; Gabriel M., who lives in 
Macon county; Sarah J., the wife of Jacob Albright, of Joplin, Mis- 
souri; Andrew B., who is one of the ])rosperous citizens of St. Louis; 
and Isham M. The mother of these children died in 1855, and in 1860 
the father was married a second time, on this occasion being united 
with Miss Malinda Andrews, of Howard county, in this state. Of their 
two children only one is living, Anna I)., the wife of George Wisdom, 
of Macon county. The father was a Democrat in politics and a Ba])tist 
in religious connection. He took an active part in the work of both 
his party and his cliurch. Second wife died in 1897. 

Isham M. Walker, like nearly all the children of his day and local- 
ity, obtained his education in the distiict schools in large measure. But 
unlike most of the others, he had the benefit of a finishing course at 
Blount Pleasant College, in Huntsville, Missouri. He passed his early 



860 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

life assisting his parents on the farm, working on it even after leaving 
college, and remaining at home until 1876. He then started a farming 
enterprise of his own on 100 acres of land which his father gave him, 
and has continued it energetically and profitably to the present time.- 
He now owns 210 acres of good laud and has the greater part of it 
under skillful and productive cultivation. 

Mr. Walker has not, however, devoted himself wholly to his own 
interests. He has been zealously serviceable to the community as a 
member of the school board and in many other ways, aiding in every 
worthy project for the improvement of the region around him, and 
contributing essentially and substantially to the welfare of its people, 
He was married on November 19, 1876, to Miss Mary J. McGrew, a 
daughter of Clinton and ^\ngeline (Spencer) McGrew, prominent citi- 
zens of Macon county. They have five children, all living in Macon 
county but one. They are: Susan Luella, the wife of Alfred Purdy; 
Melville C, whose home is at Eockyford, Colorado ; Hubert E., of this 
county; Henry F., also of this county; and Victor T., who is still at 
home. The father is a Democrat in politics and he and his wife are 
Baptists in religion, and both active workers in the church to which 
they belong. They stand well in the county, being reckoned among its 
most prosperous and influential citizens and most active factors for 
good to the whole people. They are generous in social life, making 
their home a center of refined and considerate liospitalitj*, and con- 
tributing liberally to everything that ministers to the enjojonent of 
their hosts of friends, who hold them in cordial admiration as all the 
re.st of the population does in high respect. 

^ HENEY M. HUNTSMAN. 

The wild plains and sloping hillsides of Missouri required heroic 
effort on the part of the pioneers to awaken them to cultivated produc- 
tiveness and make them yield their due tribute to the service of civilized 
man, and the pioneers who did this were men and women of heroic 
mold and stern endurance, willing to dare any danger and undergo 
any liardshij) to redeem the wilderness from the waste and lay in it tlie 
foundations of a great, wealthy and progressive commonwealth. They 
wrought with cai*e, even though crudely, as their circumstances 
required, and from a retrospective view of their labors and the results 
which have followed, one must give them credit for wisdom in their 
efforts and breadth of view as well as endurance in their toil. 

Among tliis race of conquerors were .Tosiah and Daisy (Collins) 
Iluntsuiaii, tile parents of Heniy AV. Huntsman, one of the substantial 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 861 

and successful farmers of Narrows township in Macon county. They 
were natives of Kentucky and repeated on the soil of Missouri the 
triumphs their forefathers liad won on that of their native state. The 
father came to this state in 1833, a young adventurer twenty-seven years 
of age, and located on Mud creek, where he entered government hind 
still virgin to the plow and all untouched, as yet, by the hard but kindly 
hand of systematic husbandry. He was one of the first settlers in that 
region and had his full share of the stirring and startling experiences 
of the frontier. But he pursued his chosen way, fencing and breaking 
up his land, and gradually but surely transforming the wild domain 
into an excellent and highly improved farm. He prospered in his 
lofty venture and added to his acres until, at the time of his death on 
July 22, 1881, he was possessed of 337, the greater part of wJiicli was 
yielding tribute to his enterprise, industry and skill. 

Josiah Huntsman was married twicei His first wife was a Miss 
Poarch, of Kentucky, and through his marriage with her he became 
the father of five children, three of whom are living: Newton and 
Thomas, who live in Randolph county, this state, and Martha Jane, who 
still has her home under the parental roof. The father was married 
to Miss Daisy Collins, who was also a native of Kentucky. Five chil- 
dren were born of this marriage also and four of them are living. They 
are: James T., who resides in California; Henry M., the immediate 
subject of this sketch; AVilliam P., an esteemed citizen of Walla AValla 
county, state of AVashington; and C. J., whose liome is in Randolph 
county, Missouri. The father was first a "Whig in politics, and when 
the party of his early choice and loyaltj' passed away he became a 
Democrat, taking part in the campaigns of his party and giving its 
principles and candidates earnest and effective support until the end 
of his life. He was an earnest and devout member of the Christian 
church for many years, active in all its worthy undertakings and zealous 
in defense of its articles of faith. 

Henry M. Huntsman accepted his heritage as a child of the 
frontier, with all that it involved, witliout repining. He attended the 
district school near his home and obtained in its instructions all of the 
direct scholastic training it was his lot to get. He did his part of the 
hard worlT on the farm and gave the family all the support he could 
in its early struggle with the wild conditions opposed to its advance- 
ment, although these had been much improved by the time he appeared 
on the scene. After leaving school and reaching the estate of man- 
hood he still remained at home, assisting his parents, until 1882, when 
he bought 120 acres of land in Macon county and took up his residence 



862 HI8T0RY OF MACOX COUNTY 

on it. Making it liis life work to develojj and imiDrove this tract, and 
all besides tliat he might be able to add to it, he has ever since sedu- 
lously devoted himself to the task he set for himself, in the perform- 
ance of which he has been vei'v successful. He now owns I'OO acres 
of fine farming and grazing land, all of which is under cultivation and 
in a high state of fruitfulness. His main business is general fanning 
at an elevated standard of excellence, and he makes the work profit- 
able. In addition he raises, and feeds and ships, large numbers of cat- 
tle. Of these he takes such care that he is always prepared to deliver 
them to the markets in good condition, and thus maintains the high 
rate at which his output has long been scheduled. 

Mr. Huntsman was married on February 12, 1882, to Miss Pettie 
AVatson, a daughter of Benjamin Watson, one of the leading citizens 
of Macon county. They have had six children, five of whom are living: 
Frank C. and Hugh N., who live at Alliance, Nebraska; and Benjamin 
y., AVilliam M. and AValdo W., who are still at home with their par- 
ents. In politics the father is a Populist, not extreme in his views, 
but firm in defense of those he holds. Fraternallj- he belongs to the 
order of Woodmen of the AVorld, and in religious connection he and his 
wife are associated with the Christian church, in the work of which 
they take an active i)art. They are also faithful in the performance 
of all their duties as citizens, taking broad and progressive views of 
life and living up to them. They heartily support every commendable 
enterprise for the advancement of the community and the elevation of 
the moral and intellectual standard of its people. All who know them 
respect them highly as altogether worthy and estimable factors in the 
public and private life of the township and county, and supporters of 
its most valued institutions. 

v GEORGE L. WALTERS. 

George L. Walters, one of the successful and progressive farmers 
of that rich agricultural i)ortion of Macon county, known as Round 
Grove township, fui-nishes in his career a fine example of Pennsylvania 
enterprise and thrift transmitted to another generation and trans- 
])lanted in a region distant and different from that in which it orig- 
inated. He was born in Macon county, on the farm which is still his 
home, on December 27, 18(33, and is a son of Aaron and Ann (Border) 
Walters, who were born, reared and educated in Pennsylvania, and 
were among the early settlers of ^lacon county. The father came to 
this state at a very early date and bought laud from the government, 
which was still in a state of primeval nature and not yet given over 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 863 

to the dominiou of tlie white man by the wild beasts and red rovers of 
the forest and the phiiiis. 

This hardy advouturor knew tlie jierils he faced and tlie difficulties 
he would have to encounter, but he had the spirit of a Spartan and dared 
any danger, smiled at any difficulty, in his determination to win suc- 
cess on the frontier and make a name and achieve an estate for him- 
self, where nature held everything in readiness for the industry and 
thrift which she awaited as the proper recipients of her bounty. lie 
struggled with her wild condition, faithfully toiled on under her unre- 
lenting frown, and in due time found her yielding to his persistent 
industry and courage and rewarding him with annually expanding 
benefactions. He fenced and improved his land and in time made it one 
of the best farms in the township of its location. He added to his 
possessions as prosperity gave him the means, and when he died in 
1875 was the owner of 240 acres of excellent land, Well improved, 
reduced to a high degree of jjroductiveness and in itself a valuable 
estate. 

About four years before the father died he gave up active work 
and turned the management and operation of the farm over to his son 
George, and that progressive and skillful manager has been in charge 
of it ever since. His venerable mother is still living, aged seventj'-five 
years, and she makes her home with him. She was his father's second 
wife and the mother of two children, George L. and his older brother 
Joseph, both residents of Macon county. Both have been successful 
and each is a substantial and well esteemed citizen, active in all efforts 
for the improvement of the county and in line with every undertaking 
that will minister to the comfort, convenience and enduring welfare 
of its people. 

George L. Walters obtained his education in the district schools 
near his home, and on leaving school settled down at once to his life- 
long occupation of cultivating the paternal homestead. He has never 
had any other home or desired any. He has prospered on this and added 
to its extent until it now comprises 358 acres, about half of which is 
under cultivation and worked with assiduous industry and conunendable 
skill and judgment. Mr. Walters has risen to a high rank among the 
farmers of the township, giving all his attention to his one pursuit and 
making the utmost of that. Like the skylark of poesy, he is a "type of 
the wise, who soar but never roam, true to the kindred points of heaven 
and home." 

In politics Mr. "Walters is a Republican of stable and continuing 
convictions, but he is not an active partisan, and has never sought or 



864 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

desired a political office, being content to serve the state from the honor- 
able post of private citizenship, doing what he could for its advance- 
ment in his own way and leaving its government to those whom tlie 
people chose to administer its affairs. He is regarded as an excellent 
citizen and estimable man. 

ANDREW J. ASBURY. 

Andrew J. Asbui'v, of Hudson township, who is one of the leading 
citizens of Macon county, and has reflected credit on it and its people 
in both private and public life, is a native of Missouri, born in Howard 
county on April 22, 1855. His grandfather, Elijah Asbury, was a native 
of Virginia, and belonged to a family tliat for generations held high 
rank in the Old Dominion, where the family name is one of prominence 
in the chronicles of the state, running back into colonial times. 

Mr. Asbui-y is a son of Thomas and Katharine (Downing) Asbury, 
natives of Clinton county, Ohio, where the father was born in 1810. His 
father caught the western fever when he was a young man and moved 
into what was then the almost untrodden frontier, in southwestern 
Ohio. It was a bold step for a young man reared and nurtured amid 
the blandishments of old Virginia's cultivated society and wealth of 
creature comforts, but he took it bravely, endured the discomforts of 
the long and tedious journey into and through the wilderness, and set- 
tled down in the new domain to carve out for himself a name among 
the people and an estate worthy of his abilities and industry. Follow- 
ing his example, the son in turn became an emigrant from the parental 
homestead and sought the betterment of his fortune in the wilds of Mis- 
souri, bringing to this state an abundance of. spirit and energy, good 
health and the buoyant hopefulness of youth, but little else. He took 
up his residence first in Howard county, where he remained until 1865. 
In that year he moved to Monroe couuty, and eight years later to Macon 
countJ^ Before coming to this county he had lived on rented farms, 
but on his arrival here he bought a tract of one hundred acres, which he 
cultivated with skill and energy until the death of his wife in 1879. He 
then deteiTuined to retire and sold his property, thereafter making 
his home with his children until his death on January 25, 1884. His 
wife died in January, 1880. 

In 1862 he enlisted in the Union army for a period of nine months 
and served as a member of Comi)any A., Ninth Volunteer Missouri 
Infantry, the company being under command of General Guitar. Mr. 
Asbury 's term of soi-viee was extended to two years, and, although the 
most of the time during its continuance his command was stationed 



HISTORY OP MACON COUNTY 865 

in Missouri, it saw active service on tlie march and in the lielcl, taking 
part in many skirmislies and some more important engagements. 

The marriage of the parents of Andrew Asbnry occurred in Oliio 
ami resulted in nine children, but three of whom are now living: Tjouisa 
Jane, wife of AVilliam Xeff, of Macon county; George W., a resident of 
Shelbj' coimty; and the interesting subject of this memoir. The father 
was a Eepublican in politics and long a member of and zealous worker 
in the Christian church. He was regarded throughout the county as 
an enterprising and progressive citizen and a very worthy and esti- 
mable man. 

Andrew J. Asbury got his meager draughts of scholastic learning 
at the connnon fountain of inspiration for the American jjeople, the 
district schools, attending these temples to Cadmus in Howard, Monroe 
and Macon counties. When he had completed their limited courses of 
instruction he remained at home and assisted his father in the work of 
the farm until 1877. He then bought forty acres of land and began 
farming on his own account, continuing his operations in this line jf 
productive industry until 1895. In that year he moved to ]\lacon City, 
where he lived for a period of thirteen years. In 1908 he bought another 
farm of eighty acres, and on this he has ever since made his home, but 
has not engaged actively in the work of farming the land, having other 
duties of importance to occupy his time and energies. He was elected 
sheriff of the county in 189-1, and in 1898 was chosen marshal, holding 
the former office one term and the latter two. At the end of his second 
term as marshal he was appointed superintendent of the county infirm- 
ary, a position which he tilled with credit to himself and benefit to the 
institution and the county for a period of two years. AVhih^ sheriff he 
hanged the first and only man ever executed by law in the county. 

It will be seen that in official life Mr. Asbury has rendered the 
county good service and dignified and adorned its citizenship. As a 
farmer also he was highly successful, carrj'ing on his operations on a 
high plane and helping to raise the standard of farming all around 
him. It is his demonstrated merit that has raised him to iirominence 
among the people and won him their lasting esteem; and it is his indus- 
try, thrift and capacity that have given him a goodly store of this 
world's goods and made him comfortable for life. 

Mr. Asbury's first marriage occurred on P^bruary 25, 1877. when 
he was united in wedlock with Miss Jennie B. Fleming, a native of Penn- 
sylvania. They had six children and five of them are living: Harry 
W., a resident of Winslow, Arizona ; Frank IT., w4io lives in Los Angeles, 
California; Jesse T., whose home is in Fresno, California; Cline R., 



866 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

who also lives in Arizona, at Winslow, and Euby K., who is still a mem- 
ber of the parental household. Their mother died in 1891, and on 
September 25, 1893, the father married a second wife, on this occasion 
being united with Miss Ida M. Vanneteu, a resident of Macon county. 
In politics Mr. Asbury is a pronounced Republican. In fraternal rela- 
tions he belongs to the Woodmen of the World and the Independent 
Order of Foresters, and his religious affiliation is with the Christian 
church. He has been very active in all and stands well in each. 

v/ CHARLES P. SHAY. 

Three of the great states of the American Union have had the 
benefit of the activities and elevated citizenship of Charles P. Shay, 
now one of the leading merchants of Anabel, in this county, and all 
of them are the better for his having lived and labored in them. These 
states are Missouri, Colorado and Texas, and Mr. Shay has pleasant 
memories of each with a cordial regard for the people he mingled with 
while within its borders. He was born in Warren county, Ohio, on 
February 18, 1874, and became a resident of Missouri with his parents 
in 1882, when he was but eight years old. 

Mr. Shay is a son of John B. and Margaret (Carpenter) Shay, 
and he and his brother, Benjamin M., of New York, are the only ones 
of their three children who are now living. The father was born in 
Ireland in 18-44 and lived in that country until he reached the age of 
eleven years. Then, in company with an older brother, he came to this 
country, led to the step by the lack of opportunity for the deserving 
poor in his own land and its abundance here. Fortune smiled upon him 
for his daring and gave him acquisitions in material substance and 
influence as a citizen which he could never have made in the Emerald 
Isle under its present political and social conditions. On the arrival of 
the self-expatriated brothers in the United States they located in War- 
ren county, Ohio, and there the younger, orphaned by distance from 
his parents if not by their death, completed in the public schools the 
education he had begun in those of his native land. 

When he was obliged and ready to take up the burden of life for 
liimself, which was at an early age, he bought and shipped grain and 
feed for some years and then turned his attention to farming and rais- 
ing live-stock. He carried on these industries in Warren county, Oliio, 
until 1882. In that year he concluded to take another flight in the wake 
of the setting sun, and, in consequence of this determination, he came 
to Missouri and located in Macon county, half a mile south of Anabel. 
There he farmed in a general way until his death in 1894. He was 



HISTORY OF -MACON COlXTY 867 

married in 1868 to Miss Margaret Carpentei-, a native of ^laysville, 
Keutneky. ]n iiolities lie was a Republican, in fraternal relations a 
Free Mason and an Odd Fellow, and in religious connection a member 
of the Methodist cliureh. All who knew him estoemed him highly, and 
his early death at the age of fifty was generally lamented. For he had 
shown in Missouri the same qualities of enterprise and thrift, of self- 
reliance and readiness for any emergency, that had brought him across 
the stormy Atlantic in his boyhood and sustained him through all his 
subsequent struggles; and had manifested here, also, a sturdy devotion 
to the land of his adoption and an eager desire to do all he could to 
promote its welfare and enlarge the power of its beneficent institutions, 
political, educational, industrial and commercial. 

Charles P. Shay began his scholastic training in the district schools 
of Ohio, continued it in the public schools of Clarence, Missouri, and 
completed it in a course of special instruction at the Northern Indiana 
State Normal School at Yalj^araiso, in that state, from which he was 
graduated in 1892. His first occupation after leaving school was that 
of telegraph operator at Higginsville, Missouri, and Mansfield, Texas. 
"When his father died he returned to this state and assisted his mother 
in conducting the operations of tlie home farm until 1896. During the 
next three years he was engaged in general farming on his own account. 
In 1899 he moved to Puel)lo, Colorado, to perform the duties of an 
important position for which he had been selected, that of department 
foreman in a rolling mill operated as a part of the great plant of the 
Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. 

Mr. Shay remained in this imi)ortant and responsible position until 
1903. But, while there were many agreeable features in his emjjloyment, 
it was not altogether to his taste, and in the year last mentioned he 
returned to his former home in this county. Soon afterward he opened 
a general store at Anabel, where he has ever since been engaged in 
merchandising, rising steadily in rank as a merchant, building up a 
good and expanding trade, gaining constantly in the esteem of the 
people, and aiding by all the means at his command in advancing the 
best interests of the community. In November, 1906, he was a])p()inted 
postmaster of Anabel by President Roosevelt. He is still filling this 
office and, what is rare, is discharging its duties with satisfaction to all 
the patrons of the postal service in the territory dependent for that 
service on the Anabel office. 

Mr. Shay was married on June 30, 1896, to Miss Mae White, a 
daughter of William C. White, one of the leading citizens of Macon 
county. They have two children, their sons, Charles W. and Connor 



868 HISTORY OF .MACOX COUNTY 

P., who are liviug at home and attending school. In poUtics ^Ir. Shay 
is a consistent and zealous Kepublican, earnest and effective in the 
service of his party and esteemed by its leaders in the county and 
state as judicious in council and very energetic in work. Fraternally 
he belongs to the Independent Order of Eed Men and the Knights of 
the Maccabees. With youth, health, enterprise and good judgment as 
assets, with lofty ideals of citizenship as beacons for his guidance, and 
with a determination to make the most of his opportunities in every 
way, the people of Macon county expect him to become one of their 
best and most representative and useful men. 

CHARLES P. HESS. 

V 

The honored siibject of this sketch is a worthy representative of 
that sturdy and valued element which the great empire of Gennany 
has contributed to our American social and industrial life, and, coming 
to the United States when a young man, he has won for himself definite 
success in a material way, the while he has so guided and governed his 
course as to merit and receive at all times the unqualified confidence 
and regard of those with whom he has come in contact in the various 
relations of his signally active and useful life. He gave to his adopted 
country loyal service as a soldier in the Civil war, and none could 
manifest greater patriotism than this. In the "piping times of peace" 
his loyalty has been of the same insistent order and he deserves well 
of the nation whose integrity he aided in per]ietuatiug. He has served 
as county judge and held other offices of distinctive public trust, is a 
veteran member of the bar of Macon county, and he has long wielded 
much influence in public affairs. His intellectual powers are of high 
type, though he gained his training largely in the school of experience 
and through effective self-discipline, and he has proved amply qualified 
for leadership in both thought and action. Judge Hess stands today 
one of the b'est known and most honored citizens of Macon county, and, 
venerable in years, he can view the dim perspective of the past and 
find that he has not flinched from duty and has striven ever to play 
his part as one of the world's noble army of workers. It is a matter 
of satisfaction to the publishers of this work to be able to incorporate 
in the same even a brief review of his career, — a record that is properly 
perpetuated in such a vehicle of historic import. 

Charles Pliilip Hess was born in Laugenlonsheim bei Kreuznacli, 
Prussia, on the 9th of September, 1837, and there his parents, Johannes 
and Katherine (Stern) Hess, passed their entire lives, secure in the 
esteem of all who knew them. The father was a fanner by vocation 



f 




CHARLES P. HESS 



i| 



IIlsTOin' OF :MAC0X county 869 

and served the prescribed term in tlie Prussian army when a young' 
man. Judge Hess secured his early educational discipline in the 
schools of his native place, where he was reared to maturity. As a youth 
his ambition promjited him to sever the gracious ties which bound him 
to home and fatherland and to seek his fortunes in ibnerica, which had 
proved a veritable land of promise to many of his countrymen. Accord- 
ingly, in 1854, when but seventeen years of age, he came to the United 
States, making the voyage on a sailing vessel, from the port of Havre 
de Grace, and being on the ocean for a period of thirty-two days before 
landing in the port of New York city. He soon made his way to the 
city of Buffalo, where he entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of 
carriagemaker, in which he became a skilled workman and to which he 
devoted his attention until he felt the call of higher duty, wiien the 
dark cloud of Civil war obscured the national horizon. He was one of 
those who responded to President Lincoln's tirst call, he became a 
member of the regular army by proceeding to the city of Philadelphia, 
where, in October, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Sixth United 
States Cavalry. He was in service during three years of the great 
internicine conflict and proved a gallant and faithful soldier of the 
rei)ublic. Among the more notable engagements in which he took part 
may be mentioned the following: Williamsburg, Hanover Court House, 
Chickahominy Swamp, Savage Station, Glendale and Malvern Hill, 
Antietam, the first and second battles of the Wilderness, and Appo- 
mattox. Besides these he took part in many skirmishes and minor 
engagements. For efficient service he was promoted to the office of 
sergeant of Company A of his regiment, and in 1862 he was transferred 
to Company C, of which he was made first sergeant. In the engagement 
at Fairfield, Pennsylvania, he was severely injured, on the -1th of July, 
1863, his left knee having been dislocated by his horse falling upon him 
after the animal had been shot from under him. He was confined to 
the hospital for a period of nine weeks, at tbe expiration of which he 
rejoined his command, at P"'airfax, Virginia, where he was detailed as 
forage master at the headquarters of the cavalry corps of the Depart- 
ment of tlie Potomac. He received his hon()ral)le discharge at Harrison- 
ville near Winchester, Virginia, on the 10th of October, 1864, after 
which he was aiijwinted second lieutenant of the Twenty-seventh United 
States Reserves, at Alexandria, Virginia. He has ever maintained 
a deep interest in his old comrades of the Civil war, and signifies the 
same l)y his membership in F. A. Jones Post, No. 23, (irand Army of 
the Rei)ublic, in Macon, of which he has served as commander and also 
as Jr. Department commander of the state of Missouri. 



870 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

In 1865 Judge Hess returned to liis native land, -wliere be remained 
about six months, renewing old associations and enjoying once more the 
hospitality of his boyhood home. He returned to America in October 
of 1865 and was accompanied by his sister Katherine and her husband 
Frederick ^^^ ]\luft" and family and who are now dead. Soon after his 
return to the United States Judge Hess came to Macon county, Mis- 
souri, and settled on a farm in Eagle township. He improved the 
property and continued to be actively identified, with agricultural pur- 
suits for two years, and then he took up his residence in the city of 
Macon, which was then a mere village, in 1867. He gave careful 
attention to the study of approved law textbooks, and in 1868 was 
admitted to the bar of the state. His knowledge of the science of 
jurisprudence is exact and comprehensive and while he has not given 
much attention to the active work of his profession his technical learn- 
ing has been of great value to him on the bench and in connection with 
other offices of which he has been incumbent. 

Judge Hess has ever been an able and uncompromising advocate 
of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and has been 
influential in his councils in his home county and state, where he has 
given active and efficient service in the promotion of its cause. In 1868 
he was elected to the bench of the county court of Macon county, and 
prior to this he had served as justice of the ijeace. He continued on the 
county bench until 1873, and in 1876 he was elected city attorney of 
Macon, of which office he continued incumbent for the long period of 
fourteen consecutive years, within which he ably safeguarded the 
interests of the city. For twelve years he was secretary of the Macon 
board of education, and he has always taken a zealous part in the 
furtherance of the cause of pox^ular education. In 1888 Judge Hess 
was fittingly honored in being chosen a delegate to the Republican 
national convention, in Chicago, in which General Benjamin Harrison 
was nominated for the presidency. In 1892 he received the Reiniblican 
nomination for circuit judge of his circuit, but was unable to overcome 
the normal Democratic majority in the circuit, through he received a 
flattering suiiport at all the polls. Judge Hess has done much in the 
way of directing pulilic opinion in this section of the state and in 1899 
he became associated with the late F. W. Blees in the publication of the 
Macon Citizen, of which he became manager and editor. Under his 
direction and able editorial policy the paper wielded much influence in 
political affairs and was made an effective exponent of local interests. 
He continued as editor in chief of this paper, which is issued weekly, 
until 1902, when he severed his connection with the same. Since that 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 871 

time he has lived virtual!}- retired, secure iu the high regard of the com- 
munity in which he has long made his home and to whose best interests 
he has given unreserved service of promotion. He is identified with the 
local lodge of the Knights of Pytliias, as well as with the Grand Army 
of the Republic, as already noted. On the 29th of October, 1869, Judge 
Hess was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Sophia Maffry, who 
was born in Germany but who was at that time a resident of Macon, and 
of their eight children six are living, namely: Alma, who is the wife of 
Edward A. Dumeter, of Macon ; Caroline, who is the wife of Burlis H. 
Collins, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania ; Bertha, who is the wife of Clarence 
Henley, of Oklahoma City; Annette, who remains at the parental home; 
Olga, who is the wife of Charles Sears, of Ames, Iowa, and Ralph, who 
is a commercial traveler, in Alabama and Georgia and is now married 
to a lady who was Miss Mabel Sliipp of Winchester, Kentucky. 

^ CHARLES 0. WALKER. 

Charles 0. Walker, one of the prosperous and progressive farm- 
ers, fruit-groAvers and dairjnnen of Round Grove township, is wholly 
a product of [Macon county, and in himself and his career he reflects 
credit on the portion of the state that gave him birth and opportunity 
for the exercise of the faculties which have built his own fortunes and 
greatly helped in the development and progress of the locality in which 
he has operated. Born, reared, educated and married in this county, 
and carrying on within its borders all the activities that have engaged 
his attention, he is a representative man among the people of the 
county and is esteemed accordingly. 

Mr. Walker's life began on September 5, 1850, and he is a son of 
John P. and Mary H. (Brown) Walker, natives of Botetourt county, 
Virginia, where the father was born in 1820. In 1840, when he was but 
twenty years of age, with the hardy and daring sjiirit that has long 
characterized his family, he determined to leave the parental rooftree 
and the scenes and associations of his boyhood and youth, and make 
a home and name for himself in a region remote from his ancestral 
home, and in which there was still conquests awaiting the pioneer, the 
woodsman and the hunter. In that year he came to Missouri in obedi- 
ence to this impulse and located in Macon county, where he passed the 
remainder of his days actively engaged in farming and raising live- 
stock. He took uji wild, unbroken land and was successful in im))rov- 
ing it and bringing it to productiveness. He increased his holdings 
from time to time until when he died on March 3, 1898, he owned and 
had under cultivation 240 acres of first-rate land, well improved with 



872 HISTORY OF ilACON COTJXTY 

good buildings and other necessary structures, and yielding abun- 
dantly in response to the jjersuasive hand of skilful husbandry. 

John P. Walker was married in 1843 to Miss Mary H. Brown, 
of Virginia, and their union resulted in nine children, seven of whom 
are living and adding to the productiveness, wealth and power of this 
country and Canada. They are : AVilliam G., a resident of Macon 
City, this state; Nathan E., who lives at Moberly, Missouri; Charles 
0., the immediate subject of this brief review ; John S., also a resident 
of this county; Sarah, the wife of William Sketchley, of Canada, and 
Ella J., the wife of Lonis Ebright, of Mequite, Texas. In politics the 
father was a lifelong Democrat, true and faithful to his convictions and 
earnest in seeking to enforce them. Fraternally he belonged to the 
Masonic order and was a veteran in its ranks. He was successful 
in industry, upright in manhood and influential in citizensliip, win- 
ning an estate from Nature's bounty for himself by his enterprise and 
the esteem of all who knew him by his uniform cleanness of life and 
fairness in all transactions in business, united with his progressiveness 
and clearness of vision as a potency in efforts for the improvement 
and elevation of the county. He was county surveyor and county 
judge for years. 

Charles 0. Walker began his education in the district schools near 
his home, continued it at the Macon City high school, and completed 
it at the college in Huntsville, Missouri. After leaving college he 
remained with his parents on the homestead until his marriage on 
February 17, 1884. He then bought 120 acres of land on which and 
his subsequent purchases he has ever since been engaged in vigorous 
and progressive farming and stock-breeding. He also has a fine and 
fruitful apple orchard of forty acres, and, in addition to the industries 
already indicated, carries on a flourishing business as a dairyman, 
helping to supply the surrounding country with the products from 
his herds and .shipping large quantities of milk, cream and butter to 
the market. 

Mr. Walker now owns and cultivates 170 acres of good land and has 
his farm well improved. He has been successful in all his undertakings 
and is regarded as one of the most ])rosperous and substantial men in 
the townshi]) in which he lives. But his own advancement has not 
blinded him to the needs of the county or the enduring welfare of its 
people. On the contrary, it has made him zealous in behalf of all pub- 
lic imi)r()vemonts and the general elevation of his locality through the 
quickening influence of tiie mental and moral agencies at work in it. 
These and every form of material development he has aided diligently 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 873 

and intelligently to promote, serving capably and acceptably as a uieui- 
ber of the school board and in various other positions of public useful- 
ness and responsibility. 

On February 17, 1884, he married Miss Sina Rogers, of ■\Iacon 
County. They have had eleven children and all of them are living but 
two. Those living are : Elva, wife of Frank Scarlott, of South Dakota ; 
Albert L., of South Dakota; Grace, wife of James Goe, of New Mexico; 
Agnus M., of AVashiugtou, D. C. ; A\'illiam O., and Ruby J., who reside 
in South Dakota, and Ada H., Chauncey M. and Roger W., who are still 
living at home. The political faith of the father is in the Democratic 
party's principles and theories of government, and he gives a loyal 
and helpful sup])ort to the candidates of that party on all occasions. 
His religious affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
of which he has long been a leading member in the community of his 
home. His life has been a stimulus and an incitement to those around 
him, showing what industry, thrift and skill can accomplish in this 
bountiful land, and demonstrating, at the same time, what elevated and 
useful citizenship means. All look u])on him as a representative of the 
best elements in the population of the county and esteem him highly. 

JACOB T. BROWNING. 

Born and reared in the mountain region of Pennsylvania, and dur 
ing the last thirty-six j-ears a resident on the plains of Missouri, Jacob 
T. Browning, one of the most prosperous, progressive and success- 
ful fanners of Round Grove township, Macon county, during the long 
period of his activity, tinds his evening of life passing amid scenes and 
associations far different from those of its morning, and the interven- 
ing time has been full of incident, adventure and conquest for him. 
It has given him experience, too, in many trials and privations, and 
subjected him at times to all the hazards of deadly warfare, ou whose 
ensanguined fields Death stalks always the final conqueror, wliatever 
military banner may be victorious. 

Mr. Browning is a native of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, where 
his life began on August 13, 1835. His parents, Basil and Nancy 
(Cheney) Browning, were also boiii and reared in the East, the former 
being of the same nativity as the son, and the latter born in the state 
of Alaryland. The father was born on November 5, 1798, and passed 
the whole of his life in agricultural pursuits, but traveled extensively 
for diversion. He was very successful in his undertakings, and when 
he died owned 889 acres of land in the fertile valleys and on the sl()))iiig 
sides of the Alleghauies. lie died on ]\Iay 23, 1879, on the farm which 



874 HISTORY OF .AIACOX COUNTY 

had so long been bis borne and wbich bis skill and industry bad 
imiiioved to tbe bigbest degree. 

On March 9, 1819, the elder Mr. Browning was united in marriage 
with ]\Iiss Nancy Cheney, then living in Bedford county, Pennsylvania, 
but, as has been stated, a native of tbe neighboring state of ^laryland. 
Of the five children that blessed their union but two are now living, the 
subject of these paragraphs and his sister, Rebecca E., who is now tbe 
widow of James A. House, deceased, of Flintstone, Maryland, where 
she maintains her home. In politics the father was a AVbig until the 
birth of the Eepublican party, and from then on to the end of his days 
he cidbered to the new organization. 

Jacob T. Browning, whose grandfather, bearing tbe same name 
as himself, was born and reared in Scotland and emigrated to this 
country in his earlj' manhood, seems to have inherited from his paternal 
ancestry all the sturdy qualities of the race to which his forefathers 
belonged, and to have had his faculties of industry, frugality and pru- 
dence strengthened and intensified through tbe influence of his sur- 
roundings and requirements in that enormous workshop of all the 
crafts, Pennsylvania. He obtained his education in the district schools 
of bis native county, and after leaving school worked on his father's 
fai-m until 1862. Tbe Civil war was then under full headway, and tbe 
integrity of tbe Union was seriously threatened by tbe awful sectional 
strife. Under the circumstances he felt it bis duty to go to its defense, 
and, accordingly, he enlisted in the Union army as a member of tbe 
renowned "Bucktail Volunteers," which became a part of tbe division 
of the army under the command of Brigadier General Stone. He was 
soon at the front and in tbe very thick of the fight, taking part in the 
battles of Haymarket, Mine Eun, Stevensville and Gettysburg and many 
minor engagements. He was in Company I, One Hundred and Forty- 
ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers, which was one of the fighting regi- 
ments of the wjir. In ]\Iarch, 1864, he was discharged at Cul])eper, 
Virginia, on account of disabilities incurred in the service, and returned 
to bis home. 

j\fr. Browning remained on the farm of his parents and assisted 
them in carrying on its operations until 1873. He then came to Mis- 
souri and located in Macon county, where be has ever since resided. 
Soon after bis arrival in this county be bought forty acres of land near 
Anabel, on which be has continuously made his home, and as time 
passed and his ventures prospered, be added to this domain until he now 
owns and, until recently farmed, 210 acres. In 1907 he retired from 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 876 

active pursuits and gave the management of the farming interests 
over to his son. 

Mr. Browning has shown himself to be a vigorous and skilful 
farmer, keeping up to date in all his operations, and applying broad 
intelligence to his work as well as diligence and thrift. He has also 
been in line with the most advanced ideas in improvement of land and 
dAvellings and other structures on a farm, and what he has done for 
himself in this connection not only stands forth as a monument to his 
enterprise, but has been potential in stimulating others to follow his 
example, and thereby has been of real and substantial benefit to the 
township and county. In promoting the welfare of both he has also 
been zealous and effective in other ways. He has served as road over- 
seer for seven years, and in connection with every avenue of develop- 
ment and advancentent has been among the most assiduous and constant 
of the progressive forces in the county. 

On January 16, 1855, Mr. Browning was united in marriage with 
Miss Jane A. Bennett, of Bedford county, Pennsylvania, a daughter 
of John Bennett, one of the leading citizens of that county. She died on 
August 10, 1903. They had seven children, three of whom are living : 
Eoy S., of Milwaukee, AVisconsin ; Rel)ecca E., the wife of John C. Gadd, 
of Moberly, Missouri, and Emory Milton, who is still living at home, 
and has charge of the farm. In politics the father has been a Repub- 
lican from the dawn of his manhood, and in fraternal life he is a member 
of the Grand Army of the Republic. 

^ FRANCIS WITHERS ALLEN, .M. D. 

Dr. Francis W. Allen, of Morrow township, Macon county, may 
properly be said to have inherited his professional taste and inclination 
from his father, and with it to have been born to a large degree of that 
esteemed physician's ability, resolution and persistency in whatever 
he imdertook. He has been in active and successful practice for twelve 
years, except during a period of some months in which he was studiously 
pursuing post-graduate courses in general and special lines of the 
medical science in Chicago. The wiiole time of his actual practice has 
been passed in this state, and nearly the half of it in Macon county. 

Dr. F. W. Allen was born in tliis county in 1873 and is a son of 
Dr. F. W. Allen, Sr., who was born and reared in Monroe county, tliis 
state. Before the Civil war the fathei- conducted an academy for ten 
years in Macon. But in the awful conditions attendant upon that san- 
guinary conflict his school was broken up and the buildings were 
destrovod. He began to studv medicine in St. Louis, and, after lu's 



876 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

graduation, located in Macon county, where be lived duiiug almost 
the whole period of his eminent services as a physician and surgeon. He 
was a graduate of Bethany college and his career was highly creditable 
to that institution as well as to himself. In connection with his prac- 
tice be also conducted a farm with success, standing as well as a farmer 
as he did in bis profession. ' 

In politics be was always a Democrat and active in the service of 
bis party, but could never be induced to accept a public office either by 
election or appointment. But be was zealous in behalf of the improve- 
ment of the county and was esteemed as one of its wisest and most 
useful citizens. . His wife, whose maiden name was Melvina Pearl, 
was a native of Randolph county, Missouri. They had four children, 
their sons, R. W., C. M., F. W., and J. P., and also reared an adopted 
daughter named Elizabeth. The father died in Nov^ember, 1906. The 
mother is still living and is now sixty-eight j'ears of age. She has her 
home on the old family homestead and is universally revered through- 
out the whole surrounding country. For a more extended account of 
the life of Dr. F. W. Allen, Sr., see sketch of bis life on another page 
of this volume. 

Dr. Francis W. Allen, the immediate subject of this brief review, 
began his academic training in the district schools and completed 
it at a first-rate high school. He afterward pursued a course of special 
training at the business college in Moberly. His preparation for his 
jjrofessional work was made in the State University at Columbia, from 
the medical department of which he was graduated with the degree of 
M. D. in 1898. During the year following his graduation he served 
as an interne in the hospitals of St. Louis, and at the end of that period 
be began his practice at Middlegrove, in Monroe county. In 1903 he 
entered upon post-graduate courses of instruction at Rush Medical 
college in Chicago and the Chicago Polyclinic school. On completing 
these courses he returned to Missouri and located at Springfield, Greene 
county, where he was engaged in an active general practice until ]90(). 
In that year he returned to T\[acon county and established himself in 
Morrow townshij), where lie has ever since been living and pra<'t icing 
with a growing reputation for skill and ability and a steadily increas- 
ing number of patients. He, like his father, is also a farmer and stock- 
man, owning and cultivating eighty acres of land and carrying on a 
flourishing business in raising live-stock for the nuirkets. In the man- 
agement of Ills I'aiiu and his stock industry lit' iinds relief from the 
exactions of iiis in'ofessional work, lint Ibis is never neglected for any 
otiiur pursuit. He keeps in touch with the advances in his profession 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 877 

by a studious and reflective reading of its best literature, and with its 
latest discoveries in practice by an active, participating membership 
in the North Missouri and Macon County Medical Associations. He 
is also examining physician for the Order of Modern Woodmen of 
America. 

In political allegiance the Doctor is a Democrat, with an earnest 
interest in the success and general welfare of his party, to which he 
contributes by energetic work in its behalf. His fraternal alliances 
are with the Order of Modern Woodmen and the Order of Odd Fellows, 
in the proceedings of which he is zealous and helpful in his interest and 
service. He was married in 1901 to Miss Essie Pearl Boyd, a native of 
Boone county, Missouri. They have two children, their daughter, Helen 
v., and their son, Francis B. The Doctor stands well in his profession 
and deserves the high rank lie holds. He has won the confidence and 
regard of the people by his tireless industry and acknowledged ability 
in his professional work and his energy and wisdom in the aid ho gives 
to all undertakings designed to improve the county and jjromote its 
welfare. In all the relations of life he is recog-nized as an upright, useful 
and representative man. 

^ JOHN R. HUGHES. 

The sturdiness and rectitude so characteristic of the race from 
which he sprang are well represented in the career of this honored 
pioneer of ]\Iacon county, with whose business and civic interests he was 
prominently identified for more than thirty years, having been one of 
the leading business men and influential citizens of the village of Bevier, 
where his death occurred on the 3d of June, 1899. He passed to his 
reward secure in the high regard of all who knew him and left to his 
descendants the heritage of a good name and of worthy and kindly deeds 
performed without ostentation and with the simple dignity and sjtu-, 
pathy that characterized him in all the relations of life. He won success 
in the face of obstacles that would have proved insuperable to men of 
less mental and moral stamina, and was, in the most significant sense, 
the architect of his own fortunes, since he became largely dej^endent 
upon his own resources while still a mere boy, owing to the somewhat 
straitened circumstances of the family. 

John R. Hughes was a native of Wales, where he was born on the 
3d of December, 18:57, and where he secured his rudimentary educa- 
tion, having attended night school after the age of ten years, as he 
thus early began to work in the mines during the daytime. His father 
was a miner in his native land, but followed other lines of work after 



878 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

coming to America. "When the .subject of this memoir was a hxd of 
twelve years his parents immigrated to the United States and settled 
in Meigs county, Oliio. His folks were of sterling character and whose 
lives were summed up, as Lincoln said of his own parents, in "the 
short and simple annals of the poor." In the old Buckeye state John 
E. Hughes was enabled to extend somewhat his educational training, 
attending the common schools as opportunity atiforded, but finding 
his portion that of ceaseless toil and endeavor during the greater por- 
tion of his boyhood and youth. He was reared to manhood in Ohio, and 
at Pomeroy, that state, on the 14tli of October, 1863, was solemnized 
his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Eeese, who likewise was a native of 
AVales. whence her j^arents came to America when she was a child of 
four years. She proved a devoted companion and helpmeet to her 
Imsband, and their mutual love and sympathy made their relations of 
idyllic order during that many years that they walked side by side down 
the pathway of life. She survived him and is still living at Bevier, 
Missouri. Of their fourteen children, nine died in infancy, and the other 
five are still living. Daniel E., a member of the bar of Macon county, 
residing in the city of Macon, is individually mentioned on other pages 
of this volume; Edward E. is identitied with the newspaper business 
in the city of Seattle, Washington; John R., an able lawj'er, is asso- 
ciated in practice with his brother, Daniel R., in Macon; Miss Eliza- 
beth resides in Bevier, and Jennie is the wife of John W. Howell, of 
Fort Smith, Arkansas. 

After his marriage John E. Hughes continued his residence in 
Ohio until 1867, when he came to ^Missouri and took up his abode in the 
village of Bevier, JMacon county, where he secured em]llo^^nent as clerk 
in a general merchandise store. In 1871 he engaged in business on his 
own responsibility, opening a well-equipped store in the same town, 
l)ut the i)anic of 1873 soon followed and tested to the full his resource- 
fulness and stability and integrity of character. That he weathered 
the storm successfully is evident when we revert to the fact that he 
was the only one of the twenty merchants in Bevier that did not fail as a 
result of this memorable financial panic. "With utmost caution, wisdom 
and circumspection he conserved his resources and so effectively han- 
dled his business affairs that his every creditor received one hundred 
cents on the dollar. He continued in business at Bevier until his 
death, and his success was of no mean order, testifying alike to his 
])ersonal popularity, his honorable methods and his entei'prising spirit. 
No man in the community has enjoyed a more generous measure of pub- 
lic confidence and esteem than did he, and upon the record of his entire 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 879 

career there rests no suspicion of wrong or shadow of injustice. He 
made his life count for good in all its relations and his memory is 
revered by all who came within the bounds of his kindly and beneficent 
influence. 

Though a staunch Eepublican in ids political views of a generic 
order, Mr. Hughes was never offensively partisan, and in local affairs 
was liberal in his ])olitical influence and action. His first presidential 
vote was cast for Pi*esident Lincoln, in 1860. In 1890 he was elected 
justice of the peace, and of this office he continued incumbent for three 
successive terms, giving an administration which made the position 
justify its title. Both he and his wife were most devout and zealous 
members of the Congregational church, with which he identified liimself 
when seventeen years of age. He became a deacon of the church when 
but twenty years old and of this position he continued incumbent with- 
out interruption during the residue of his long and signally useful 
life. He became a man of broad mental ken and of much intellectual 
strength, br;t he never ceased to regret the lack of educational oppor- 
tunities in his youth, and thus was the more insistent in doing all in 
his power to accord to his children the best of opportunities and to 
support by his aid and influence every measure tending to conserve 
educational work in his home, village, coimty and state. He was the 
first candidate to be initiated in Eskridge Lodge, Inde})ondent Order of 
Odd Fellows, in Bevier, and was its first representative in the grand 
lodge of the state. He continued to be actively affiliated with this 
lodge until his death, and all of his sons are members of the same fra- 
ternity. A man of intrinsic nobility, simple and unassuming, alTable 
and kindly in his intercourse with his fellow-men, Mr. Hughes was a 
power for good in his field of labor and sphere in life, and his name 
merits a place of honor in this comiiilation, through which may be 
perpetuated a slight tribute to his memory. 

y JOHN HENRY GROSS. 

The son and the grandson of pioneers in this state, and himself 
born and reared long enough ago to see it before anything like its 
present advanced develoi)ment and strident progress were manifest, 
John Henry Gross, one of the progressive and successful farmers of 
Liberty township, Macon county, has been connected witli the building 
of our great state from his birth, and from the time when his energies 
were sufficient for the purpose, has borne faithfully his full share of 
the work. 

Mr. Gross was born on February 17, 1854, in Independence town- 



880 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

• 

sliip. this county, and is a son of Xoali and ^lary (Sears) Gross, the 
former a native of Kentucky, and the hitter of Kentucky, Kandolph 
county, who rode in her mother's lap on horseback to Missouri. The 
father was born in 3816, and when lie was but two years old was broui^'ht 
to Missouri by his father, Abraham Gross, also a Keutuckian, born, 
reared and married in that state, and for some years prosperous as 
a farmer there. He located his young family in Bandolph county on 
a tract of laiid which he acquired there, and at once began to take an 
active and leading part in redeeming the wilderness, as the region 
was then, and reducing it to systematic cultivation. He aided in laying 
the foundations of its future progress and planting the seeds of the 
advanced civilization which now characterizes it and passed the remain- 
der of his life in that county. His sou, Noah, grew to manhood in 
Eandolph county, and obtained his education in the primitive country 
schools, which were then the only academic institutions in this part 
of the state. 

After leaving school and teaching for a while he learned the car- 
penter trade. In the year 1853 he built a home which was one of the 
best houses in the county. He burned the l)rick and lime, also dressed 
the weather boarding. It took two years to complete this work. Dur- 
ing the remainder of his life he worked at his trade and also farmed and 
raised live-stock, except for a few years before his death, when he 
lived retired from all active pursuits. He died in 1902 at the age of 
eighty-six years, sixty-three years after his marriage. This occurred 
in 1839 and united him with Miss Mary Sears, of Randolph county. 
They had eleven children, seven of whom are living: James F., a resi- 
dent of Macon county ; Disa E.. the widow of the late Charles Talbott ; 
George W., who lives in Randolph county ; Sarah E., the wife of Rufus 
Goodson; John Henry, the subject of this sketch; Thomas J., and Min- 
nie N., the wife of Jesse Truitt. The four last named are all residents 
of Macon county, Thomas J. jiving in the city of j\facon. In jiolitics 
the father was a Democrat and in religious affiliation he belonged to the 
Primitive Ba]itist church, being a charter member of the congregation 
in which he was enrolled, and one of its zealous and faithful members. 

John Henry Gross began his education in the district school of 
Independence township and com])leted it at the Kirksville Normal 
School. Following Ihe example of his father, he became a teacher 
in the public schools, following this ennobling work during twenty-one 
winter terms and assisting his father on the home farm in the summer. 
He continued this dual occupation until 1899, having started a farm- 
ing and stock-raising enterpri.se of his own in the spring of 1884, and 




CAPT. B. F. STONE 



i 



ij 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 881 

in this he Las ever since been energetically and successfully engaged. 
He owns 240 acres of tirst-rate land and has most of it under vigorous 
and profitable cultivation. His home is considered to be among the 
prettiest in the county. His stock industry is also a thriving one. 

In politics Mr. Gross is an active, working Democrat, but he has 
never held or sought an office. His religious affiliation is with the Prim- 
itive Baptist church, and he has long been moderator and deacon 
in the congregation to which he belongs. On November 23, 1883, he 
was married to Miss Myra B. Wilhite, a daughter of Smith and Rebecca 
(Grant) Wilhite, of Boone county. Three children were born of the 
union and two of them are living, Ordell and Durward, both of whom 
take a great pride in their home and farm life, are still abiding with 
their parents. 

^ CAPTAIN BENJAMIN F. STONE. 

Capable, industrious and prosperous in business, and true to every 
duty of citizenship in peace and war, in public office and private life, 
Capt. Benjamin F. Stone, a well known resident of Macon and an old 
soldier who still bears the mark of his military service in defense of 
the Union, is deservedly ranked as one of the most estimable and 
worthy men in his native county of Macon, where he was born on 
February 12, 1840, and has passed nearly all of his subsequent life. He 
obtained his education in the district schools and at McGhee College, 
being graduated from the latter in 1859, and pursuing a post graduate 
course in the same institution in 1860 and 1861. 

He is a son of Jose^ih and ^lelinda (Burris) Stone, the former a 
native of Tennessee and the latter of Wayne county, Kentucky. Reuben 
Stone, his paternal grandfather, was born and reared in South Caro- 
lina and moved from that state to Tennessee and some time afterwards 
to Wayne county, Kentucky. Later he located in southern Illinois, fol- 
lowing general farming in all the different places of his residence. He 
was a soldier in the War of 1812, serving in a Kentucky regiment. His 
family consisted of four sons and five daughters, all of whom are now 
deceased. He died in southern Illinois. 

His son Josejjh, the Captain's father, was a carpenter and also a 
farmer. He moved to Randolph, Missouri, about 1835, and two years 
afterward became a resident of Macon county, entering a tract of gov- 
ernment land seven miles southwest of what is now the city of Macon. 
On this farm he and his wife passed the remainder of their days, and 
finally laid down their trust in life on the land that was hallowed by their 
labors, whi<;h redeemed from its wild condition and transformed it into 



882 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

a comfortable and valuable country home. Here they reared to maturity 
nine of their children, of whom they are now living four of the sons 
and two of the daughters. 

Captain Stone found life strenuous work as soon as he entered upon 
its duties as a man. In the fall of 1861 he enlisted in Company K, 
Tenth Missouri volunteer infantry in defense of the Union. The regi- 
ment was under the command of Col. Samuel A. Holmes and soon 
became a part of the Army of the Cumberland. The young soldier 
made a gallant record as long as he was in the service, participating in 
the battles of luka and Coririth, Mississippi, and numerous other engage- 
ments, and becoming corporal of his company. On October 4, 1862, he 
was shot through the right elbow, the wound resulting in the loss of 
his arm, in consequence of which he was discharged on account of his 
disability for further service in February, 1863. 

After this serious disaster he returned to Macon county and for a 
time engaged in teaching school. He then studied law under the direc- 
tion of B. E. Dysart of Macon and was admitted to the bar in 1867. 
Previous to this, however, he was appointed county school commissioner 
in 1866 and filled the office acceptably for a period of six months. In 
1868 he was elected county treasurer for a term of two years, and was 
then chosen recorder of deeds for one of four years. In each of these 
official positions he made an excellent record and held the confidence 
and regard of the people for his ability, fidelity and high character. 

At the end of his term as recorder of deeds he bought theMacon 
Times, which he edited and published two years, then, in company with 
J. M. London, consolidated it with the Macon Journal under the name 
of the Macon Examiner. Two years later he bought his partner's 
interest in the paper and some time afterward sold it to J. A. Hudson, 
who changed its name back to "The Macon Times," and continued its 
pubhcation under that name. During the Captain's connection with 
the paper it rose to considerable influence and was noted for the ability 
and force with which it was conducted, its strong independence and 
unwavering devotion to the best interests of the county and state. 

When Captain Stone abandoned the field of journalism he turned his 
attention to the real estate business and during a number of succeeding 
years contributed essentially and extensively to the improvement of the 
city, putting up many residence, business and public buildings, among 
them the Jefferson hotel, which is still a jiopular hostelry and bears the 
name he gave it. During the last thirty years he has been in business 
as an abstractor, building up an extensive industry in this useful line 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 883 

of effort aud becoming known all over the county for the excellence and 
accuracy of his work and the high and broad intelligence with which he 
has conducted it. 

Captian Stone was maried in ]\racon county in 1875 to Miss Mittie 
Powell, a half sister of Henry Powell, a sketch of whom appears in this 
work. They have tive children living : Dr. Frank P. Stone, who was a 
dental surgeon in the United States army and saw service in the Philip- 
pines, and who is now engaged in a general practice of his profession 
at Hobart, Oklahoma; Mary M., the wife of Dr. Bridgeford of Macon; 
Mabel S., who was for years a teacher in the schools of Macon, and is 
now attending the State University, and ITattie C. and Harry B., who 
are still living with their parents. All the members of the family belong 
to the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and in political relations the 
father has been a life-long Democrat, strong in his convictions and 
influential in the councils of his party. Macon county has no better 
citizen and none more worthy of the confidence and esteem of the people, 
all shades and classes of whom hold him in high regard. 

MARTIN V. ]\rcKENZIE. 
• (Deceased.) 

During the last forty-seven years, nearly two-thirds of his whole 
life to the time of his death, March 20, 1910, Martin V. McKenzie, of 
Independent township, was a resident of Macon county and the locality 
in which he died. He came here a young man of twenty-six years 
of age, and the region in which his productive activities were em]iloyed 
was then young, too. While he passed on to middle age and beyond it 
the region has grown into advanced development, industrial importance, 
commercial force and political influence, and will go on in its career of 
progress. The end of effort came with the end of life for him, but the 
forces he helped to put in motion and the agencies for good he helped 
to create and strengthen will still augment in power and continue 
expanding their usefulness. This is one instance in which the good 
a man has done will live after him, and Mr. McKenzie was fortunate in 
being able to see already an abundant harvest enriching the world from 
seed he helped to sow. He was the oldest inhabitant of the village 
of Barnesville, and what that is and the country around it has come 
to be is largely the fruit of his labor and the itroduct of energies 
awakened by his example. 

Mr. McKenzie was born in Ohio in 1837. His father, John McKen- 
zie, and his mother, whose maiden name was Sally Van Netten, were also 



884 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

born and reared in that state. They were well-to-do farmers and pur- 
sued the even tenor of their way through life in daily usefulness and 
unostentatious worth. They had nine children and of these only three 
are living, Harriet, Alice and Addison. The mother died in August, 
1865, and the father in June, 1867, highly respected by all who knew 
them. 

Martin V. McKenzie attained his manhood in liis native county and 
secured his education in its public schools. After leaving school he 
engaged in farming there until 1863, prospering moderately in his 
undertaking and steadily advancing in the race for supremacy among 
men. In April of the year last mentioned he came to Missouri and 
took up his residence in Macon county. Fai-ming had been the occui^a- 
tion of his years from boyhood, and in this promising agricultural 
region he naturally turned to it again and with a quickened interest 
born of the new conditions with which he was surrounded. He added 
stock-raising to his enterprise in this locality, and he pushed his inter- 
ests with all his skill and power and built them up to considerable 
proportions. 

Mr. McKenzie was engaged in mercantile life at Barnesville for 
foiirteen years. He conducted his business with spirit, energy and 
breadth of view, and attained rank as a wise and progressive merchant 
throughout the business world around him. He took a great interest 
and a leading part in the development and progress of the township and 
county, giving his aid cheerfully and liberally to every worthy entei'prise 
involving the welfare of the people and helping to guide with wise 
counsel the general advance along lines of the most wholesome growth 
and toward the most practical and enduring expansion. For more 
than twenty years he served on the school board and was one of its most 
energetic and useful members. He was a Democrat in politics, and. 
during his years of activity, was one of the wheel-horses in the serv- 
ice of his party. In 1864 he was joined in marriage with Miss Nancy 
Biswell, who was born and grew to maturity in this county. They 
had two children, their daughter, Alice, and their son, Arthur B. The 
mother of these children died in 187-i and in 1876 the father contracted 
a second marriage, uniting himself with Miss Anna Hull, a native of 
Kentucky. They became the parents of two children, James G. and 
Sal lie. From the dawn of his manhood he made his own way in the 
world, and so conducted his affairs that he made every advance in life 
a stepping-stone to higher achievements, and, at the same time, advanced 
the interests of the community in which he lived along with the prog- 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 885 

ress of his own. Macon county had no citizen of greater worth and 
none whom its people more highly esteemed. 

JOHN W. WADDILL. 
(Deceased.) 

Enterprising in many lines of business and successful in all, making 
every facility he possessed and every day of liis time tell to his advan- 
tage, John W. Waddill, of Elmer, was a worthy representative of the 
progressiveness and business capacity of the people of Macon county. 
And as he gave to the welfare of the township and county of his home 
the same careful attention and to the promotion of their interests the 
same energetic and resourceful activity that he devoted to his own 
affairs, iu contributing so essentially to the growth and development 
of his community he won the high regard of its people as a representa- 
tive, also, of their public spirit, breadth of view and elevation of tone 
in reference to local public affairs and the general advancement of this 
portion of the state. In this behalf he was active himself and was 
very serviceable in the activities his infliaence and example awakened 
and directed iu many other members of the couuuunity. 

Mr. Waddill was a native of Tennessee, where he was born in 1854. 
His father, Thomas G. Waddill, was also a native of that state and one 
of its enterprising farmers until 1857, when he moved to Missouri and 
took up his residence in Macon county. Here he renewed his farming 
operations and continued them until his death, which occurred in 1899. 
He was married to ^liss ]\Iary Hanley, who was also born and reared 
in Tennessee. Of the nine children born to them, six are living: Mary, 
the wife of Henry Nelson; Samuel; George D.; James; Richard and 
Sylvester. The mother died in 1897. 

John W. AVaddill was bred to farming and followed it all his life. 
He grew to manhood on the parental homestead and took his first les- 
sons in the principal pursuit that engaged his powers in helping to per- 
form its useful and necessary labors. When he could be s])ared from 
these he attended the district school in the neighborhood and thus 
acquired all he had opportunity for in the way of academic instruction. 
When he left school he continued to assist his parents on the farm until 
the lime came for him to assume the burden of life for himself, and he 
then started on his own account the farming industry which ever occu- 
pied him and gave him consequence as a man of substance, and enabled 
him to win an exalted place in public esteem as a good farmer and an 
excellent citizen. He owned and farmed 120 acres of land and carried 



886 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

on, in connection with his general farming, an extensive business in 
raising stock for the markets. He was also proprietor of the Hotel 
Elmer in the town of that name, and in other ways was connected with 
the business and social life of the community. 

During the last five years of his life Mr. Waddill was one of the 
leading members of the school board. In this position he rendered 
the town unquestioned service of a high order and enduring value. 
The schools have felt the influence of his vigorous and progressive 
spirit and have nobly responded to it in increased efficiency and prac- 
tical usefulness. He was a Republican in politics and one of the earnest 
and fruitful workers of his party. In fraternal life he was connected 
with the Woodmen of the World, and that order, too, has had the bene- 
fit of his enterprise in action and his wisdom in counsel. In 1875 he was 
united in marriage with Miss Elva E. Craig, a native of Iowa. They 
had two children, but now have only one living, their daughter, Mary 
E., who is the wife of Thomas Banning, of Elmer. Mr. Waddill died 
February 15, 1910. 

^ JOSEPH NICKELL. 

This enterprising merchant and influential citizen of Nickellton 
is a scion of a distinguished family in this part of the world, and in 
his career to the time of this writing (1909) he has nobly exemplified 
the characteristics and elevation of manhood that gave his ancestry 
distinction, and which in him have won him a high j^lace in the esteem 
of the whole region in which he is known. Although comparatively 
young in years he has risen to high rank in the business world of North- 
western Missouri, and is looked upon as a man destined to win state- 
wide prominence and influence. 

Mr. Nickell was born in this county in 1873. He grew to manhood 
in the neighborhood of his present home and obtained his education 
at its public schools. After leaving school he devoted himself to farm- 
ing and raising stock for a period of four years. In 1895 he turned 
his attention to merchandising, and ever since then he has been engaged 
in this line of endeavor, with gratifying success for himself and decided 
benefit to the community of Nickellton, in which his store is located, and 
all the territorj- tributary to it in the way of trade. His store is a 
popular resort and rallying place for the whole region and is regarded 
with the ulmost friendliness and good will by all who frequent it or 
know it and its proprietor. Mr. Nickell has a genial and accommodating 
manner, which leads him to make himself serviceable to his associates 
and patrons, and he has also a considerable fund of general information, 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 887 

■wliicli he knows bow to dispeuse judiciously for the entertaiumeut aud 
profit of all who come in contact with him. No citizen of the township 
is more popular, and none better deserves the universal esteem of the 
l^eople. It is not to be inferred, liowover, that his efforts to please 
are due to thrift or a desire to increase his business. They are the natu- 
ral expression of his manhood, the outpourings of bis spirit of genuine 
good-fellowship, and as spontaneous as the sunlight, and they are 
appreciated in accordance with their own value and this fact. 

In the alfairs of the community Mr. Nickell takes a good citizen's 
full and helpful interest, supporting with ardor everj^ commendable 
undertaking for its advancement and considering all matters involving 
the enduring welfare of the people with excellent judgment and compre- 
hensive breadth of view. He is a Eepublican in politics, an Odd Fellow 
in fraternal life and a member of the Methodist church in religion. But 
he is non-partisan where the good of his township and county are con- 
cerned, holds all the world in fraternity in all benevolent considerations, 
and is without sect or creed in contributions to help the moral agencies 
around him to greater power and usefulness. He was married in 1900 
to Miss Gertrude M. Liuson, a native of Macon county. They have one 
child, their daughter, Alba. 

^ DAVIDSON NICKELL. 

The pioneers of Macon county, like those of every other part of 
the great West in this coimtry, and those of the East, also, in their day, 
were of heroic mold and seem to have been fashioned by nature for 
the great work they were called upon to do. They were beings forged 
on the anvil of war, and by the process were specially fitted for conflict 
and conquest. The foes they had to fight and conquer were not, as a 
rule, well disciplined and accoutred armies, of whose movements they 
might make calculations with some degree of certainty, but the savage 
forces of nature, wild beasts and wilder men, the rugged massiveness 
of the mountains, the stubborn glebe of the plains, deprivation of all the 
luxuries and many of the common comforts of life, and oven the rage 
of the elements before the climatic conditions were known and could 
be prepared for. Some of these foes were always with them and others 
attacked them unawares, at the most unexpected times and places, and 
often when the hardy adventurers were least prepared to encounter dan- 
ger or opposition. 

But they met their responsibilities firmly, endured their hard- 
ships resolutely, faced their foes courageously, and triumphed over all 
opposing forces gloriously. The stake for which they fought was an 



888 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

empire, and they deemed it worth any sacrifice, a recompense for any 
hardshijD, a sufficient reward for every trial. In the heroic band which 
founded the prosperity, established the civil polity, laid out the bouu- 
daries and began the history of Macon county, few, if any, among them 
all are entitled to a higher rank or have left a more enduring monument 
to his manhood and his efforts to aid in planting civilization in a new 
region than the late Davidson Nickell, of Jackson township, whose 
name survives him in that of Nickellton, a village baptized into being 
in his honor. 

Mr. Nickell was born in 1829 in that part of Virginia that was 
torn from her bleeding side by the stern arbitrament of the Civil war 
and has since been known as West Virginia. He came to Missouri with 
.his parents when he was but nine years old. The family located near 
where" the village of Nickellton now stands, and there the parents under- 
went the privations, dangers and arduous labors necessary to redeem a 
tract of land from the wilderness and make it over into a productive 
farm and a comfortable home. They farmed and raised live-stock, and, 
in a homely way, the only one available to them under the circumstances, 
reared their children, giving them to the world strong in traits of 
character, creditable alike to themselves and their ancestry. 

Their son, Davidson, grew to manhood, on the frontier and bravely 
took his place and did his part in the great work of improving and 
civilizing it. His education in the learning of the schools was neces- 
sarily limited, but field and forest were his instructors and the manifold 
voices of Nature taught him self-knowledge and the habits of his life 
gave him skill in the requirements of the locality. As soon as he was 
able he began farming and raising stock on his own account, and he 
so managed his affairs that he succeeded in acquiring a competency 
and establishing himself firmly in the esteem of all the people living 
around him, far and near. He was married to Miss Fannie Snell, a 
native of Virginia. They had nine children and five of them are living: 
Jennie, the wife of J. B. Crawford; David; Viola, the wife of W. E. 
Naylor, of Clarence, Shelby county; Davidson, and Gertrude, the wife 
of "VV. H. Howard. The mother is still living and has her home with one 
of her daughters. The father died on May 27, 1891, and his remains 
were laid to rest with every manifestation of popular esteem. 



v/ 



WILBUR F. VAN PELT. 



Orphaned by the death of his mother when he was but three years 
old and that of his father when the son was but six, Wilbur F. Van 
Pelt, now one of the prosperous and progressive farmers of Lyda town- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 889 

sliip, jNfacou county, was obliged early in life to face a cold and unsym- 
pathetic world, with little to depend on but liis own native force, capa- 
bility and determined spirit as his capital for the stniggle before 
him. He had resolution and self-reliance, however, and met his task 
bravely, with the goal he aimed to reach glimmering • afar, but still 
plainly in view. How fully his hopes were justified and how energetic- 
ally and carefully he used his powers can easily be inferred from his 
present state of worldly comfort and the universal esteem wliich is 
bestowed upon him. 

Mr. Van Pelt was born in Jersey county, Illinois, on February 17, 
1851, and is a sou of R. H. and Penelope (Stout) Van Pelt, natives of 
New Jersey, and farmers in Illinois. They had seven children and four 
of them are living: Adam Clark; Charles E., who lives in Oregon; 
"Winfield S., a resident of Illinois, and "Wilbur F. The mother died 
in 1854 and the father in 1857. They made a comfortable living for 
their family while life lasted, but left little for the support of their 
offspring when death ended their labors. For, while they prospered as 
farmers, they were unable to continue their operations long enough to 
accumulate much under the circumstances surrounding them and the 
conditions of the new state of Illinois when they moved into it and made 
it the base of their operations. 

Their son, Wilbur F., received a common school education and, 
on leaving school, at once went to work in the farming industry, toiling 
for others at meager compensation. But he was frugal and industrious, 
and little by little accumulated a small sum of money, and as soon as 
he was able began farming ou his own account. By this move his respon- 
sibilities increased and his burden grew heavier. But he rose to the 
requirements and found within him new powers for every new exac- 
tion. His gains incj-eased more rapidly and his feeling of independence 
also grew greater. He came to Missouri in 1875 and located in Macon 
county. Here he has ever since resided and been engaged in farming, 
raising stock and 'dairying. He has a fine and well-improved farm 
of 160 acres, which is well supplied with everything needed for its 
vigorous cultivation, and he farms it with skill and excellent judgment, 
giving careful attention to every detail and applying the most approved 
modern methods to all his work. He conducts his other business with 
equal intelligence and care, and the results of all his undertakings 
are commensurate with the labor bestowed upon them and the wisdom 
with which they are managed. 

He manifests an earnest interest in whatever seems likely to be 
of benefit to the township and county in which he lives, aiding ener- 



890 HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 

getically in promoting all worthy undertakings for their advancement 
and the welfare of their people. He is a stockholder in the Macon 
creamery and connected in a serviceable way with other enterj^rises 
of value to the locality of his home. In politics he is a pronounced 
Eepublican, with a cordial interest in the success of his party and entire 
willingness at all times to do all he can to bring it about. He served 
on the school board for nine years oi- longer and was road overseer 
for two. His religious connection is with the Methodist church. In 
everything with which he is connected he is useful, and in all his serv- 
ices are highly appreciated. Mr. ^^an Pelt has been very successful in 
the management of his own affairs, and the qualities which have won 
liim triumphs in them have also been i^otential for good to the region 
around him in all matters of public import. 

On November 2, 1875, Mr. Van Pelt was married to Miss Isabella 
Martz, a native of Pennsylvania. Five of the eight children they have 
had are living, Carrie E., George F., Elmer, Ella and Penelope. The 
career of the father strikingly illustrates what can be accomplished 
by industry, thrift and a faithful discharge of duty, and shows that, 
although circumstances may have their weight in determining the 
course of usefulness, they do not control it, and can be commanded to 
service in a man's advancement if he be resolute and self-reliant. Of 
such a man they are the servants, although of others they may be the 
masters. Mr. Van Pelt's career and present high-standing in the esti- 
mation of the people show also that character is an asset of great value 
in any condition of life, and that fidelity and straightforwardness in 
every relation are always elements of great power. 

EDGAE AVHITE. 

The publishers of this work, while always willing to respect a 
worthy man's modesty, and treat it with due consideration, feels that 
they cannot, with propriety withhold a just tribute to merit which has 
been made manifest to them through great patience, perserevance and 
conspicuoxis ability in the preparation of what they have undertaken to 
do in the presentation to the people of Macon county and the state of 
Missouri of a suitable and interesting history of what those people 
have accomplished in the development and impi'ovement of this part of 
the country. 

The publishers have had the very valuable assistance of Mr. Edgar 
AVhite in the comi)ilation of this volume, and they feel that it is their 
duty to tliemselvos and tlioir patrons to make tliis public acknowledg- 
ment of the debt of gratitude and appreciation they owe Mr. AVliito for 




EDGAR WHITE 



HISTOKY OF MxVCON COUNTY 891 

the great helii he has given them. Mr. White prepared and edited the 
general history of the county which this book contains, and in doing 
so laid everybody connected with the enterprise, patrons, publishers 
and the people generally, under a lasting obligation for the excellence 
of his work, the tine literary taste he has displayed in it, the sparkle and 
vivacity of liis narrative, his skillful grouping of facts and his masterly 
treatment of them. His accuracy of statement, his comprehensive 
breadth of view, and his laborious and long-continued efforts to get 
everything in the history just right, are worthy of all commendation. 
But all these things are am})ly shown in the narrative itself, and the 
Ijublishers rely with all confidence on that to justify whatever of enco- 
mium this sketch of Mr. ^^'llite may contain. They have no idea that 
either Mr. "White himself or any of the brillant products of his facile 
and trench-pen are in need of praise from them in the presence of the 
people of Macon county, or any other portion of Missouri, where his 
literary work is so well known and so highly appreciated. Their 
primary purpose in calling attention to the facts as stated is that he 
may have full credit for what he has done to make the history so accept- 
able, and to unite with those who know him better than they do in doing 
justice to the merit of his work in this connection, and also to put on 
record, in a compact and pleasing form, the interesting story of his use- 
ful life and varied achievements as a literary gentleman and newspaper 
writer of high attainments and great talents. 

Mr. White grew to manhood in St. Louis, Missouri, and obtained 
his scholastic training at the Elliott school on Sixteenth street in that 
city. After leaving school he turned his attention to printing as a voca- 
tion and worked at the trade two yeai's in St. Louis. Early in the 
eighties the whole family moved to Moberly, Missouri, and there Mr. 
White secured employment with the Moberly "Daily Monitor," first at 
delivering papers and later setting type and doing job work. He 
remained with the "Daily ]\ronitor" about three years, then went to 
Linneus, the county seat of J^inn county, w^here he continued to set type, 
and, when he had opportunity, studied shorthand, paying a boy ten 
cents an evening to read to him for pracice. In a short time he became 
very proficient as a shorthand writer and was called on to report 
])()litical speeches and political conventions throughout the state. 

In 1889 he was appointed court reporter by Judge Andrew Ellison 
for the Twenty-seventh judicial district, which is now known as the 
Second. His appointment to this responsible position was largely the 
result of chance, as his first visit to Macon was made at the request of 
the attorney of the Burlington Railroad company, who wished him to 



893 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

report a case for the company that was about to be tried iu this court. 
His work on this case was so satisfactory that Judge Ellison at once 
appointed him ofiScial court reporter for the district, and he filled the 
office with great accei^tability for a period of ten j^ears. 

At the end of that time he resigned in order to give his whole time 
to the literary work and high class newspaper work which have made 
him famous all over the state and in many others as a writer of choice 
fiction, discriminating criticism and other productions of superior merit. 
His work as court stenographer proved to be a valuable schooling for 
him in his later efforts in the literary field. It broadened his views, gave 
him a keen and comiDrehensive knowledge of human nature, brought 
him into contact with many phases of human life, and taiaght him self- 
knowledge in addition. During his service in that capacity he reported 
many of the noted cases tried in the state and was generally considered 
the most accurate and accomplished stenographer in Missouri. 

As a writer of varied talents and attainments Mr. White's repu- 
tation is almost worldwide. The people of this county were therefore 
prepared for a history of rare interest and value from his pen, and he 
has not disappointed them. On the contrary, he seems to have achieved 
in his history of Macon county the most signal triumi^h of his life in the 
way of a literary production. And this is all the more remarkable 
because he has given his pen during most of the years of his use of it 
to lighter fabrics and more delicate fiber that the rise and progress of 
a struggling people from insignificance to consequence, from feebleness 
to greatness and all-conquering power. Or it would be remarkable if 
the keenness of his vison and his skill in analysis, combination and 
comment were not so well trained and so highly developed. 

The story detailed by Mr. "White was in- the facts, but they 
require the talent of a brilliant chronicler to fully interpret them, 
show their trend and give full expression to their essential meaning. 
Mr. White has adhered to them with religious fidelity, but he has 
arranged them with proper subordination and proportion, given them 
color according to their character and importance, and blended them into 
a harmonious and consistent construction, which has strength, fine wear- 
ing quality and ])lontiful but not excessive ornamentation. The anuis- 
ing phases of the life of the people and the section of country he portrays 
sparkle with wit, radiate mirth and glow with the light of genuine 
humor. And the tragical events and incidents are set forth with great 
])athos and power, in ])eriods as strong as the struggles they sprang 
from, tints as somber as their gloom, and lines as harsh as their hard- 
ships, whether tiioy were the difficulties, privations and dangers of the 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 893 

early settlers, or the cruelties and often merciless brutalities of the 
dark days and starless nights of the Civil war period. "While all the 
poetry, romance and sentiment of every period run like veritable threads 
of gold through the war}) and woof of his brilliant recital. The material 
progress and triumphs of this people are also delineated with due 
attention to their magnitude and real majesty. 

Mr. AVhite's parents, Benjamin and Louisa (Humphreys) AVhite, 
were natives of Missouri and died in the city of Macon. He has two 
brothers living, Herbert and Malcom. They are residents of Macon, 
Missouri, and Miamiaburg, Oliio, and gentlemen of prominence and 
influence in business and social life, highly esteemed wherever they are 
known and well deserving of the regard bestowed upon them by all 
classes of the people. 

THOMAS EDWARD LINCOLN BEAL. 

This wide-awake and enterprising farmer and stockman of Lingo 
township, who is in tlie front rank in the two industries which engage 
his attention among the men who follow them in this locality, is a native 
of AVest A^rginia, where he was born on March 5, 1861. He is a son 
of AVilliam and Elizabeth (Thomi)sou) Beal, a brief account of whose 
lives will be found in a sketch of his brother, Eobert E. Beal, which 
ajjpears in this volume. 

Air. Beal was reared much as other farmers' sons in this part of the 
country. He obtained a limited education at the district schools of 
Alacon county and acquired a knowledge of farming and raising stock 
on his father's farm and under the direction of that gentleman, witli 
whom he remained and for whom he worked until he started out in life 
for himself. He chose the pursuits in which he had passed all the 
years of his minority as his occupation when he left school, and was 
soon afterward engaged in them with all his force and all the means 
at his command. The ascent to prosperity and independence looked 
long and steep to him, but he began it with all the more ardor because 
of the difficulties it presented to his vision. He had no favors to expect 
from the smiles of Fortune, and circumstances did not minister to his 
advancement except as he compelled them to. His sole reliance was on 
himself, and he devoted all his energies to the work before him. His 
progress was slow and painful at first, but every step of it was on solid 
ground and a pei'mauent advance. AVhen his start was secured and 
his margins began to widen, he found the way more easy and his move- 
ment toward the goal of his hopes more rapid. Beginning his struggle 
with next to nothing, he now owns 120 acres of choice land, on which 



894 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

lie carries on a general farming, stock and fruit industry, which is 
conducted with vigor, managed with skill and developed to the highest 
degree of productiveness and profit. 

Kealizing in full measure the diffiuculties in the way of struggling 
young men whose start in life is like his own, Mr. Beal is always ready 
to extend a helping hand to them and give them encouragement. Espe- 
cially is he zealous in promoting the progress and development of the 
county and thereby increasing the opportunities for all classes of the 
people and improving the general conditions of life. His political alle- 
giance is now given to the Eepublican party, but during the active life 
of the Greenback party he was an ardent member of that organization. 
Still, he is not desirous of holding a political ofBce of any kind, and has 
never accepted one except membership on the school board, on which 
he has served for a number of years. His farm, his stock and his 
orchards afford him enough to occupy his time and engage his faculties, 
and he devotes himself exclusively to them, i-eserving only what is 
necessary of time and energy to perform all the duties of citizenship 
with reference to the general welfare of the region in which he has his 
home and conducts his business. 

In 1882 Mr. Beal was married to Miss Isabella Turner, a native 
of Ohio. Of their nine children seven are living, George, James, Sylva, 
Mildred, Oscar, Stella and Raymond. Those of them who have reached 
maturity are good citizens, too, and practice in their daily lives the 
lessons learned at the family fireside and enforced by the excellent 
examples furnished by their parents. The latter stand high in the 
esteem of all classes of the peoj^le and are regarded as among the best 
citizens of the county. They have hosts of friends wherever they are 
known and deserve to have them. 

WILLIS A. McNEAL. 

Energetic, progressive and successful in two of the leading indus- 
tries of ]\Iacon county, and bearing a hand of some weight and influence 
in the mercantile world, Willis A. McNeal, of Easeley township, with 
his farm not far from the village of Elmer and his mei'cantile inter- 
ests located in it, represents well the people of Macon county in his 
activities and is well worthy of the position they assign him as a rep- 
resentative man among them in character and citizenship. He embodies 
and exemplifies their enterprise and progressiveness and, at the same 
time, moves toward the same high ideals in government and civil and 
social life they aim to attain to. 

Mr. McNeal is of good old Scotch ancestry, although he is himself a 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 895 

native of Missouri, born in Sullivan county in 1875. His father, "William 
McNeal, was born and reared in Seotland, whose ijeople have been sung 
into immortality by Burns and Scott, and in every field of human 
endeavor and in almost every clime have shown themselves worthy of 
the tributes paid to their qualities of head and heart by those gifted 
poets. He was brought to Missouri when he was but one year old, and 
here he was reared and educated. Here, also, he has passed his life 
since leaving the district schools, in whose humble temples of learning 
he acquired his scholastic training, as an industrious and well-to-do 
farmer. In 1873 he was married to Miss Melinda Palmer, and they 
became the parents of eleven children, ten of whom are living: AVillis 
A., Alpha, Pear], Grace, Lessie, Charles, Mattie, Enmiett, Cecil and 
Opal. Both the father and the mother are still living and active^ carry- 
ing on their useful industry. 

Their son, Willis, grew to manhood on the parental homestead and 
obtained his education also in the public schools. Then, following 
in his father's course in another way, he began the farming operations 
which have been his chief occupation ever since. In connection with 
them, he has carried on an extensive and flourishing business in raising 
stock and shipping it to the eastern markets. He owns and cultivates 
something over 120 acres of land, and, in its state of advanced improve- 
ment, its manifest fertihty and its generally clean and atti active a))pear- 
ance, his farm does him great credit and fully justifies his reputation 
as an excellent and very enterprising farmer who knows what to do to 
secure the best results, and does it. 

In 1904 Mr. McNeal took on another engagement which has added 
greatly to his cares and labors, but which in return for the additional 
burden it laid UDon him has brought him popularity and prominence 
as a merchant and given a considerable increase to his revenues and 
resources. In that year he entered the hardware trade as a retailer 
with J. H. Montgomery as a partner, and during the last five years 
they have together conducted one of the most complete and satisfactory 
hardware stores in this jjart of the state. 

The fraternal life of the community has enlisted Mr. McNeal 's 
interest in an engrossing way and he has shown his devotion to it by 
active membershij) for many years in the orders of AVoodmen and Yeo- 
men. In politics he is a pronounced Kepublican, and, while neither 
an office-seeker nor an active partisan, he is loyal to his party and 
renders it good service in a quiet but effective way. He was married in 
1901 to Miss Eose Montgomery, of this county. They have one child, 
their daughter, Letha, who is the hope and promise of the house and 



89G HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

a general favorite with the numerous friends of her parents who make 
their home a center of social life and enjojouent as the inmates have 
made it popular and locally distinguished as a center of genuine and 
generous hospitality. 

WILLIAM J. RICHAEDSON. 

The son of two of Macon county's venerated pioneers, and himself 
subjected to many of the privations and, dangers of a newly settled 
country, William J. Eichardson, one of the prosiDerous and progressive 
farmers of Round Grove township, is well prepared to realize and 
rejoice in the imijrovement and progress of the county from the state 
in which he first knew it to its present advanced development. And if 
his modesty did not forbid he might also feel satisfaction over his own 
part in bringing about the great and gratifying change. As it is, he 
rejoices in having had the opportunity to contribute, even in a small 
way, as he may think, to what has been achieved. 

Mr. Richardson was born in the township in wliich he now resides 
on September 21, 1852, and is a son of James and Jane (Grimes) Rich- 
ardson, natives of Virginia, who came to ^lissouri and settled in ^lacou 
county in 1834. They were reared and educated in their native state, 
where the father was born in 1805, and were married there in 1832. 
Buoyed up with high hopes, and of a disposition to dare anything in the 
discharge of duty, the young couple, after passing two years of their 
married life in the neighborhood of their parental homesteads, deter- 
mined to cast their lot in the distant West, where the boundless oppor- 
tunities of life were as yet almost untouched. Nor did they hesitate 
because the experiment they were about to try was full of peril, and 
embodied a surrender of nearly everything they had been accustomed 
to in the way of comfort and social enjoyment. They believed in them- 
selves, and in the end they found their faith fully justified. On arriv- 
ing in this county the husband entered 160 acres of government land in 
what is now Round Grove townshi}), and on this he passed the remain- 
der of his days, gradually breaking it up and improving it until it became 
a very fruitful, well-improved and valuable farm, yielding good har- 
vests and other profitable returns for the labor bestowed upon it and 
providing all the comforts of a good country home. On this farm the 
father died in 1877, after rearing a family to enrich the coimty and 
spending forty-three years of faithful industry upon it. He and his 
wife were the parents of seven children, but three of whom are living 
at this time. They are Jack J., a resident of Macon county; M. D., who 
lives in Kansas City, Missouri; and the interesting subject of these 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 897 

paragraphs. Tlie father vnxs a Democrat iu politics and took an active 
part in local and general political work. He died at the age of seventy- 
two, with general recognition of his worth and estimable qualities as a 
citizen from all wlio knew him attending him to his last earthly resting 
place. 

William J. Richardson obtained a limited education in the prim- 
itive country schools of his boyhood and youth, going to school in the 
winter and working on his father's farm during the rest of the year. 
After leaving school he continued to work on the farm and assist the 
family until 1876. During the next two years he farmed rented land 
on his own account iu this county, and at the end of that period went 
to Kansas, where he remained one year. Returning to Macon county, 
he passed another summer on the homestead, and during the twelve 
succeeding years was located at Clarence and engaged in teaming and 
other occupations. In 1897 he came back once more to this county 
and bought eighty acres of land, on which he has ever since carried 
on a flourishing industry in farming and raising stock. 

On June 9, 1876, Mr. Richardson was married to Miss Sarah C. 
Graves, a daughter of William R. and Permelia Graves, highly 
respected citizens of Macon county, and numbered among its most wor- 
thy and progressive people. Ten children were born to this marriage and 
five of them are living: Permelia, the wife of Ira Barton of this county; 
Mamie, the wife of Geo. W. Bogart of Kansas City, Missouri ; and New- 
ton, Nazo and Cuba, all of whom are still members of the parental 
household. Following the political principles in which he was trained 
at home, and with his convictions strengthened and established by his 
own reading, reflection and observation, Mr. Richardson is a staunch 
and zealous Democrat, working in all campaigns for the success of his 
party, and at all times helping to guide it forward in straight lines of 
integrity and fidelity to duty. In religious affiliation he and his wife 
are earnest and active working members of the Christian church, seek- 
ing by all means at their command to promote its welfare and enlarge 
its usefulness. In social life they stand high, and in a general way they 
are everywhere esteemed for their enterprise, usefulness and elevated 
citizenship, which has been helpful both in its own activity and in the 
forces for good it has awakened and set in motion in others. 

JOHN W. McGHEE. 

With good blood of old Virginia coursing through his veins, and 
with immediate ancestors, in the persons of his parents and grand- 
l^arents, who dared the dangers of the wilderness and endured the hard 



898 HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

conditions of frontier life, as high examples for imitation in heroic 
undertaking and achievement, John W. McGhee, one of the leading citi- 
zens of Middlefork township, Macon county, when he entered upon the 
stage of action, had every incentive to diligence and daring that the 
historic renown of his ancestral state and family records could give 
him, and he has not contemijlated their suggestions in vain, or in a 
superficial manner. 

Mr. McGhee was born in the township of his present home on Jan- 
uary 20, 1861, and is a son of Josejoh A. and Martha (Harris) McGhee, 
natives of Smith county, Virginia, where, also, his grandfather, Wyatt 
McGhee, was born and reared, and where the families from which he is 
descended lived and flourished for many generations. The father 
was born in 1812 and was brought to Missouri by his parents when he 
was but a boy. The family located in Boone county and lived there 
until 1833. In that year Joseph A. McGhee attained his majority and 
moved to. Pettis county to make his own way in the world. He became 
a farmer, following the occupation to which he had been trained on the 
parental homestead, and continued his operations in Pettis county imtil 
1850. In that year the gold fever struck him hard, and he went with 
others across the trackless waste to California, making the trip with ox 
teams and meeting with many interesting and some thrilling adven- 
tures on the way. During the next three years he mined and teamed in 
California with success and proiit, then returned to Missouri and 
bought a farm in Macon county on which he passed the remainder of his 
life. 

For nearly thirty years he carried on a jirosperous industry in 
farming his land, raising live stock, and doing the other things which 
pertained to what he had in hand, making steady progress in sub- 
stantial acquisitions and maintaining himself well in the regard and 
good will of the people all around him. He died in 1882, leaving a 
comfortable estate of 200 acres of land, well improved and highly culti- 
vated, and as the better heritage for his heirs, an excellent reputation 
and a stimulating example of duties well performed and long years of 
usefulness wisely and profitably employed. 

In politics he was a pronounced and active Democrat, and in church 
relations he and his wife were zealous working members of the Southern 
Methodist Episcopal sect. They were prominent in the congregation to 
which they belonged and could always l)e relied on to do their full share 
in the promotion of any worthy enterprise undertaken by it. The 
mother's maiden name was Martha Harris. She was of the same 
nativity as her husband. They became the parents of nine children. 




PHILIP GANSZ 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 80!) 

Five of these are living: Sarali Elizabetli, the wife of H. C. "Wine of 
this county; John "\V., of whom these paragrai)hs are written prin- 
cipally ; Amie J., the wife of Finis Tedford of Clarence, Missouri ; and 
Austin H. and Walter G., both residents of Macon county. 

John W. McGliee obtained his education in the district schools of 
Macon county and worked on the home place until the death of his 
father. He then continued to carry on the farm on his own account, 
engaging extensively in its operations and raising live stock in con- 
siderable numbers, until 1901. In that year he moved to Hannibal, 
where he remained four years working in the railroad shops, having 
sold his interest in tlie farm and its products. 

Returning to Macon county in 1905, he again turned his attention 
to agricultural pursuits and the live stock industry, and they have 
occupied him extensively ever since. He was married on February 
28, 1900, to Miss Emma L. Overstreet, whose father, H. Overstreet, 
is one of the leading farmers and prominent men of this county, where 
she was born and reared. Mr. and Mrs. McGhee have had three chil- 
dren and two of them are living, their daughter Martha May and 
their son John Wesley, both of whom are still with their parents and 
attending school. The father always takes an active part in political 
campaigns and does what he can to enforce his convictions by the 
triumph of his party. He is a iirm and zealous Democrat of tlie work- 
ing kind, and is regarded as a wheelhorse in the organization and one 
of the reliable forces in its every emergency. In religious affiliation 
he and his wife are connected with the Christian church,'in which both 
are earnest workers and liighly apjireciated as such in the congregation 
to which they belong. They stand well in the township, being regarded 
as among its most worthy and estimable citizens. 

PHILff C. GANSZ. 

Among the forces that are most potential and serviceable in building 
up, developing and improving a community, directing its mental, moral, 
social and political agencies along wholesome lines of progress, and 
leading public sentiment through right channels to large results, a 
good live, clean and well conducted newspaper holds a position of com- 
manding importance. Its influence is strong and healthful, it is at all 
times alive to the best interests of the region in which it is jniblished, 
and it is alert and forceful in pointing out what is wrong and com- 
mending what is right in the active or projected enterprises in its com- 
munity, and generally contributing to the public weal in many ways of 
great moment. 



900 HISTORY OF MACOK COUNTY 

Sucli a paper is the Macon Eepublican, the leading Republican 
newspaper in Northeastern Missouri, which is published in the city 
of Macon. It is owned and edited by Philip C. Gansz, and its high tone 
as a newspaper, excellence as a family journal and force and influence as 
a political party organ, indicate in an impressive way the character and 
attainments of the gentleman who is at the head of it. We have the 
sanction of Holy Writ for the assurance that men are known by their 
works, and all human experience confirms the dictum of the sacred 
writer. Applying this test, with the Macon Eepublican as our source 
of information, the conclusion must be inevitable that Mr. Gansz is a 
first rate citizen and a man of great usefulness in the city and county 
of his home. 

Mr. Gansz was born at Palmyra, Marion county, Missouri, on 
November 1, 1857, and is a son of Carl and Mary (Koehler) Gansz, the 
former a native of Bavaria and the latter of the little province of 
Waldeck farther north, but both in the German empire. The father 
came to the United States in his early manhood, arriving in 1851. He 
came West and located at Palmyra, after having visited Chicago, St. 
Paul and other cities, finding this part of the country agreeable to his 
desires and promising to his hopes. At Palmyra, also, he learned his 
trade as a stonemason, and there he worked at it industriously until his 
death on September 7, 1882. His marriage with Marj^ Koehler occurred 
at Palmyra in 1856. His widow is still living at the age of seventy- 
two years, residing in Macon. They were the parents of four sons and 
four daughters, six of the eight being still alive and actively engaged in 
useful industries. During the Civil war, or the earlier portion of it, 
the father was a member of the Home Guards on the Union side of the 
great conflict. 

Philip C. Gansz was the first born child in the family of his parents. 
He was reared at Palmyra and obtained his education in its public 
schools and at St. Paul's College, attending school until he reached 
tlie age of thirteen. He then le;irned the stonemason trade 
under the direction and instruction of his father, and for ten years 
worked at it with diligence. But there was a genius within him for 
something more intellectual than mechanical pursuits, and he found 
its commanding voice irresistible. On January 1, 1883, in association 
with M. P. Drummond, he founded the Marion County Herald, with 
which he was connected until 1890. 

In the year last named he bought the Macon Eepublican, and he 
is still its owner, editor and manager. He has enlarged the paper, 
greatly increased its circulation and elevated its tone and standing. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 901 

It is now the leading and most influential Republican newspaper in 
Northeastern Missouri, as has been noted, and is esteemed as one of 
the most creditable productions of this portion of the state, being 
bright, newsy, up-to-date and edited with ability and good judgment in 
general, and very forcible and uncompromising in its political 
character. 

Mr. Gansz was married on November 27, 1891, to Miss Jessie Wil- 
son, a daughter of Major and Mrs. Samuel J. "Wilson of Macon. Mr. 
and Mrs. Gansz have no children of their own, but have an adopted 
daughter. Miss Jessie Collett, whom they are rearing and educating 
with every consideration for her lasting welfare. Mr. Gansz belongs to 
the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Order of Elks frater- 
nally, and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. He 
is an elder in the congregation to which they belong and a teacher in its 
Sunday-school. 

It should be stated that Mr. Gansz has other interests in the busi- 
ness life of Macon besides his newspaper. He is a stockholder in the 
McCall Manufacturing company of the city and one of its directors, 
and connected with other institutions of value to the community, among 
them the Macon Building and Loan Association, of which he has been a 
director for fifteen years. He is a gentleman of great enterprise and 
progressiveness and has been a leading spirit in all that has made 
Macon the advancing, prominent and influential city it is, doing all in 
his power for its growth and improvement, and the development and 
strengthening of its moral, intellectual and social institutions. He 
served as mayor in 1896 and 1897, and is now serving his second term 
as a member of the school board. His services to the city have been 
great and of a high order, and that they are appreciated is shown by 
the universal esteem in which he is held by the people here and the 
popularity he enjoys wherever he is known. 

JAMES H. MONTGOMERY. 

V 

As a farmer and dealer in live stock of extensive operations in 
both fields of enterprise, as a lumber merchant and leading hardware 
and farming implement dispenser, and as a high-toned and pro- 
gressive citizen, James II. ^lontgomery of Gift'ord in Easeley town- 
ship has for many years been known and universally acknowledged as 
a leading and representative man in Macon county, worthy of the 
highest regard from the peoi)le and enjoying it in full measure. Almost 
the whole of his life to the ])resent time (1900) has been passed among 



902 HISTORY OF MACOX COUA"TY 

them and his career is creditable alike to him and to them, and has 
been beneficial to both. 

Mr. Montgomery is not a native of Macon county or the state of 
Missouri, but he has lived in the state from the time when he was two 
years old and is therefore, in feelings, as^jirations and local patriotism, 
to all intents and purposes, a Missourian. He was reared in the state, 
educated in its public schools, married into two of its prominent and 
influential families, and has conducted all his undertakings as parts 
of its productive activities. He was born at Fincastle, Indiana, in 
1855, and came with his parents to this state in 1857. His parents, 
George and Catherine (Fosher) Montgomery, were also aliens to the 
state by nativity, the father having been born in Kentuckj^ and the 
mother in Indiana. But the former became a resident of Missouri and 
passed the remainder of his days in active and appreciated ser\dce to its 
l^eople, and the latter is still living in Linn county, where she has long 
had her home. 

On his arrival in this state the father located at Brookfield in 
Linn coimty, and there engaged in farming and feeding and raising 
stock. He was successful in his business, and as he always took an earn- 
est interest and active part in ijublic affairs, he rose to consequence in the 
official life in every locality in which he lived. He was county tax 
collector of Linn county for four years, and was on the school boards 
of that county and Macon county at different times for many years. 
In 1884 he moved to this county, and here repeated the admirable 
features of his activity in Linn county. He served as county judge for 
eight years or longer, and was universally esteemed by the people, 
without regard to class or station in life or to party or church con- 
nections. He was himself a Democrat of strong convictions and great 
energy and influence in the councils and contests of his party, and as 
a man and citizen stood everywhere in the very first rank. His death 
occurred in March, 1893. His widow and his mother are still living 
in Linn county. He and his wife were the parents of five children. 
Four of them grew to maturity and three are now living, James, Jacob 
and George. 

James H. ]Montgomer}' grew to manhood on his father's Linn 
county farm and obtained his education in the country schools in the 
neighborhood. He began life for himself as a farmer and stock man 
and he is still engaged in these fruitful and important industries, 
although he has also made an admirable record and career as a mer- 
chant. His landed estate embraces over 2,000 acres of first rate land, 
and except what is given up to grazing purposes, the greater part of 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 903 

the whole tract is under advanced cultivation. In bis cattle industry 
lie specializes in shorthorn cattle of superior strains and has a high 
reputation in the markets for the excellence of his output. 

In 1905, in association with his son-in-law, "Willis A. McNeal, a 
sketch of whom will be found in this work, he started an enterprise in 
the lumber trade under the firm name of Montgomery and Company, 
and before the year was out the firm became also dealers in hardware 
and farm imi^lemeuts. It is still in active operation and carrying on a 
steadily increasing business with each succession of the seasons. Mr. 
^lontgomery is also a stockholder and director of the Winigan State 
Bank and the Farmers' Exchange Bank of Giffoi-d, in addition he con- 
ducts a flourishing and profitable concrete plant of good proportions 
and with a large and active trade. 

Mr. Montgomery is a Republican in his political convictions and 
allegiance and, although he is not what is called an active partisan, he 
gives his party loyal support and seeks its advantage in all proper 
ways that are quiet and unobtrusive. He has been a member of the 
school board for more than twenty years, and has shown great zeal and 
progressiveness in behalf of the schools, contributing botli breadth of 
view and enterprise to their management, and leading them steadily 
to higher standards of excellence. He is connected with the fraternal 
life of the community by membership in the Order of Modern "Woodmen 
of America, and with its religious forces by his activity and energy 
in behalf of the Methodist church, to which he has belonged for many 
years. 

In 1879 Mr. Montgomery was united in marriage with Miss Clara 
S. Dean, whose father and grandfather were prominent in the public 
and social life of Canada and who was born in that country herself. 
They had four children : Rosa, the wife of "Willis A. McNeal ; Homer ; 
Harry, the cashier of the Farmers' Exchange Bank of Clifford; and 
Mabel. ■ The mother of these children died on July 1, 1897, and in 
1901, the father chose a second wife. Miss May Rice, a native of Macon 
county, whose parents were also native Missourians. Macon county 
has no better citizens than the members of the Montgomery family, 
and none for whom the people of the county have a higher regard or 
a more universal and well-founded admiration. 

V HARVEY S. EASELEY. 

Born and reared in the township which bears his name, and which 
was given to it in honor of his grandfather, one of the revered ])ioneers 
of the county, Harvey E. Easeley lias cause to be warmly attached to 



904 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

the locality of his home, and to feel an abiding interest in its progress, 
improvement and substantial welfare in every way. That he has this 
feeling he has shown by his services in its behalf and the credit he has 
reflected on it by his upright, manly and serviceable citizenship, and 
by the fine example he has given of the enterprise, capacity and 
progressiveness of its peoijle. 

Mr. Easeley's life began in November, 1877, and he is a son of 
Henry C. and Rebecca (Grigsby) Easeley, natives also of Macon county, 
and for many years numbered among its most useful and progressive 
residents. They were married in 1874 and had two children, their 
son Harvey S. and their daughter Eosa May, who is now the wife of 
Alonzo Gash of this county. The father was a farmer during the whole 
of his mature life and one of prominence and influence. He took a lead- 
ing part in local public affairs, as his father had done before him, and 
gave loyal and very effective support to the principles and candidates 
of the Democratic party. He served the township well as school 
director for many years, and in reference to all other public interests 
was a man of great force, activity and energy. He died on December 
10, 1905. The mother is still living and is now the wife of Alexander 
Robinson. 

Harvey S. Easeley grew to manhood on his father's farm, which, 
like that of his grandfather, was a kind of rallying place for the whole 
countryside when anything involving the welfare of the township was 
to be considered. By this means he became well acquainted with the 
people of the region early in life and acquired a good knowledge of their 
aspirations, tendencies and the springs of action which impelled them. 
He also gained an intimate knowledge of the township and clear views 
of its needs with some insight into its possibilities in the way of devel- 
opment. This knowledge was a large part of his early education, and 
the most important part. The scholastic training he got was begun 
in the public schools and completed at a good college, which he attended 
several terms. 

"When he left school the wide world opened before him with its 
multitudinous avenues to success and consequences, around him were 
the scenes and associations of his boyhood and youth, with their invit- 
ing pleasures, and upon him was the responsibility created by the 
examples and records of his forefathers, two generations of whom had 
done well and reached distinction where he was born. The wide open 
world, as he regarded it, and the tame and eventful life around him, 
as it seemed to him to be. both had their allurement, and his inherited 
responsibility was the same in both. It was difficult for him to choose 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 905 

his course, aud for a few years he worked at different occupations while 
still undetermined on his choice. But at length he decided in favor 
of the home life to which he was accustomed, and settled down in the 
locality of his nativity as a farmer and breeder of stock. Subsequent 
results have proven his wisdom. His success has been great and he 
is well established in the community of his home as one of its pro- 
gressive, prominent and prosperous farmers and leading men. He 
owns 307 acres of fine land, with the most of it yielding tribute to his 
enterprise aud intelligence in cultivating it, a suitable portion being 
reserved as pasturage for his extensive holdings in live stock. 

"\Mien Mr. Easeley once became well settled as a permanent citizen 
of the region in which he gained his stature and his strength, every 
interest connected with it had additional value in his eyes, and the 
promotion of its welfare became a labor of love with him as it was 
already a willingly acknowledged duty. He has ever been active in 
connection with all worthy projects involving its improvement and the 
comfort and convenience of its people. His political activity has been 
expended in behalf of the Democratic party, to which he has always 
been firmly attached, and his services to it are highly appreciated by 
both its leaders and their followers throughout the county. In fra- 
ternal life he trains with the Modern Woodmen of America, and in 
religious connection he is allied with the Universalist church. Both his 
lodge and his church have his earnest and energetic support, and in 
both his membership is valued highly. On November 2, 1904, he was 
united in marriage with Miss Susan Slaughter, whose parents and 
grandparents came to Missouri from New York state, but who is her- 
self a native of Macon county. Mr. Easeley is one of the principal 
stockholders in the Bank of Gifford, and to this institution he gives a 
proper share of his time and careful attention. 

^ JOHN AARON GRIGSBY. 

Adversity is a great schoolmistress, as many a poor fellow knows, 
who has held out his hand to her ferule and whimpered over his lesson 
before her awful chair. Yet, although her discipline is severe it is 
thorough, and the instruction she gives is impressive and lasting. The 
business career and life of useful citizenship of John Aaron Grigsby 
of Easeley township in this county, where he is actively and success- 
fully engaged in farming and raising live stock for the Eastern markets, 
furnish a striking illustration of this fact, and show, also that behind the 
unrelenting frown of the stern schoolmistress there beats a really warm 



906 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

and considerate heart for those who have the faculty to take her dis- 
cipline at its true merit and apply it to their advantage. 

Mr. Grigsby is a native of Putnam county in this state, and was 
born in 1861. He lost his father at an early age, and when he was but 
eight years old was given by his mother to N. W. Michaels of La Plata. 
His parents were William and Elizabeth (Gates) Grigsby, both born 
and reared in Missouri, and married in 1857. They became the parents 
of four children, two pairs of twins. Of the four only two are living, 
John Aaron and his older sister, Eebecca, the wife of Z. Robinson. 
The early death of the father left the mother with the small children 
to rear and educate and with almost nothing in the way of provision 
for the great task that was upon her. She was obliged to do what she 
considered best for her offspring, and so gave her son to a family she 
esteemed to be cared for, thus enlarging her power to provide for the 
rest and securing for him a better outlook in life than she could give 
him through her efforts. 

The son grew to manhood under the care and supervision of his 
foster parents and obtained a limited education at the public schools. 
As soon as he left school he started in on the life work he had chosen 
for himself by turning his attention to farming and conducting his 
operations in a way that was sure to make them successful. From that 
time to the present he has diligently followed the dual vocation of an 
agriculturist and stock-breeder with steadily increasing profits and 
expanding interests, until he now owns and farms more than 430 acres 
of land and has a stock industry of considerable magnitude. His farm 
is vigorously and skillfully cultivated, improved with good buildings 
and other necessary structures, and provided with approved modern 
appliances for all that is required of it. His home is one of the valu- 
able and attractive country residences of the township and shows in its 
every feature the wisdom and capacity of its owner. 

Mr. Grigsby is active in the political affairs of his locality as a 
Eei)ublican of pronounced convictions, and gives attention in a prac- 
tical and serviceable way, not only to the aspirations and desires of his 
party, but to every commendable project for the improvement and 
advancement of the region in which he lives. He has been a member of 
the local school board for upwards of twenty years, and very energetic 
in his attention to the needs and i)rogress of the schools. His fra- 
ternal attributes find food for exercise in his membership in the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, to which lie has belonged for inaiiy 
years. He was married in 1880 to Miss Mary Clem. Of the two 
cliildren born to them their daughter Buella is living. Her mother 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY S)0~ 

died in 189(), and in 1898 the father married a second wife, being united 
this time with ]\lis.s Elizabeth Gunnels. They have two children, their 
son J. A. and their daughter Theta H., both now attending school. The 
parents rank among the most worthy and estimable citizens of the 
township. 

JAMES H. FORD. 

James H. Ford, who is one of the progressive, successful and repre- 
sentative farmers of Liberty township in this county is not a native of 
the state, but he has lived in Macon county almost fifty years and 
during the whole of that long period has mingled freely with its people 
and taken an important and helpful ]iart in their iudvistries and their 
political, civil and social life, lie is therefore fully imbued with their 
feelings and aspirations and is impelled by the same springs of action 
that inspire them and may fitly be taken as representative of them in 
all that is worthy and enterprising. In his career he disjilays the 
qualities that govern them and tyiiilies tlie energy that has made them 
so progressive and their section of the state so well advanced in 
development and improvement. 

Mr. Ford was born in Benton county, Arkansas, on September -1, 
1838, and is a son of William and Rebecca (Tipett) Ford, natives of 
Tennessee, where their ancestors were domesticated for generations. 
They moved from their native state to Arkansas in early life, and there 
they passed the remainder of their days, the mother dying in September, 
1879, and the father in March, 1885. They had eleven children, all 
of whom have died but four, James H., Andrew Jackson, Safah, the 
wife of Thomas Markum of Oklahoma, and Elizabeth, the wife of J. 
W. Taylor of Arkansas. The j^arents were farmers and labored 
industriously at their calling, winning success and comfort through 
many trials and difficulties, and making the most of their opportunities 
in spite of numerous discouraging adversities. The father partic- 
ipated in the Civil war, fighting for his convictions on many a bloody 
field of that momentous conflict, and suffered the fate of many of its 
best and l)ravest soldiers — the ruin of his industries and the impover- 
ishment that always follows that. At the close of the war he was 
obliged to begin over again, but he liad the spirit necessary to succeed, 
and he went to work to repair his fortunes as bravely as he marched to 
the battlefield in defense of his political faith. 

James H. Ford obtained his education in the country schools near 
his Arkansas home. This was necessarily limited, for he had no time 
to seek higher walks of learning than those country schools afforded. 



908 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

and his attendance at even them was irregailar and of short duration. 
On leaving school he turned his attention to the vocation his fathers had 
followed for generations, becoming a farmer in his native county. In 
1865 he came to Missouri and took up his residence in Macon county. 
He at once began farming here and has adhered to that industry with 
profitable fidelity "ever since. He now owns and farms 200 acres of 
good land, cultivating the soil with skill and intelligence, keeping 
abreast with the most advanced thought in agricultural pursuits, and 
applying the labor of his hands under the vigorous and careful direc- 
tion of his far-seeing and well trained mind. In connection with his 
farming operations he carries on an extensive and flourishing enter- 
l)rise in general stock raising. To this also he gives intelligent and 
thoughtful attention, omitting no etfort on his part required to secure 
the best results. He has been very successful in both branches of his 
industry, and is recognized as one of the most progressive and 
resourceful stock men and farmers in the county. 

To the affairs of the townshij^ and county he has applied the same 
thoughtful and rational attention that he has used in his own business, 
and has thus risen through usefulness to prominence among the people 
and been for many years one of their chosen and ai^preciated public 
officials. For more than twenty years he has served them faithfully 
and acceptabl}^ as a justice of the peace, and for an equal period as a 
member of the school board. He was also road overseer for nearly 
four j-ears. In all these positions he has had an eye single to the good 
of the people and the substantial and enduring welfare of the township 
of his home. In political faith and allegiance he is a member of the 
Democratic party, but where the local public interests are concerned 
party ties are subordinated to the public good, which, with him, is 
always a matter of the first consideration. His religious connection is 
with the Baptist church, in which he takes an active and very 
serviceable interest. 

On August 12, 1860, Mr. Ford was joined in marriage with Miss 
Margaret Shirley, a native of Macon county. They had five cliiUlren 
four of whom are living: AVilliam, who is a resident of the new state of 
Oklahoma ; John M., Oscar and Ollie, the last named being the wife of 
Charles Darenger of Kansas City, Missouri. Their mother died on 
August ]."?, 1S7J), and on .lune 29, 1880, the father contracted a second 
marriage, l)eing united on this occasion witli Miss Ada Haynor, also a 
native of this county. They have three children, Susan, tlie wife of 
Isliam King, \'ictor and Grover, who are living at home with their 
])a rents. 




D. J. REED 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 909 

D. J. EEED. 

The capacity to develop great enterprises and successfully liuance 
and conduct extensive operations is rare, and those who possess it are 
always very useful to the communities in which they operate and 
esteemed as persons of great ability. D. J. Reed, one of the enterprising 
and progressive citizens of New Cambi'ia, in this county, is a man of 
such measure, and is well known, not only throughout Macon county, 
but the entire "West, as one of the best informed and most resourceful 
mining men in Missouri. 

^Ir. Eeed is a native of this state, having been born at Kirksville, 
Adair coimty, on March 28, 1848. He is a son of David S. and Elizabeth 
(Wilson) Reed, natives of Kentucky, who moved to Missouri in 184:3. 
They first located in Randolph county, and after a short residence there 
removed to Adair county. In 1849 they became residents of Macon 
county, making their home at what was then known as Hammaek's Mills, 
and was located about seven miles south of New Cambria. There the 
father engaged in farming, following this line of useful endeavor until 
his death. Both he and his wife died in ]\Iacon county. Of the eleven 
children born to them only two are living, D. J. Reed and one of his 
sisters. 

D. J. Reed grew to manhood in Macon county and obtained a 
limited education in the primitive country schools of his boyhood and 
youth. As soon as he was able he secured emplojTnent as a coal miner 
in the mines of this county. He worked in the mines here until 1891, 
when he moved to Colorado, and within the same year was appointed 
state mine inspector of that state. He tilled this position with great 
ability and with high approval for two years, and during his tenure of 
the office brought about many needed reforms for the benelit of the 
miners of the state. Following his service as mine inspector he engaged 
in prospecting and mining in various parts of Colorado, Arizona, 
Nevada and other Western states, and he still owns valuable interests 
in that part of the country. 

In 1908 Mr. Reed returned to ]\[acon county, and, in association with 
Gustave Yager, bought eighty acres of mineral land near New Cambria. 
Their expectations concerning this land were well founded and are 
being realized in a very gratifying manner. They found the land under- 
laid with rich veins of ore carrying gold, silver, tin, and zinc, and for 
the purpose of developing the property they organized the Pioneer Gold 
Mining company of New Cambria, of which Mr. Reed is the i)resident 
and general manager. The property gives promise of developing into 



910 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

one of the richest fields ever opened in the West, and the people of 
Macon county are deejDly indebted to the gentlemen named for their 
efforts to bring to the notice of the world one of the extensive resources 
of Missouri that was before unknown. 

That they have met with opposition and obstruction in their work 
has to be admitted with regret, but it is a part of the usual experience 
of farseeiug and enterprising men. Per.sons who, it would seem, would 
welcome eveiy development that pi'omises to enrich the countj^ and state, 
have not only failed to give what encouragement they could to this 
undertaking, but have gone out of their way to discourage prospective 
investors and prevent the consummation of the enterprise. But in 
spite of all oj^position the gentlemen at the head of the concern have 
succeeded in oi'ganizing their companj^ and placing it soundly on its 
feet by disposing of a large amoimt of the capital stock. Its progress 
is now only a matter of effort and ability well applied, and there can be 
no question that the company will show the ability and make the 
necessary efforts for a complete and triumphant success. 

Mr. Reed was married in 1877 to Miss Dista Reed, who is, like him- 
self a native of Missouri and cordially interested in the welfare of the 
state. They have had eight children, seven of whom are living. The 
father is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and in fraternal 
life belongs to the Order of Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a 
Democrat and as such has served as county mine inspector. He and his 
family stand high in the social life of the community and are univer- 
sallj" esteemed as among the best and most useful people in the county. 

^ WILLIAM W. LLOYD. 

The hardihood and endurance, the self-reliance and resourcefulness, 
and the general adaptability of the AVelsh race, which are due in large 
measure to tlie Iiard conditions that soil, climate and civic conditions 
force u]3on it in its own laud, enable it to gi-ow and Nourish like a green 
bay tree in a country like ours, where all the conditions are favorable 
and there is scope for the exercise of every faculty in aggressive enter- 
prise, none being required, in the main, for defensive operations. In 
OUB responsive soil every seed deposited will come forth to multiplied 
vitality, some thirty, some sixty and some a hundred fold; and every 
activity expended in our civil, social and political life, is similarly 
fruitful and prolific. 

William W. Lloyd, one of the far-seeing, enterprising and pro- 
gressive farmers of Lingo township in this county, owes his success and 
prominence to his race characteristics of industry, thrift and shrewd- 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY . 911 

ness, aud to the opportunities the hiud of his adoi)tiou has given for 
their employmeut to his advantage. He is a native of North Wales, 
where he was born in 1839, and a son of William and Ann (Robert) 
Lloyd, also natives of that country, where they passed the whole of 
their lives in diligent attention to their duties as farmers and worthy 
citizens, dying after long years of usefulness on the soil they had 
hallowed by their labors and being laid to rest in its hospitable bosom. 
They were the parents of seven children, five of whom are living: 
Griffith, whose home is still in Wales; Hugh Gr., a resident of New 
Caml)ria in this state; William W., who is the subject of the para- 
graphs; Margaret, the wife of John L. Jones, and Mary, the wife of 
Thomas 0. Jones, both of whom are yet residents of Wales, the laud 
of their forefather for many generations. 

The opportunities for schooling that were available to William 
W. Lloyd were limited and irregular. He attended the common schools 
in the neighborhood of his ancestral home when he could be spared from 
more exacting duties, and, while he made good use of his time in them, 
he was obliged by the circimistauces of the family and his own needs 
to leave them at an early age. Esau must have pottage, even if he bar- 
ter away his birthright to get it. Mr. Lloyd had to make his living and 
he could not do this while going to school. He remained in his native 
land until 1869, heaiiug for many years, with increasing force in it and 
attention from him, the persuasive voice of America calling for volun- 
teers to swell her great army of conquest and development. At length 
he was unable to longer withstand its importunity, aud when he was 
thirty years old he crossed the heaving ocean to find a more com- 
fortable home and better jsrospects in the New World. Guided by fate or 
his own good judgment to where abundance and success awaited him, 
he located in Macon county, Missouri, and went to work as a farmer. 
Soon afterward he bought forty acres of good laud, which he made tiie 
nucleus of the estate he was bending his energies to win. Taking up 
his residence on this land, he began developing and improving it, drag- 
ging good harvests from it by persistent and well applied industry, 
and steadily increasing its value and adding to his possessions uutil 
he now owns 200 acres and has the whole tract under advanced culti- 
vation aud yielding rich tribute to his industry and skill as a farmer. 
His present dwelling stands on the original forty acres aud the 
remainder of the farm is conveniently located around that. 

In his farming operations Mr. Lloyd has given the people a good 
example of what continued and intelligent labor can accomplish on the 
responsive soil of this great state; and in his wise and energetic 



& 



013 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

attention to local afifairs of importance to the township he has pointed 
and emphasized the debt America owes to her foreign-born population. 
He has served acceptably as tax collector under the townsliij) organ- 
ization and also as road overseer, doing good work for the township 
and its people in both positions and winning almost universal approval 
for the excellence of his service. He has, in addition, been actively and 
helpfully connected with various enterprises of value in the development 
and improvement of the coimty, and has given them all careful and 
fruitful attention. 

Politically Mr. Lloyd is allied with the Republican party, and in 
i;eligious relations he and his wife are connected with the Presbyterian 
church, of which they are zealous and ai)preciated members and in the 
good works of which they are active participants. 'The wife's maiden 
name was Catherine Roberts, and she is a daughter of John and Ellen 
Roberts, who were born and reared in A\'ales. Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd were 
married in 1869, and have had five children. Four of the five are living, 
William J., Kate and Ella, who still abide with their parents, and Annie, 
who is the oldest and the wife of E. H. Bevan, and who is also a resi- 
dent of tliis county. The family is prominent in the county, having a 
competency in worldly wealth and being firmly fixed in the regard and 
good will of the whole people wherever its members are known. 

CLEMENT F. SMILEY. 

Born and reared in Northeastern Missouri, educated at Smiley- 
ville, Marion county, which is now a thriving village and was founded 
by and named in honor of his father, and for many years engaged in 
business in Macon county, and with a good record also for his parents 
in the mercantile and industrial life of this portion of' the state, the 
personal achievements and family history of Clement F. Smiley of 
Axtell are well worthy of honoraljle mention in any work that purports 
to give an account of the rise and progress of Macon county and its 
IJeople. 

Mr. Smiley is a native of AVest ILirtford, Ralls county, Missouri, 
where his life began on December 11, 1868. His grandfather, William 
Smiley, was born and reared in Ireland, where his son Benjamin, the 
father of Clement F., also came into lieing. The latter, however, did 
not remain long in his native land. He was born on March 28, 1838, 
and came to the United States an infant in his mother's arms. The 
family located in Pike county, Illinois, and there Benjamin Smiley grew 
to manhood and obtained a limited common school education. On 
leaving school he learned the blacksmith trade and for twelve years 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 913 

Avorked at it diligently -and pi-oIital)ly. lu 1865 lie moved to Clarion 
county, this state, and during the next four years was engaged in farm- 
ing and raising live stock in that county. At the end of the period 
mentioned he returned to Illinois, and there he continued his farming 
operations until 1882. He then came back to Missouri and again 
located in Marion county. There he followed blacksmithing and mer- 
chandising until 1905, when he moved to the city of Macon, retiring 
from active pursuits and leading a quiet but still serviceable life until 
his death, which occurred on January 31, 1906, when he was sixty-eight 
years of age. ' 

Benjamin Smiley was fii'st married in 1865 to Miss Sarah ^ilallory, 
a native of Virginia. They had four children, all of whom are living: 
William E., whose home is in Macon city; Mary AUie, the wife of C. 
A. Jobson of St. Louis, Missouri ; Clement F., a resident and merchant 
of Axtell in this county; and Hattie L., the wife of T. A. Craig, who 
also dwells in Macon. The mother of these children died on July 22, 
1881, and in 1889 the father married a second wife, his choice on this 
occasion being Miss Fannie McCall, a daugliter of Dr. E. S. and Fannie 
McCall, long well known and esteemed residents of this county. ]\[r. 
Smiley 's second marriage resulted in two children, Leta Victor and 
Martha Ena, bjoth of whom are living at home with their mother. The 
father was a Republican in politics and an enterprising and public 
spirited man. His memory is cherished with cordial and lasting 
regard wherever he was known. 

Clement F. Smiley attended a district school at Smileyville and 
after the completion of his education clerked for a few years in a 
general store conducted by a painstaking and thriving merchant. He 
then went to work in the same capacity for his father, and so had 
excellent training for the business in which the greater part of his life 
to this time has been passed. He remained with his father until 1895, 
when he moved to Plainville, Illinois, and there for three years was 
associated with J. T. Havener and G. M. Nichols in general merchan- 
dising under the firm name of Havenor, Nichols & Smiley. The busi- 
ness was successful and profitable, but Mr. Smiley saw better oppor- 
tunity for himself in another venture. In 1898 he moved to the city 
of Macon and became a salesman for Albert Jobson, an extensive dealer 
in farming implements and their accessories. 

In 1901 another change "came o'er the spirit of his dreams," and 
he once more became a merchant on his own account. In that year 
he located at Axtell in this county, and there started a general store 
which he is still conducting. His enterprise is flourishing and pro- 



914 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

gressive, and the success lie lias won and is winning in it proves the 
wisdom of his choice when he started it. On July 8, 1902, he was 
appointed postmaster of that town, an oflfice he has held continuously 
ever since. He is also ticket agent for the Wabash railroad at Axtell. 
His store building and stock of merchandise are wholly his own and 
he also has valuable residence property in the town. 

On June 21, 1903, Mr. Smiley was united in marriage with Miss 
Mattie Havener, a daughter of J. T. and Sabra Havenor, of Plainville, 
Illinois, his father-in-law being his former partner in business in that 
city. Both Mr. and Mrs. Smiley belong to the Southern Methodist 
church and they are zealous and energetic church workers. He is 
one of the stewards of the congregation to which they are attached and 
the superintendent of its Sunday school. His wife is a teacher in the 
Sunday school and the organist of the church. In politics the husband 
is a pronounced Republican of the most loyal and unwavering kind, 
and in fraternal relations he is a Modern Woodman of America. He 
and liis wife are among the most esteemed citizens of the community 
in which they now live, and also stand high in the regard of the people 
in other places where they have had their homes. 

V JOHN MANHART. 

Orphaned by the death of his father when the son was but eleven 
years of age, and the first born of the living children of his parents, 
John Manhart of Lingo township in this county, assumed the burden 
of life for himself at a very early age, and has borne it with com- 
mendable cheerfulness and with profit to himself and the rest of the 
family ever since. Through life so far he has leaned on his mother 
for advice and direction, and during the last sixteen years she has 
leaned on him as her main dependence in the management of the farm 
and the support and education of the rest of the children, a trust to 
whicli he has been faithful in full measure and has won the reward of 
his fidelity in his own gains in a material way and the esteem and 
admiration of the people all around him. 

Mr. Manhart was born in tlie township and on the fann of his 
present residence on February 27, 1882, and is a son of Frank F. and 
Regina (Mitch) Manhart, the former born in Germany in 1846 and the 
latter a native of this county. The father was brought from liis native 
land to this country and to Lingo township, Macon county, when he 
was but six months old. His father located on a farm in the township 
and devoted his energies to breaking up the land and reducing it to 
systematic productiveness. As the son grew into years and vigor he 



HISTORY OF MACOX COL'XTY 915 

took more aud more of the work of the farm on himself, remaining at 
home until he came of age aud attending tiie Manhart district seliool 
near the homestead, which was so named in honor of his father. Dur- 
ing the Civil war the father was in the army and the care of the farm 
devolved almost wholly on the son, young as he was. In this particular 
his experience was similar to thaj of his son John, as noted above, and 
like the latter, he also met his obligation with fidelity to every duty. By 
the time he reached his majority his father was back from the war and 
he was at liberty to start in life for himself, which he did by i^ecuring 
a small tract of land aud giving his attention to farming and raising 
stock. His operations were successful from the start, and he was 
moving steadily forward toward wealth and consequence, when death 
cut short his career and ended his labors at the age of forty-seven, on 
December 16, 1893. He had acquired the ownership of 120 acres of 
excellent land and had brought it to a high state of productiveness and 
improved it with good buildings and other structures. In addition he 
had it well equipped with all the necessary aispliances for progressive 
and up-to-date farming. He had also risen to consequence and influence 
in the community, and was regarded by the people as one of their 
most promising citizens, whose activity would be fruitful in good for 
them and the township. 

In 1879 this prominent citizen, whose imtimely death was a source 
of general regret and sorrow throughout the township, was married 
to ]\Iiss Regina Mitch, a resident at the time of Macon county, but a 
native of Indiana. Of the seven children born to them five are living, 
one daughter, Mary, who is the second of the five in the order of birth, 
and is now the wife of Charles Mossbarger of this county; aud four 
sons, John, Joseph, Albert and August, all of whom are living at home 
with their mother. In political affairs the father was a very active 
aud influential Democrat. He was always ready to stand or go in 
the service of his party and counted no sacrifice he could make too 
great if it helped to promote the welfare of the organization and bring 
success to its cause. His son John is also a Democrat and renders 
effective service to his party. The home farm of 160 acres has thriven 
under his management, and is a model of skillful and scientific 
husbandry. 

^ ROBERT E. POWELL. 

Of good old North Carolina stock, his grandfather, Henry A. 
Powell, and his father, "William R. Powell, having been born in the 
Old North state, and their forefathers having lived in it for generations 



OIG IIISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

before them, Robert E. Powell, one of the iirogressive and prospei'ous 
farmers and stock men of Eagle township in this eountj', has inspiring 
traditions and fine examples of enterprise and worth in the history of 
his ancestors, and he has well borne up and dignified the family name 
himself. He is active and knowing in the management of his own 
affairs and energetic and broad-minded with reference to those of his 
community, always ready to aid in any good project for its advancement 
and true to lofty ideals of citizenship in every way. 

Mr. Powell was born on August 7, 1857, in the township of his 
present and life-long residence to the present day. He is a son of 
William E. and Sarah (Pinnick) Powell, the former born in North 
Carolina on April 2, 1830, and the latter a native of Macon county, 
Missouri. The father came to this state and county in 1839 with his 
parents, who were very early settlers in this region. The family 
located near Callao, and there "William R. Powell obtained a district 
school education, or rather the best the locality could furnish at the 
time, for it was new and unsettled, and all its facilities for mental train- 
ing were necessarily primitive and very limited in scope. He remained 
with his parents until he reached the age of twenty-four, then moved 
to Eagle township, in which he bought land and was engaged in farm- 
ing and raising stock to the end of his life. He was successful in his 
efforts for advancement and became the owner of 2-10 acres of good 
land, which he transformed from a state of virgin wilderness into a 
well-improved and highly productive fann. His marriage with Miss 
Pinnick occurred in 1854 and two children were born of the union, John 
H., who lives in Nebraska, and the immediate subject of this brief 
review. The father was an unwavering Democrat in his political faith 
and party allegiance, and was active and effective in the support of his 
convictions. He was a devoted member of the Cumberland Presby- 
terian church and energetic in his service to the congregation to which 
he was attached, taking an earnest interest and leading part in its work. 

His son, Robert E. Powell, obtained his education at Hickory Grove 
district, school, working on the home farm while attending its sessions 
and assisting the family in the same way after leaving school until 
1878. In that year he took charge of a farm belonging to his father- 
in-law, on which he conducted flourishing industries in farming and 
raising live stock for a continuous jieriod of seven years. At the end 
of that pei-iod he bought the farm on which he now lives, and which 
has ever since been his home. It comprises 140 acres, is well improved 
and skillfully cultivated and has grown into considerable value through 
his continuous industry and judicious management, being now one of 




G. A. YAGER 



HISTORY OF :N[AC0X COUNTY 917 

the attractive and desirable country homes in the section in which it is 
located. 

On December 19, 1878, Mr. Powell was married to Miss Sarah S. 
Griffith, who was born in Eagle township on December 22, 1858, and is 
a daughter of Obed and Melissa (Jriffith, who were born and reared in 
Kentucky. Of the four children born in the Powell household three 
are living: Myrtie May, who is still a member of the parental family 
circle; "William J., who lives in South Dakota; and Theodore J., who 
is also living at home. The parents are members of the Southern 
Methodist church and ardent workers in its benevolent activities. The 
father's political allegiance has always been given to the Democratic 
party and he has made his faith in it good by energetic and efficient 
work at all times for its welfare. 

GUSTAVE A. YAGER. 

With an experience in human life covering two continents, including 
five states of the American Union, and three or four different occu- 
pations, Gustave A. Yager, secretary and treasurer of the Pioneer 
Gold Mining Company of New -Cambria, Macon county, Missouri, has 
had excellent preparation for the great work in which he is now engaged 
— the development of the first gold mine in this state. He has been 
observant and studious, looking always to the real gist and meaning 
of human activity as it developed around him, and has therefore 
acquired a knowledge of men and affairs that is extensive, substantial 
and full of practical utility. 

Mr. Yager was born in Asch, Bohemia, on Aj)ri] 11, 1857, where his 
parents, John C. and Eva M. (Zerold) Yager, also were born, and where 
they were reared and married. For some years the father was a student 
at the military school in Prague, and later served seven years as an 
officer in the Austrian army. After retiring from the army he engaged 
in the manufacture of stockingnet and a general mercantile business. 
While he was successful in his undertakings, and expanded his trade 
to considerable proportions, he longed for greater opportunities for 
advancement, and believed he could find them in the United States, even 
though it might be in different lines of endeavor from those to which 
he was accustomed. 

Accordingly, in 1868 he brought his family to this country and 
settled on a farm in Dane county, AVisconsin, and there reared his four 
children, three sons and one daughter, to maturity and won a com- 
petency by his industry, thrift and good management. He died on the 
Wisconsin farm in 1883 and his widow at the same place in 1894. Their 



918 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUXTY 

residence of fifteen years in that locality gave the people around them 
full knowledge of their worth and won them the esteem of all who knew 
them. They cultivated their farm with skill and diligence; they were 
true to all the better instincts of humanity in social life, and they per- 
fonned with fidelity all the duties of American citizenship on an 
elevated plane of manhood and womanhood. 

Their son Gustave passed his boyhood days on the farm, in school 
and the ordinary occupations of farmers' children in this country. After 
completing his education he clerked in a store until 1881. In the autumn 
of that year he left home to spend a winter in Florida, and when the 
spring of 1882 came went to Thompsonville, Connecticut, to engage in 
mercantile life. He remained seven years, and during that period 
was married in 1886 to Miss Jessie Bissland, a native of Gourock, Scot- 
land. In 1889 they moved to Trinidad, Colorado, where he engaged in 
the grocery trade and mining until 1900, when the state of his wife's 
health made it necessary for them to return to Thompsonville, Con- 
necticut, where their three sons and one daughter are now being 
educated, and which they still call their home, although at present living 
in this county because of the work in which Mr. Yager is engaged. 

He has followed mining more or less in Colorado and Nevada dur- 
ing the past twenty years, and the last two has been associated with 
David J. Eeed, a sketch of whom will be found in this work, developing 
the promising gold mining property of the Pioneer Gold Mining Com- 
pany in this county, which, as has been noted, is the first of that kind to 
be worked in the state. In this engagement Mr. Yager has a field suited 
to his taste and cajiacity, and that he is well fitted for the work he has 
already demonstrated by the results he has achieved. The field is a 
fruitful one, too, for the mine has imusual jiromise and seems sure to be 
one of the richest ever laid open in the country. 

^ ARLEY E. EASLEY. 

This ]irominent, prosperoiis and ])rogressive farmer and stock man 
of Johnston township, Macon county, Missouri, began his operations 
in the industries in which he is now engaged with sixty calves bought 
with money borrowed from his father, and on land he rented for the 
purpose of farming and building up a business in the live stock trade. 
He now owns 320 acres of land and feeds thirty to eighty head of 
cattle on an average every year. He also has his farm well improved, 
all under cultivation and brought to a high state of productiveness. 
His progress from practically nothing in the way of property to his 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 91!) 

jDresent state of worldly comfort and consequence is the result of his 
own efforts and ability, and his career is wholly creditable to him. 

Mr. Easeley was born in the township of his present home on June 
1, 1872. His grandfather, Jesse Easelej', and his father, Thomas M. 
Easeley, were natives of Kentucky, the latter born in Cumberland 
county of that state in 1820. AVhen he was seven years old the family 
moved to Brown county, Illinois, where he grew to manhood and 
obtained his education, and then farmed until 1855. In that year he 
came to Missouri and located in Adair county near the village of Gibbs, 
but two years later moved to Macon county. Here he passed the rest 
of his life extensively and successfully engaged in farming, making all 
his time and efforts tell to his advantage, and at one time owning and 
cultivating 760 acres of land. He divided a considerable portion of 
this among his children, but still had 320 acres at the time of his death, 
which occurred in 1904, when he was eighty-four years of age. 

He was a Eepublican in politics, belonged to the Masonic fra- 
ternity and was a very zealous working member of the Christian 
church. He was also one of the hardy and heroic band of adventurers 
known to history as "The Forty-Niners," who crossed the plains to the 
Pacific coast during the excitment over the discovery of gold in Cali- 
fornia just before the middle of the nineteenth century. This exploit 
was in keeiDing with his character, for he was resolute in his purpose 
and never driven from it by any prospect of hardship or danger. 

His son, Arley E. Easeley, obtained his education in the district 
schools of his native township and those of Sue City and Brashear in 
this state. On leaving school he started in business as a stockman 
and farmer, as stated in the first paragraph, and in 1892 bought 156 
acres of land, a part of his present farm of 320 acres, which is one of 
the model farms of the county. He has also dealt considerably in real 
estate in connection with his farming and live stock operations and his 
other interests. 

In the public affairs of his township and county he has always 
taken an earnest interest and a leading part, his aim being at all times 
to do what he could to advance the interests of the region of his home 
and promote the welfare of its people, and with these ends in view 
he has given his time, service and material aid to every worthy enter- 
prise in which they were involved. In politics he is a Republican of the 
most pronounced type and one of his party's most energetic and effec- 
tive workers, although he neither seeks nor desires any of its honors 
or official favors for himself. His religious connection is with the 



920 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

Union Presbyterian church, and in this, also, he is an active and helpful 
worker. 

On April 14, 1895, Mr. Easeley was united in marriage with Miss 
Jessie Malone, a daughter of Charles and Sarah Ma'lone, esteemed 
residents of Adair county, Missouri, where Mrs. Easeley was born and 
reared. Two children have blessed the union. Alma and Marvin, both 
of whom are still members of the parental family circle. 

HENRY MARSHALL CAMPBELL. 

Owning a fine farm of 160 acres in White township, and culti- 
vating it to the highest degree of productiveness, and also conducting in 
connection with his farming operations an extensive and profitable 
stock-raising industry, Henry Marshall Campbell is one of the most 
prosperous and progressive farmers and most substantial and respected 
citizens of Macon county. He was born in the county in 1850, and is 
a son of John and Emily (Ford) Campbell, natives of Virginia. The 
father left his ancestral home and came to Missouri in 1820, striding 
boldly into what was then a wilderness on the far western frontier, 
and daring Fate into the lists in ordfer that through his own struggles 
and capabilities he might found a name and a family for himself away 
from the assistance of ancestral influence and traditions. 

He was a valiant and heroic man even for that time and this local- 
ity as it was then, and in pursuing his dual vocation of farmer and 
carpenter here gave new proofs of his courage and endurance, which 
had already been much in evidence on the battlefields of the Revolu- 
tionary war, in which he served as a mere youth. He succeeded and 
prosjiered here, as by the force of his character and his resolute deter- 
mination against odds, he showed that he would have succeeded and 
])rospered almost anywhere and under any circumstances. He mot 
tlie difficulties in his path without fear and conquered them. He took 
the hardships and privations of his frontier life as a part of his destiny 
and grappled with them in a spirit that was bound to win success. And 
lie aided in the development and improvement of the country with the 
same energy that he devoted to the building of his own fortunes. 

Of the eight children born to him and his wife two are living: Cyn- 
thia, the wife of W. A. Atterberry of Elmer; and Henry M., the imme- 
diate subject of this writing. The mother died in 1860 and the father 
in 1875. They both stood high in the regard of the community of 
their home, and were held in cordial esteem by everybody who knew 
them. In their daily lives they exhibited a strong and un('om]iromis- 
ing sense of duty and devoted themselves to the retjuiroments of their 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 921 

sitnatiou with unwavering fidelity. They were creditable to American 
citizenship, and their names are venerated as those of leaders in the 
public and social life of this portion of the state in one of the most 
troublous periods of its history. 

Henry M. Campbell grew to near maturity on his father's farm 
and was educated in the primitive country schools of his boyhood in 
this section. Although he lacked the care and direction of his parents 
during a jDortion of his minoritj', his mother dying when he was but 
ten years old, he met the requirements of life as a man even before he 
was of age, and has ever since shown the same spirit of mastery over 
circumstances and reliance on his own capacity and endeavors. As soon 
as he left school he began the work in which the rest of his life has 
been passed, that of farming and raising live stock. His progress at 
first was slow and painful, but he was knowing and persevering, and 
soon success began to come to him with increasing rapidity and volume. 
He now owns IGO acres of excellent land all of which he has under 
advanced cultivation except what he finds necessary to reserve for 
pasturage for his stock. He is also a stocldiolder in the Bank of Golds- 
berry, and interested in other institutions in which the good of the 
community is involved and fostered. In politics he adheres to the 
principles and governmental policies of the Democratic party, and he 
always takes an active part in its campaigns, working sedulously and 
intelligently for its success, although himself never seeking any of the 
honor or emoluments it has to bestow on its faithful members. His 
religious connection is with the Baptist church and he is very zealous 
in the work of the congregation to which he belongs, and in which his 
membership is highh' appreciated. 

1872 Mr. Campbell was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth 
Prudence Moore, a native of jMacon county. They had three children: 
Charles Owen, who now lives in South Dakota; Maude B., who is the 
wife of John A. Biler, and Arie. The mother of these children died 
on May 5, 1897, and in 1900 the father was married a second time, 
being united on this occasion with Miss Daisy E. Pritchard, also a 
native of this county. Of the three children born of this union but two 
are living, a daughter named Cynthia and a son named William M., 
both of whom are at home and attending school. Mr. Cainjibell is 
universally recognized as one of the best, most useful and most re])re- 
sentative citizens of Macon county, and whether viewed in his private 
life or his services to the region in which he resides, he is altogether 
worthy of the exalted position he occupies in the public regard. 



922 HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

THOMAS J. MANNING. 

This progressive and successful farmer and stock man of Chariton 
township in Macon county was born on March 10, 1857, in that part of 
the Old Dominion which is now known as West Virginia, and in the 
city of Charlestown. He came to Missouri with his i:)arents when he 
was a boy and completed his education at McGee College, College 
Mound, Macon coimty, the family having located in that neighborhood. 
After leaving school he entered upon the work which has occupied 
his time and energies ever since, that of farming and raising stock for 
the markets. 

Mr. Manning has a fine farm of 160 acres which he inherited, and 
which he has greatly improved and brought to a very advanced state 
of cultivation and productiveness. He is attentive to eveiy detail of 
his work and applies to all departments of it the intelligence gained 
from reading, studious observation and analytical reflection. The 
same course governs him in his stock industry also, and as a result both 
are highly profitable and have given him a wide reputation as one of 
the most progressive men in the business in this part of the county. 

In the public affairs of the township and county Mr. Manning takes 
an active and heli:)ful part, giving his energetic aid to all worthy proj- 
ects for the improvement of the region and the benefit of its people. 
He has rendered excellent service as a member of the school board 
and in many other ways, and his devotion to the public welfare is appre- 
ciated by the people who have the benefit of it. In politics he is a 
Democrat and is always zealous in behalf of the good of his party, con- 
tributing all he can in service and influence for the success of its can- 
didates and striving with loyal and manly devotion to aid in giving it 
proper guidance and keep it up to a high standard of correctness in 
spirit and methods of operation. 

On ^[arch 20, 1879, Mr. Manning was joined in marriage with 
Miss Elizabeth Gipson, a daughter of Stephen and Lucinda Gipson, 
esteemed residents of Macon county. Six children have been born in 
the Manning household and five of them are living: Virginia, who 
still resides at home; Francis D., who is a rising young man in this 
county, and ^lary F., Richard J. and John A., all of whom are also 
abiding with their parents and helping to brighten and cheer the family 
circle. 

Mr. Manning is highly respected throughout the coimty and wher- 
ever else the people have knowledge of him. He and his wife are 
devout and earnest members of the Presbyterian Church of the United 



HISTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 923 

States of America, aud both are energetic iu work for the good of the 
cougregatiou to.which they belong. They are also active in behalf of all 
other worthy and improving agencies at work in. the community, and 
both through their own efforts and through the forces which they 
awaken and put in motion in others by their influence and example 
they are very useful citizens, and are imiversally esteemed as such. 

GEORGE GWINNER. 

Among the sturdy, industrious and productive citizens of ^lacou 
county, Missouri, of German origin, who have applied to the develop- 
ment and improvement of the land of their adoption the qualities of 
patient and far-seeing industry, hardy endurance, resourcefulness in 
effort aud frugality in life which have made the land of their nativity 
so great aud prosperous, the late George Gwinner, of Eagle township, 
was one of the most useful and esteemed. He became warmly attached 
to his adopted country and devoted his energies to its welfare and the 
su}3port of its public institutions with the same ardor and efi'ect as if it 
were his native country, aud his services in their behalf were both 
extensive and appreciated, in accordance with his opportunities. 

Mr. Gwinner was born in Bavaria, Germany, on June 24, 1827, and 
died in Eagle township, this county, on October 18, 1901, He was edu- 
cated in the schools of his locality in Germany, and after leaving them 
drove a mail and express coach there for seven years. In 18(5.3, when 
he was thirty-eight years of age, he came to the United States and 
made his home for three years on a farm belonging to his sister in 
Jefferson county, "Wisconsin, not far from the city of Milwaukee. In 
1868 he became a resident of Macon county, locating first on forty acres 
of land which he bought on Burch creek. This he soon afterward traded 
for a similar acreage that was a part of the farm on which he passed 
the remainder of his life and on which his widow now lives. 

While residing with his sister he was energetic and able in assist- 
ing in the cultivation of her farm, and after he came to this county 
his industry and close application to the same industry was continuous 
and fruitful. At the time of his death he owned and cultivated in the 
most vigorous and successful manner a farm of 160 acres, which is 
highly improved and well provided with everything necessary for its 
o]>eration and very productive, and which, in its present state of 
advanced develo})ment, represents the assiduity and skill of his labor 
and the wisdom of his management, as it does those of his widow, who 
has carried the farming on ever since his decease. He was married 
on November 20, 1870, to Miss Anna Dorothy "Winnig, a native of 



924 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Macon county and daughter of John and Eva Winnig, who were born 
and reared in Germany, but were for many years among the most 
estimable and respected citizens of this county. They were generally 
esteemed by all classes of the people to wliom they were known, as is 
their daughter, Mrs. Gwinner. She and her husband were the parents 
of six children, tive of whom are living: Henry, whose home is in 
Kansas City, Missouri; Elizabeth, the wife of H. Carey, a prosperous 
resident of Macon county; Adam, who also lives in this county; Mortin, 
who resides in Livingston, Kansas, and Andrew, who is still at home 
with his mother. 

Mr. Gwinner adhered to the Eepublican party in political affairs, 
and gave it zealous and effective support. Although averse to official 
life and greatly jireferring the relief and comfort of private citizenship, 
he served well and wisely as a member of the school board for a period 
of ten years, giving his time and efforts freely for the cause of public 
education and the general welfare of the people. In church faith and 
membership he was a Lutheran and faithful in attention to his church 
duties. His widow has for many years been actively connected with 
the Christian church and one of the most zealous and active members of 
the congregation to which she belongs in all the worthy undertakings 
in which it engages. She is a pattern of industry and thrift in her 
domestic and farm work, and gives the community an example worthy 
of all imitation in all the relations of life. 

DR. JAMES WESLEY ABBOTT. 

This esteemed physician and suregon of Goldsberry, in this county, 
represents at least the second generation of his family born on the 
soil of Missouri and drawing from it stature and strength of body, mate- 
rial acquisitions in the way of wordly wealth and opportunity for the 
exeicise of the mental faculties given by nature and developed and 
trained in the educational institutions of the state. He was born in 
Linn county on January 4, 1877, and is a son of Joseph K. and Julia 
(Nester) Abbott, also Missourians by nativity, the former born in 
Randolph county and the latter in Linn county. They were married 
in December, 18()7, and passed tlie remainder of their lives as wortliy 
and prosperous farmers, the mother dying in 1887 ;ni(l tlie father in 
1888. Of the seven children born of their union, four grew to maturity 
and three are now living: George AVilliam; Ellen A., the wife of 
Hermit H. Clark, of AVyoming, and Dr. James W., whose life story is 
In-iefly recorded in this sketch. 

Dr. Al)bott was left an orphan l)y the death of his ]iarents when 



HISTOKY OF MACOX COUXTY 925 

lie was less than twelve years of age. He grew to manhood there- 
after without parental assistance or guidance, and the experience taught 
him at an early age that in the battle of life before him, and all too soon 
upon him, his main reliance for success must be on his own cajiacities 
and eft'orts. The lessons of adversity were salutary in his case. They 
did not indurate or sour him, but gave him stimulus to exertion and 
training in self-reliance. Fortune favored him in the matter of acquir- 
ing a good education, which he began in the district schools and com- 
pleted at excellent high schools in Brooklield and Chillicothe. His tech- 
nical professional training was secured at Barnes' Medical College, in 
St. Louis, from which he was graduated with the degree of M. D. 
in 1907. 

The young Doctor, with the whole wide world before him and no 
special claims to attach him to any particular spot, chose the village 
of Goldsberry, in this county as the center of his field of operations and 
at once located there and began his professional career. The time 
he has passed in it is necessarily short, but it has been sufficient to 
demonstrate his worth as a citizen and his ability as a physician, and the 
lieople have accorded him the high rank in both respects that he has 
shown lie deserves. His joractice has grown rapidly and is now exten- 
sive and exacting. It lays him and his resources under tribute in all 
kinds of weather and at all hours of the day and night. But his pro- 
fession is the goddess of his devotions and his worship at her shrine 
is constant, sincere, faithful and self-sacrificing. No claim of personal 
comfort or enjoyment and no consideration of personal interest or 
advantage can swerve him from the path of duty in this respect, and 
the people know that when they require his services they can depend 
on getting them. This fidelity to his chosen line of work has given him 
a hold on public confidence and esteem wliich is strengthened and inten- 
sified by the ability with which he meets the requirements of the most 
critical cases and the success which rewards his eft'orts in caring for 
them. 

He takes an active interest in the public affairs of the township 
and does his whole duty toward i^romoting its welfare. In political 
faith and adherence he is a firm and consistent member of the Demo- 
cratic party, but never an active i^artisan or offensive in his loyalty 
in either speech or other party service. His fraternal affiliation is with 
the order of Modern Woodmen of America, and he is tlie medical exam- 
iner for the camp in which he holds his membership. In his profession 
he is studious and attentive to every means available to him for 
improvement. His daily practice gives him hints which his refiection 



926 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

converts into added power, and liis reading of the best medical jour- 
nals and other literature bearing on his life work keei)s him in touch 
with the progress and enlargement of the science to which he is devoted. 
He is gifted with rare intellectual hospitality which receives as a 
welcome guest and entertains as a desired friend every new suggestion 
that seems of value until he has proved its worth or want of it, and so 
he goes on broadening and deepening his professional knowledge and 
practical skill, knowing that the science of medicine is a very progress- 
ive one and allows no laggards in its courts if success and distinction 
in the application of its teachings are the objects sought. His profes- 
sion holds before him its golden cup of full fruition of his hopes, and 
with commendable zeal he is moving toward it. All who witness his 
etforts commend him, and he is, therefore, held in the highest regard 
by the whole pojaulation of the township and much of the surrounding 
country. In November, 1906, he was united in marriage with Miss 
Nellie A. Bradley, of Macon county. 

WILLIAM WINFIELD BRICKER. 

Tliree of the great states of the American Union have had the bene- 
fit of the impulse to progi'ess and development springing from the 
active spirit and intelligent industry of AVilliam Winfield Bricker, one 
of the leading farmers and stockmen and prominent and influential 
citizens of Callao township, in this county. He was born in Pennsyl- 
vania, lived in Illinois a time and has since been a resident of the por- 
tion of Macon county, Missouri, in which he now has his home. In all 
he has been zealous and energetic, although he was but fifteen when 
he left his native state, and in each he has made his mark on the indus- 
trial life and gained the favor of the people of his locality. 

Mr. Bricker was born in Armstrong county, Pennsylvania, on Sep- 
tember 10, 1847, and became a resident of Illinois in 18G2. His educa- 
tion was obtained in the district schools of his native county and ended 
there. For even as a youth he was full of action and became a producer 
at an early age. In Illinois he farmed and raised stock on a small 
scale, but in this county he has cari'ied on both industries on a wider 
range and with more commanding success and larger profits. He has 
confined himself to raising cattle and hogs principally in his stock 
()]3erations, and by wise management and strict attention to every 
detail of his business, has not only escaped disaster in raising his 
product and shipping it to the markets, but has been unusually success- 
ful in both, making a reputation for himself and his outjiut that is 
high and widespread and stands greatly to his credit. 



HISTORY OF MACON COUXTY 927 

Mr. Brickei- has also dealt extensively in mules, which form one of 
the world-renowned products of Missouri, and in this branch of the 
live-stock industry he has also been very successful. His success is, 
however, neither accidental nor due to fortimate circumstances. It is 
the logical result of his ability, his attention to his pursuits, his busi- 
ness acumen and the care and intelligence which he bestows on every 
detail of his operations. From start to finish, every season's work is 
carefully planned and s3'steniatic'al]y conducted, and the results are 
always commensurate witii the outlay of time, effort and intelligence in 
preparing for them. 

In 1880 Mr. Bricker moved to Callao and started an enterprise 
in undertaking and the lumber and furniture trade, which he is still 
conducting with a steady increase in the volume of his business. In this 
enterprise, also, he has wrung prosperity from conditions by his per- 
sistent industry and close attention to business, leaving nothing to 
chance, but seeing to every detail and making every day of effort tell to 
his advantage. He has a large trade and keeps it active and respon- 
sive by his own energy and far-seeing intelligence in connection with 
it. He stands as high as a merchant as he ever did as a stockman, his 
establishment being one of the most extensive and satisfactory within 
a radious of many miles, and holding a high rank in the commercial 
world around him. 

In connection with the affairs of the community of his home he is 
an active and energetic promoter of progress and develojmient, show- 
ing his devotion to the town and county in which he lives by his zeal for 
their welfare and his regard for the people around him by seeking in 
every way he can to advance their best interests. Public affairs have 
his attention and he does his part to see that they are properly con- 
ducted, although he is not himself either desirous of official station or 
willing to accept it. In 1875 he was united in marriage with Miss Luella 
Harp. 

W. A. I^HNGUS. 

W. A. Mingus, who ranks among the most prosperous and suc- 
cessful farmers of Drake township, in this county, is not a native of 
Missouri, but has lived in the state nearly forty years. He came to 
this region a youth of eighteen and, therefore, had seen something of 
tile world in other parts of the country. And his arrival on this side 
of the Mississippi was not in the early days of the wild life and unset- 
tled conditions of this locality, but after ci\'ilization had gained a consid- 
erable foothold and made substantial advances, when all the machinery 



028 HISTOKY OF MACOX COUNTY 

of local government was working smoothly after manj- years of use, 
and when the country was reasonably well populated. Yet, although 
he is neither a native of the soil nor a pioneer in its cultivation, neither 
a founder of the civil polity uiider which he lives nor one of those who 
helped to give it form and substance in development from its first 
crude and imsystematized state, and although all his knowledge and 
views of life in the great American republic were not drawn from 
his present surroundings, he is still thoroughly Missourian in his tastes, 
habits and local patriotism. His best eft'orts have been put forth in 
behalf of the progress of his present location, and he is in full accord 
with the feelings, aspirations and enterprise of its people. It is, there- 
fore, as a representative citizen of Missouri and ]\lacon county, that he 
luids a place in this work, for he has been active and iufluential in 
making the history of this region during a long time, and all the ele- 
ments of its twentieth century development up to this period are due 
in some measure to his devotion to its welfare, and bis services in 
promoting it. 

Mr. Mingus was born on July 30, 1852, in the state of Ohio and 
became a resident of Missouri in 1870, coming to the state and this 
county with his parents, Peter and Elizabeth (Barr) Mingus, that year. 
The i^arents were natives of Pennsylvania and were married in 1844. 
Soon afterward they moved to Ohio, which was then moi'e undeveloped 
than Missouri was when they came here nearly twenty years later. 
They had ten children, six of whom are living: Mary, the wife of 
Martin Heiser, of La Plata ; W. A., the immediate subject of this brief 
memoir; Martha; Sarah, the wife of Burch Lee, of La Plata; and 
George and Charles. The mother died in 1889 and the father in 1903, 
leaving their children the priceless heritage of a good name and a recoi'd 
of upright living and usefulness that is enshrined in the reverential 
memory of all who knew them. 

Their son, ^V. A. !Mingus, grew to the age of eighteen in Ohio and 
was educated in its public schools. He was trained to the vocation of 
farming in his early life, and ho has followed it without interruption 
to the present time. As soon as he left school he began his siiccessful 
career in agricultural pursuits, and to this he has devoted all his subse- 
quent years and the greater part of his energy, industry and intelli- 
gence. In connection with his farming operations he has also been 
extensively engaged in raising live-stock, and he has made both branches 
of his industry profitable to himself and beneficial to his township and 
county. By thrift, diligence and first-rate management he has made 
himself comfortable for life, and by energetic and serviceable atten- 



IIISTOKY OF JIACON COUNTY 939 

tioii to all the duties of oitizensliij) lie has won the high regard of the 
i)eoj3le all around him. For more than twenty years he has given the 
people of Drake county excellent service as a constable. He has also 
been exceptionally useful as a member of the school board for eight 
years, and during the last two years he has been a deputy sheriff, in 
addition. 

In political connection he belongs to the Democratic party and in 
all of its campaigns he is one of its etifective workers. Fraternally he is 
a member of the Masonic order and the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. His lodges interest him, as does everything else that ai)peals 
to the higher attributes of his manhood, and he gives them zealous 
and helpful attention. Ue was niai ricd in 187-1 to ^liss ^Maggie Boyds- 
tou, a native of Georgia. She has been a helpmeet for him in the proper 
acceptance of the term, and an important aid in working out the suc- 
cess of all his undertakings. They stand well in the social life of the 
community and are accounted on all sides as among the most worthy 
and estimable of its citizens. 

V ADDISON P. STRODE. 

This ])rominent business man and public-sj^irited citizen of ]\lacon 
is one of the most esteemed men in the citj% and, although he is, and has 
been for some years, engaged in the liquor traffic, he enjoys universal 
respect and is very popular with all classes of the people. He takes 
great interest in the community and is one of the most energetic and 
effective workers for its advancement and the promotion of its wel- 
fare. He is a man of decided convictions and holds to what he believe.s 
in firmly, but does not thrust his opinions on others and never finds 
fault with theirs. He performs all the duties of citizenship with fidelity 
and breadth of view, giving a good examj^Ie to others by the manner 
in which he does it. 

Mr. Strode was born at Milan, Sullivan county, Missouri, on 
November 20, 1878. His father, J. C. Strode, was born on August 9, 
1851, at Thompkinsville, Monroe county, Kentucky. He began life for 
himself as a farmer and is still pursuing that vocation, conducting his 
oi)erations since 1871 in the vicinity of Milan, in this state. He is a son 
of William Strode, one of the leading men, in his day, of Monroe county, 
Kentucky. As has been noted, he became a resident of Sullivan county, 
Missouri, in 1871. and there he married Miss Minerva .1. Payne, a native 
of that county and a daughter of Addison and Anuiuda (Braden) Payne, 
who originally lived in Kentucky. 

J. C. Strode and his wife had nine children, three of whom died 



930 HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 

in infancy. The six living are Addison P., the subject of this sketch; 
Elizabeth, the wife of L. Montgomery, of Milan; and "William J., Belva, 
Ella and Jessie. The parents are both living and have their home in 
Milan, where they are prosijerous as farmers and held in general good 
opinion as citizens, deserving the esteem they enjoy by the U2:)rightuess 
of their lives and the interest and activity they display in the advance- 
ment and improvement of the region in which they live. The father has 
always been a Democrat in politics, and, although an active worker for 
his party, has always declined to accept a political office of any kind, 
whether tendered llirough election or appointment, ijreferring to dis- 
charge his duty in the domain of public affairs as an untrammeled 
private citizen. 

Addison P. Strode was reared in Milan and obtained his education 
in the public schools of that city in the preparatory grades, completing 
his scholastic training at Green City College in the same county. After 
leaving college he worked for a while on the home farm with his father. 
He next entered the emjiloy of Payne Bros., who conducted a mercan- 
tile house, remaining with them until they sold their business. In 1901 
he went to California and in 1903 located in Macon, where he has ever 
since lived. He was variously occupied until 1908, when he started 
the business in which he is now engaged, and in which he has prospered 
in a gratifying manner. He, also, is a Democrat in his political faith, 
but has never been an active partisan. 

In fraternal life Mr. Strode belongs to the Fraternal Order of 
Eagles and the Improved Order of Eed Men, and has risen to higli 
rank in both associations. He is a Past Worthy Pi-esident of the Eagles 
and a Past Sachem of the Red Men. He is also secretary and treasurer 
of the Macon Retail Liquor Dealers' Association. In his make-up there 
is a large element of the sportive spirit, which makes him a great 
lover and patron of outdoor sports. On March 11, 1907, he was united 
in marriage with Miss Daisy L. Farris, a daughter of ^lack II. and 
Eliza (Baine) Farris, natives of Kentucky and Iowa, respectively, 
but long residents of Missouri, and herself born and reared in Atlanta, 
Macon county, Missouri. She and her husband have had one child, 
their son, Denton Allison, who died on April 8, 1909. 

An incident in the business career of Mr. Strode, which is almost 
unique in its character, and which excited great interest at the time of 
its occurrence, is wortliy of special mention. On one occasion, when 
Rev. P. M. Fitzgerald, a traveling evangelist, was holding a series of 
meetings in the city, Mr. Strode invited him to preach a sermon in 
his place of business on a Saturday morning, and requested all of his 



HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 931 

patrons who could do so to attend the service. Tlie invitation was 
as promptly accepted as it was cordially tendered, and about 200 of 
the regular patrons of the saloon were present when the sermon was 
preached. Business was suspended during the services and those 
present gave the preacher close and very respectful attention. The 
proprietor and his assistants stood near the evangelist wliile he 
preached and joined heartily in the singing of the hjniins that were 
led by a male choir that accompanied the minister. In explanation of 
his course in this incident Mr. Strode stated that he had been reared 
lay Christian parents and always had a Idndly regard for the sort of 
people they associated with, and in justification of this Eev. Mi-. Fitz- 
gerald said that he was a plain-spoken man and was trying to reach the 
hearts of the people; also, that he believed the men who patronize 
saloons were as much in need of the message he had to deliver as any- 
body else, and the surest way to reach them was by meeting them in 
their resorts. The views of the people of the city concerning this inci- 
dent differed widely, but all agreed that it was a strong proof of Mr. 
Strode's independence, courage and tolerance of mind. 

v FEEDERICK MOSS BEOCK. 

This venerable and highly esteemed patriarch, who is now nearly 
fourscore years old, has passed seventy-two years of his useful life 
in Macon county, and all of them in Narrows township near the village 
of Excello, a "type of the wise, who soar but never roam, true to 
the kindred points of Heaven and home." He has soared in the sense 
of greatly improving his o^ti condition and aiding materially and vis- 
ibly in building up and developing the section all around him, but he has 
never wandered far from his own fireside, or sought opportunity for 
aught but the duties ]>lninly before him from day to day, and these he 
has ever performed with fidelity and to the best of his abilit^^ The 
results stand to his credit as the products of a long, clean life of 
personal success and general usefulness. 

Mr. Brock was born on January 9, 18.31, in Lincoln county. Ken- 
tucln^, and is a son of Chester and Anna (King) Brock, also natives of 
Kentucky and scions of families long resident in that state, his more 
remote ancestors being among its pioneer settlers. "When the son was 
but six years old the family moved to Missouri and located in Nar- 
rows township, in this county, where the parents passed the remain- 
der of their days, ])rofitably and ])rogTessively engaged in fjirniing. 
Eleven children were born in the household and ten of them grew to 
maturity. Six are living, and in their several walks in life are exem- 



932 HLSTOKY OF MACON COUNTY 

plifyiug tlie best traits of sturdy American citizenship and resting 
safely on the general esteem of all who know them. They are: Fred 
M., Harvey T., Mattison, James H., Anna, the wife of Collin King, and 
Mary Jane. The father died in 1869 and the mother in 1846. 

Their son, Frederick M., reached his manhood in Macon county 
and obtained his education at the public schools near his home. In 
the early days of his boyhood and youth the country schools in this 
section were primitive and their scope was limited. Their rough desks, 
slab benches and other appliances, and their imperfect protection 
against the weather, were characteristic of the frontier, and the course 
of study and method of teaching were in keeping with these. The 
schools aimed at little more than the rudiments of learning, and even 
to these the greater part of the pupils had access only when they could 
be spared from the exacting requirements incident to redeeming the 
wilderness from its savage state and bringing it to generous responsive- 
ness under the persuasive hand of skillful cultivation. 

Mr. Brock has such benefits in the way of education as these schools 
sup])lied, and for the rest nature and experience were his tutors. Their 
lessons, though often harsh and rugged in their inculcation, were, never- 
theless, thorough in character and enduring in value. They gave the 
pupils who mastered and heeded them self-reliance and resourceful- 
ness, quickness of percei)tion and readiness in action, breadth of view 
and capacity of endurance, and the stern disci])line of the hardy life 
in which they were administered furnished as well firmness of fiber 
and flexibility of function. It was on these lessons that Mr. Brock 
depended mainly for advancement in the struggle for success, and he 
found them equal to his needs. 

, After leaving .school he started at once on his life's work as a 
farmer, and to this he adhered until a few years ago, when advancing 
age induced him to retire from all active pursuits to spend the remain- 
der of his days in quiet enjoyment of the competence he had won by con- 
tinuous and persevering hard work. The sunset of life finds him 
comfortable in a worldly way and standing high in the regard of the 
whole community in which his usefulness has been so conspicuously 
e.xhibited and employed to such good purpose. 

In 1852 Mr. Brock was united in marriage with ]\Iiss Maria McCann, 
a native of Randolph county, Missouri. They became the parents 
of six children, five of whom are living: William T., Irving C, Shep- 
herd M., Louisa, the wife of E. C. Lamb, of Excello, and David. The 
father has always been a firm and faithful Democrat of the old. school 
and throughout his mature life has given good service to the interests 



HISTORY OF MACOK COUNTY 933 

of his party. He g'loried iu its long supremacy and partici])ated in 
some of its later trimiiphs before the Civil war. He has shared in its 
discipline of defeat and ti'ial since that memorable struggle and helped 
it to victorj^ on the two occasions when it has elected its candidate to the 
presidency in recent years. And through all he has steadfastly stood 
by it and maintained his hoi)e for its ultimate regeneration and con- 
tinued domination again for long periods. In the local affairs of the 
township and county he has taken a zealous interest and a prominent 
part. It has been his great delight to see the community exjjanding 
and growing around him, augmenting its wealth and power, enlarging 
and quickening its educational and moral forces, and elevating and 
refining its social agencies, and he has sedulously contributed to all 
this improvement. He served as a member of the school board for a 
number of years, and has belonged to the Baptist church for a long 
time. His first wife died. And in 1878 he contracted a second mar- 
riage, on this occasion being united with Miss Nancy Darby, of Ran- 
dolph county, this state. 

■^ JOHN B. EDWARDS. 

The oft-told tale of the triumphs of American manhood in the use 
of the opportunities afforded to thrift and enterprise in this country, 
when directed liy natural abilitj' and without the aid of favoring cir- 
cumstances, is forcibly illustrated by the record of John B. Edwards, 
one of the leading and most progressive farmers and stockmen of White 
township and ranked among the most substantial citizens of Macon 
county. His success in life ought to be very encouraging to young- 
men who are struggling against adversities, if they have the chance 
to read and reflect over its elements, and is a credit alike to the family 
from which he sprang and the community in which he lives and labors 
with such gratifying results. 

Mr. Edwards is a native of this country and was born in Jack- 
son county, Ohio, on June 23, 1851. His parents, Benjamin and Jane 
(Davis) Edwards, wei'e born and reared in Wales, and were married 
in that country. They found the land of their birth inhos])itable to 
persons struggling for a living wage and some advancement in life for 
themselves and their families, and even while they were still young, 
determined to brave the stormy Atlantic and cross over to a country 
which numbers of their countrymen had found full of good results for 
them, and whose voice of promi.se had thrilled their own hearts with 
the hopes it lield out for their contemplation. Gathering what house- 
bold goods they then had about them, they came to the United States 



934 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

and located in Ohio. Here they had good jji-ospeets and were making 
headway in their new home, when death struck down the father in 
1857. They were the parents of ten children, five of whom are living: 
Catherine, Anna, Margaret, Jolin B. and Thomas. TVhen the father 
died the mother assumed the burden of rearing her offspring to useful- 
ness, and, with the devotion of a Koman matron, she gave all her ener- 
gies to the task. But her resources were limited and the duty of pro- 
viding for her family as she wished was far beyond her ability, faith- 
ful as she was. She lived, however, to see those who grew to maturity 
doing well, and had the comfort of knowing that her efforts and instruc- 
tion, and the force of her example were not lost upon any of them. Her 
life of laborious industry and fidelity came to an end in 1899. 

John B. Edwards, owing to the circumstances of the family, had 
almost no opportunity for education in the schools and was obliged to 
depend largely on the lessons of experience for his training. He was 
obliged to make his own way in the world from an early age, and he so 
conducted his affairs that he lost.no ground. His progress, slow and 
painful at first, was based on real merit and due to qualities of head 
and heart that always win in the battle of life. He worked at whatever 
he could find to do in boyhood and youth, and in 1869, when he was but 
eighteen years of age, came to Missouri, which he deemed a more 
promising field for his enterprise, and at once began farming on his 
own accoimt. This was the occupation for whicli he thought Nature had 
especially fitted him, and he has adhered to it with unshaken persistency 
ever since, and has reaped a large reward for his entire devotion to it. 
He now owns 943 acres of good land and is actively engaged in general 
farming and stock-raising. He is also vice-president of the Citizens 
Bank of Ethel and one of the stockholders and directors of the Exchange 
Bank of Elmer. In addition he has large interests in fruitful copper 
mines in Old Mexico. 

Mr. Edwards has taken an active interest and a leading part in the 
public affairs of his township and county, while pushing his own inter- 
ests to their largest development. He has served the people well as a 
member of the school board for more than five years, and has shown 
his hand effectively in helping to promote every project for the bene- 
fit and progress of the region in which he lives. He was also road over- 
seer for a time, but has always avoided public office when lie could. In 
politics he is a Republican and in religious affiliation a member of the 
Presbyterian church. 

In 1880 Mr. Edwards was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth 
Jane Evans, a native of Ohio, of "Welsh ancestry, her parents coming 



HISTORY OP MACON COUNTY 935 

from Wales to this country and locating in Ohio, just as those of her 
husband did. Of the seven children born of the union four are living: 
:Mary Jane, the wife of John j\I. Jones, and Benjamin, Eiehard and 
AVinifred. The father is, in the best sense of the term, a self-made 
man. The schools did nothing for him, but Nature gave him an active 
capital in capacity and the power of determined industry and frugality. 
He has been wholly the architect of his own fortune, and he has built 
it so well that he is now one of the most imposing men in the county, 
in a worldly way, and he is also ranked among its leading and most 
influential citizens. 

•^ PATRICK WATSON CAMPBELL. 

Patrick "Watson Campbell, one of the leading merchants of College 
Mound, in this county, has had a varied and interesting career, in which 
he has been successively school teacher, farmer, preacher and mer- 
chant. His living in a number of different places and pursuing a vari- 
ety of occupations is, however, nothing new in his family, for its mem- 
bers for generations before him were of an adventurous spirit and gave 
their attention earnestly to the duty of the hoiir, whatever of per- 
sonal danger or endurance it involved, looking only to its faithful 
performance. 

Mr. Campbell was born on February 10, 1868, in St. Clair county, 
Missouri. His father, John Thomas Campbell, was also a native of 
Missouri, born in 1843, and was left an orphan at the age of twelve 
years. From then until the beginning of the Civil war he made his 
own way in the world, working at wliatever he could get to do, and 
while making slow progress in the struggle for advancement among 
men, he at all times held his own, and moved steadily forward. When 
the awful cloud of sectional strife burst upon our unhappy country 
he enlisted in the Federal army, sei'ving one year in the Alissouri State 
Militia, from Avhich he was discharged at Osceola, Missouri, in Decem- 
ber, 1863, and then joined Battery H, Second Missouri Light Artillery 
in January, 1864, and served in that command until the close of the 
war. The battery was in very active service most of the time and Mr. 
Campliell took part in some notable engagements, among them the 
battles of Elkhorn and Prairie Grove, Arkansas, Pilot Knob, Wilson's 
creek and Big Blue, where General Ca])l(', General jMarmaduke and 
1,800 men were taken prisoners. In April, 1865, his comi)any went west 
across the plains and fought the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians in Wyo- 
ming and Montana, where they were then waging warfare. In this 



936 HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 

far western country be was subjected to great suffering and mucb bard- 
sbip, especially on tlie return trip. Tbe company was compelled to 
make its waj- back across tbe barren plains of Nebraska to Fort Leaven- 
wortb, Kansas, on foot (many of tbe boys barefooted), leaving tbeir 
bloody footprints in tbe sand. Besides all tbis, tbeir provisions run out 
and for sixteen days tbey bad nothing to eat but mule flesb roasted 
on live coals. At last tbey readied Fort Leavenworth, where they were 
ordered mustered out of service. From Leavenworth they went to 
St. Louis, Missouri, and were honorably discharged November 22, 1865, 
being recommended for promotion for obedience and gallantry. After 
tbe cruel war was over, Mr. Campbell, the father of Patrick W., set- 
tled down in St. Clair county, Missouri, in 1866, and during the next few 
years was engaged in farming and raising live-stock. In 1871 he moved 
with bis family to Bates county, Missouri, and in 1876 to Linn county, 
Kansas. AVbile living in Bates county, be took up tbe study of medi- 
cine, continuing tbe same after settling in Linn county, Kansas, and 
became a very successful physician. He kept in active jiractice until 
bis death, which occurred November 9, 1888. On Decemlier 25, 1866, 
he was married to Miss Eliza Jane McWilliams, of St. Clair county, 
Missouri, and by this imion became the father of nine children, seven 
of whom are still living: Thomas X., of Galena, Kansas; Patrick AYat- 
son, the immediate subject of this memoir; Cyrena Clarisa Belle, tbe 
wife of AY. J. Sharp, of Brewster, Kansas; A. L., of Mound A^'alley, 
Kansas; S. AY., of Seattle, AYashington; AA'. B., of AYichita, Kansas; 
and Ethel, also residing at Galena, Kansas. In ])olitics tbe father 
and all the kiufolks were Eepublicaus of the stauncbest order. ITe was 
a devout Christian and belonged to the church of God (Inde])endent 
Holiness People). His son, Patrick AY. Cami)bell, l)egan bis education 
in tbe i-ural schools of Linn county, Kansas. He very mucli desired to 
complete a college course, but was not permitted to do so, though be 
attended sliorl terms at Kansas Normal College, Fort Scott, Kansas; 
Chillicotbe Normal School, Chillicotbe, Missouri; tbe State Normal 
School at Kirksville, Missouri ; and Taylor University, Upland, Indiana. 
At tbe age of sixteen be secured a teacher's certificate and began teach- 
ing school, which he followed for twenty-four years, teaching from four 
to ten months each year but one, when he laid oft'. 

As a teacher Mr. Cam])bell was a decided success. He taught 
first in the rural schools of Kansas, later as principal of the Parker 
public school at Parker, Kansas, then in one of tbe grades in the public 
school of Osawatomie, Kansas, tbe cam])ing ground of the renowned 
John Brown, whose heroic career and tragic fate helped great !>• to 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUNTY 937 

bring on the Civil war and the end of negro slavery in tliis eouiitry. 
In 1903, Mr. Campbell i)rovidentially became the principal of McGee 
Holiness College at College Mound, Missouri, and continued to serve 
in this capacity until his retirement from the educational field in 1906. 
After a service of a totally different kind as deputy tax collector of 
Macon county, Missouri, which lasted two years, in November, 1908, 
lie bought the general merchandise store of K. A. TTudson, of College 
Mound, and since then he has been conducting tlie business under 
very favorable conditions and with gratifying success. He carries 
a stock worth about $2,000 at the present time, and studies to make 
what he has to sell suit the needs of the community in every way. In 
addition to being one of the leading merchants of the coimnunity, he is 
an influential man in aiding whatever contributes to the general welfare 
of the region or the betterment of its people. He has rendered accept- 
able service as a member of the school and town boards. 

On December 26, 1892, Mr. Cami)bell was married to INIiss Lenora 
ITngehuer, of Centreville, Kansas. Six children have been born of 
tliis union and five of them are living: ^'elma F., Ruth 1j., John J., 
Hazel v., and Paul W., all of whom are still at home with their parents. 
The father is a Prohibitionist in politics and zealous in the cause. His 
religious connection is with the Church of God, of which he is an 
ordained elder and active worker. In all the relations of life he is 
iij>right and he is evei'ywhere highly esteemed as an excellent citizen. 

ARTHUR CONLEY TTDAVLETT. 

Editor, owner and founder of the Atlanta Express, of Atlanta, 
Missouri, is one of the best known newspaper men of North Missouri. 
]\Ir. Howlett is a native of Missouri, having been born in Putnam county, 
Lil)erty township, on December 17, 1871. 

His parents, Francis A. and Buena Vista A. (Dale) Howlett, were 
natives of Kentucky and ^lissouri, respectively. The father was born 
October 5, 1828, in Kentucky, and while he was yet a child the family 
removed to Illinois and later to Henry county, Iowa. There he grew 
to manhood; remaining at the old homestead until twenty-six years 
of age. 

In 1854 he fell a victim to the gold excitement in California and 
became one of a ])arty which crossed the plains in that year with ox 
teams and remained in California for fifteen years. But, meeting with 
indifferent success as a miner, he returned to Missouri in 1869, locating 
in Putnam countv. when he met and married Miss Buena Vista A. Dale, 



1138 HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 

their marriage taking place in April, 1870. To tliem were born four 
sons and two daughters, but both daughters died in infancy, the sons 
are living and filling important positions of life in various parts of the 
United States. 

Arthur C. Howlett was educated in ^Missouri and at Mt. Pleasant, 
Iowa, where he attended "Howe's Academy." a private school for 
teachers. After passing two years at the academy he turned his atten- 
tion to teaching and followed it successfully for some time. Later he 
again attended "Howe's Academy," taking a post-graduate course of 
twelve weeks and then returned to Missouri and followed school teach- 
ing for some years. 

In 1903 he removed to Schuyler coi;nty, Missouri, where he engaged 
in farming, but not finding tilling of the soil to his liking. In 1906 
he abandoned it and removed to Kirksville and entered the State Nor- 
mal School, which he attended some mouths. 

While he was still a student at the State Normal he was tendered 
the position of principal of the Greentop schools, which he accepted and 
acceptably filled that position for two years, resigning at the end of the 
second term that he might enter the newspajjer field. 

In the spring of 1908 he removed to Atlanta, Missouri, and April 
2 of that year issued the first copy of the "Atlanta Express," a weekly 
paper, which has been a success from the start. 

The paper is Democratic in its politics and Mr. Howlett is an 
active worker in the cause of his party, and his paper has ever advanced 
the interests of its candidates, and defended the principles for which 
it stands. 

Mr. Howlett was married August 15, 1895, to Miss Lucinda M. 
Hemstreet, daughter of Benjamin Hemstreet. Three children have 
been born to them, Buena Vista Janet, Margie May, and Arthur 
Conley, Jr. 

Mr. and Mrs. Howlett are active workers in the Christian church 
of which they are members, and he holds membership in the Modern 
"Woodmen of America. 

^ EGBERT RICHARDS. 

It is well for a man when he finds his right place amid the activ- 
ities of life and adlieres to it. He will then be working according to his 
bent, and with his heart in his labor, will be able to make every stroke 
toil to his advantage and that of the industry in which he is engaged. 
Robert Richards, of Bevier, in this county, found his proper place early 



HISTOEY OF MACON COUNTY 939 

aud lias stuck to it ever since with a grip like that of the tug of gravi- 
tation. And he furnishes, in his successful and useful career, a strong 
illustration of the truth with which this paragraph begins. He has 
wasted no time in fruitless efforts in linos unsuited to him, and none in 
seeking just where he belonged. He has, therefore, found all his days 
fruitful to himself and the interests with which he has been connected. 

Mr. Richards was born on February 13, 1873, in England, and is 
a son of John E. aud Dorothy (Barrons) Richards, the former a native 
of "Wales and the latter of Newcastle, England. An account of the 
father's life will be found in this volume. He was a miner, and the 
son entered upon the paternal occupation at an early age and has 
followed it through life so far. He was reared and educated in his 
native land to the age of eight years, then came with his parents to 
this country and found a new home in Pennsylvania. In that great 
hive of industry he completed his slender education and began the 
work which was to occupy his time and his faculties until now. 

At the age of fourteen he began the duties of life for himself by 
working in the mines at Bevier, having located there with his parents 
a short time before. He was not only industrious and frugal, but studi- 
ous and attentive to every jjhase of his work. It was his settled pur- 
pose to master all the details of the mining industry in the most 
practical way, so far as that industry passed under his review or 
became a part of his experience. He gave himself to the undertaking 
with a zeal and devotion worthy of all praise and in a spirit that gave 
eai-nest of the success he has achieved. And he never abandoned 
his purpose, but continued to pay his court before the altar of his 
chosen divinity with a loyalty that never wavered and a vigilance that 
never slept. She, in turn, rewarded his zeal with a munificence commen- 
surate with its constancy, and he is now regarded as one of the best 
posted men on the subject of mines and mining in this part of the 
country. 

So well known are his capabilities in this respect, and so highly is 
he esteemed for them and his sterling worth in other respects, that on 
April 15, 1909, he was ai)pointed state mine inspector for Missouri. His 
record in this office, short as his tenure of it has been, has l)rought him 
even higher standing and a wider rojiutation as an expert of com- 
prehensive practical knowledge of his business than he enjoyed before, 
and has fully justified the faith that was shown by those in charge 
of the matter in his appointment. 

Mr. Richards is a Republican in political faith, but he is not an 
active partisan. He is, however, cordially interested in the welfare of 



940 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

his community and his state, and does all he can to promote it. For 
three years he was a member of the board of education and during one 
of them its president. In the sjjring of 1909 he was elected mayor 
of Bevier, but his aversion to official station of a merely political char- 
acter led him to decline the proffered honor and refuse to accept the 
office. In 1899 he was married to Miss Margaret Roberts, a native 
of Bevier. They have three children, their sons, Ralph, aged nine, and 
Elmer, aged three, and Homer, aged eight months. In fraternal rela- 
tions Mr. Richards is a Knight of Pythias. 

^ JOHN E. RICHARDS. 

It is a far call from the wildly picturesque mountains and glens of 
Wales to the limitless prairies and long-flowing rivers of the West in 
this country, but it is one that John E. Richards, of Bevier, in this 
county, has heard and heeded. For he is a native of the former comitry 
and has been for nearly a quarter of a century a resident of Missouri. 
But, like many another for whom the scenes and associations of child- 
hood have changed to something very different in mature manhood, he 
continued to follow in his new home the industry which engaged his 
faculties and rewarded his efforts in the old. 

^Ir. Richards was born in Wales, in 1840, beginning his life in the 
northern part of the countrj'. He was reared and educated in England, 
and in that country began providing for himself by working in the 
mines. In 1881 he came to the United States and located at Newcastle, 
Pennsylvania, where he again engaged in mining. After a time he 
removed to Illinois, but a little while later returned to Pennsylvania. 
The western fever had seized him, however, and, as it is accustomed to, 
hung on to him with unyielding tenacity. In 1886 he came to Missouri 
and took up his residence at Bevier, in this county. Here he was 
engaged in mining actively until 1906, when he retired from all active 
pursuits, content to pass the remainder of his days in the enjoyment 
of his well-earned rest. 

Mr. Richards was one of the ])ioneer miners of Bevier, and helped 
the infant mining industry of that section into being, assisted at its 
christening, aided in its training and development through childhood 
and youth, and then left it challenging the attention of the world 
by its vigor and aggressiveness in its full maturity. It is his portion 
now to see in retrospect the transfonnation of an infant industry 
through all its subsequent stages of progress to its present enterprising 
and ))rodn('tivc condition, and to realize, with whatever of gratification 



HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY 941 

his modesty will let him find in the reflection, that he was of very mate- 
rial assistance in bringing about the results which his prevision must 
have seen in prospect when he began operations in the locality. 

In ISGO Mr. Kicliards was united in marriage with Miss Dorothy 
Barrens, a native of Newcastle, England. They became the parents of 
twelve children, six of whom are living. These are: George, a resi- 
dent of Eevier; Mary, wife of Thomas Hepple, of Bevicr; John B., 
a minister of the gospel, also living in this state ; William B., one of the 
leading citizens of Bevier; and Robert, who is state mine inspector of 
Missouri, and a sketch of whom will be found elsewhere in this work. 

In politics the father is independent. That is, he believes in voting 
for the best man, i)-respective of party considerations. Biit he is a man 
of fine public spirit and takes an earnest and intelligent interest in the 
affairs of the covmty, state and nation in which he lives, giving to the 
land of his adoption the same cordial devotion and loyalty that he 
formei'ly gave to that of his nativity. He has always been deeply and 
helpfully interested in all matters of local improvement and willing 
to bear his full share of the burdens incident to promoting the wel- 
fare of the community of his home. His wife died on l)ecem))er 15, 
1908, and he has since lived quietly in Bevier, generally esteemed as an 
excellent citizen and in the full enjoyment of the regard of ail who 
know him. 

^ JOHN HUGH JONES, JR. 

Every year, even almost every day, brings proof of the statement 
that "l^eath loves a shining mark." He sought and found one in this 
county when in February, 1909, he laid low the late John Hugh Jones, 
Jr., of Walnut township at the early age of forty-eight years' and three 
months, when everything ])romised for him long years of usefulness 
in the service of the i)e()i)le in helping to promote the growth and 
iinprovenu'ut of the townshi)) and county, and of prospei'ity and prog- 
ress for himself. He was one of the leading farmers and citizens of 
the township and had a voice of potential influence in the direction of 
its public affairs, and his untimely death was universally niounicd 
as a great loss to the county and every interest of value in it. 

'Sir. Jones was a native of Wales, born in 18()(), but was brought to 
this coimtry by his parents before he was a year old. His father, John 
Hugh Jones, was also a native of that country, and was descended from 
families long resident within its ])orders and engaged in its industries. 
The father was a miner. The mother, whose maiden name was Mary 



942 HISTOEY OF MACOX COUNTY 

Brown, was likewise born and reared in Wales and belonged to fam- 
ilies domesticated for generations there. The parents came with their 
infant son and the rest of the children they had at that time to the 
United States in 1860, and in 1869 they located in Macon county, Mis- 
souri, and engaged in farming. They had five children, all of whom are 
now deceased. The father died on March 28, 1885, and the mother 
on September 2, 1904. 

Their son, John Hugh, Jr., as he was called, grew to manhood 
from the age of nine years in this county and secured his education in 
the public schools and at the State Normal School at Kirksville. After 
leaving that institution he at once began farming on his own account, 
and in this industry he was extensively and very profitably occupied 
until his death. He owned and cultivated with skill and excellent judg- 
ment 750 acres of first-rate land in Macon county, and also had interests 
in land and other property in the state of AYyoming. In addition to 
and in connection with his extensive farming operations he carried on 
a large and flourishing industry in raising live-stock for the markets 
and in this also he was very successful and prosperous. He was a stock- 
holder and director and the vice-president of the Bank of Ethel, and was 
connected with other financial and industrial institutions of importance 
to this section of the state and its people. 

In the public affairs of the township and county Mr. Jones took 
a very active interest and a leading part. He served on the school board 
for many years and was found at the front in behalf of every interest 
in which the progress of the region or the welfare of its inhabitants 
was involved. His political allegiance was given to the Republican 
])arty and his personal influence and activity were expended in the pro- 
motion of its success. Fraternally he was connected with the Odd Fel- 
lows, the Woodmen and the Yeomen, and, in addition to all his other 
efforts for the good of his community, he expended a large amount of 
zeal and energy' in the service of his lodges, in all of which his mem- 
bership was highly appreciated and accounted as especially valuable. 

On Doceniber 20, 3888, Mr. Jones was united in marriage witli Aliss 
Maggie AVilliams, a native of Ohio, but of AYelsh parentage, her father 
and mother having been born in Wales and brought to this country in 
childhood by their parents. They located in ]\Iissouri in 1866. moving 
here from Ohio, and continued in this state their industry and success 
as farmers which had broiight them prosperity and comfort in Ohio. 
The mother died on July 20, 1892, and the father is still living, at the 
age of eighty-two and has his home at Ethel, where everybody knows 
and esteems him. 



HISTORY OF MACOX COUXTY 943 

^fr. and ]\rrs. Joues had seven children, all of whom are liv- 
ing: AVilliam John, Mary Edna, David Hugh, Benjamin W., Kichard 
Luther, Owen Eussell and John Hugh, Jr. They still have the counsel, 
care and helpful companionship of an excellent mother, and they have 
the stimulus and incitement of their father's noble example. From the 
general esteem in which all are held by the people it is clear that 
they are profiting by both, and that wherever their several lots may be 
cast in the rapid whirl of American life, and whatever interests may 
engage their attention, they will continue to exemplify in their daily 
lives the lessons imparted to them by precept and example around the 
family fireside and enforced in daily fidelity to duty by their parents in 
all the relations of life. 

EGBERT AV. BARROW. 

A representative member of the bar of Macon, and a citizen who 
has been actively identified with her growth and development, ]\Tr. 
Barro'^v' merits distinctive recognition in this publication. He is espe- 
cially fortified in liis wide and comprehensive knowledge of the science 
of jurisprudence and lie has attained a noteworthy reputation in the 
profession in the state. 

Mr. Barrow was born in Macon county, near Bevier, December 12, 
1S64. His iiaronts, Robert W. and Sarah J. (Walker) Barrow, were, 
like himself, natives of Missouri, while the grandparents on the father's 
side were natives of Kentucky, but came to Missouri in the pioneer 
days. His mother was a daughter of Isham Walker, a well known and 
highly respected citizen of Macon county. His father was killed by 
lightning while weighing coal at Atwell's mine, near Bevier, in 1864, 
a few months before our subject was born. 

Mr. Barrow passed his boyhood days at tlie liome of his grand- 
father Walker until he was thirteen years of age, when his mother 
detennined that he should be given the advantages of a good educa- 
tion, and accordingly moved her few household possessions to Kirks- 
ville, that he might attend the Normal school of that place. Her rel- 
atives tried hard to dissuade her from this course, but she persisted, 
and the journey from their little home was made by wagon in the midst 
of a snow storm. The mother rented a small house and took boarders, 
in order to support herself and son until such time as he could complete 
the prescribed course. 

He attended the Normal school steadily for three years, com- 
pleting the coux'se in 1884, at thb head of his class, and was then given 



!)44 HISTOKY OF MACOX COUXTY 

a teacher's life certificate in all tlu'ee grades. Following- his gradua- 
tion he taught school for several years in various parts of the state and, 
by practicing strict economy, he was able to save money, and in 1886 
he entered the State University at Columbia, and com])leted both the 
law and the regular classical course, receiving his degree of A. B. in 
1888. In that year Mr. Barrow won the Stephens medal in oratory, 
and was chosen to represent the Missouri University in the interna- 
tional collegiate league of the state, winning the first medal in that 
contest. He also won the Ai)pleton i)rize in latin that year. 

On completion of his studies at Columbia Mr. Barrow came to 
Macon and entered the office of Captain Ben Eli (juthrie, with whom he 
read law for a short time. lie was admitted to the bar in 1889 before 
Judge Andrew Ellison, and soon established himself in the practice of 
his profession. In 1892 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Macon 
coiinty, and re-elected in 1894. During liis o('eu])ancy of that offce he 
tried some of the most noted cases ever tried in the county. One of these 
was the George Anderson case. Anderson was indicted for the murder 
of his wife, tried, found guilty and sentenced to hang. The sentence 
being duly executed at Macon in 1896. This was the only legal execution 
that has ever occurred in Macon countj-. 

He also prosecuted Sealous Gi'ugin, who was tried for the killing 
of his son-in-law, Walter Hadley. The defense in this case was the 
unwritten law. This case was twice tried, Grugin being at first qon- 
victed, the Supreme Court reversing the case, and on the second trial 
he was acquitted. One of the most important decisions relative to the 
coal mining industry in this i)art of the state developed while Mr. Bar- 
row was prosecuting attorney, and resulted in the i)assage of the pres- 
ent law governing the firing of shots, in all mines, by regular shot-firers 
after the miners have left the mines. This is regarded as one of the 
most imiwrtant laws that has been passed for the protection of the 
coal miners of Missouri. Another case in which ilr. Barrow was 
employed, and which attracted state-wide attention, was the case of 
Edward Albright, an alderman of St. Louis, charged with perjury. 
This case was brought to Macon on a change of venue. ^Ir. Barrow 
appeared for the defense in this case, and had associated with him 
some of the most prominent attorneys of St. Loiiis. In his closing argu- 
ment in this case, it was generally conceded that he matle the best 
effort of his life, and he was strongly complimented upon it by the St. 
Louis attorneys. 

Mr. Barrow's forte Is an accurate analysis of the law and the evi- 
dence in the case being tried. His judgment has l)een sustained time and 



HISTORY OF .MACOX COT'XTY 945 

again by tlie liiglun- coiuts. During all of his life he has been a close 
student of tlie law, and looks carefully after evei-y detail of the evi- 
dence. He tries his cases slowly and carefully, making it a point to 
study his opponent's side as well as his own, and adopts that well 
known military mnxini of expecting your enemy to do what ho ought 
to do and being prepared for it. 

In 1896 Mr. Barrow was united in marriage to Miss Sophia Sim- 
mons, daughter of (Jeorge E. Sinnnons, now a retired business man of 
]\facon. One son has been born to them, Robert AV. Barrow the 111., 
wJio gives every promise of following in the footsteps of his father. 

Mr. Barrow is the owner of a iine home in Macon, and his law office 
is located in his own building on the corner of Rubey and Vine streets. 



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